In the Spotlight: Didier Malige

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Not Didier Malige! His early education in veterinary school is what led to his first time on the job. Even after his rise to the very top of the industry, not much has changed for Malige who still enjoys styling his pet cat’s hair to perfection several times a day.On a very sunny afternoon, we sat with Didier on his porch flipping through all of his past work, his extensive book collection, and catching up on his recent projects like Armani’s latest retrospective show. Here’s the story of how he began in Paris and eventually came to be known as the hair industry’s leading stylist.

START UP “I was very lucky because my mother knew one of the Carita sisters. I did my apprenticeship at Carita Paris and then moved to another salon, Jean Louis David. He was a shrewd businessman, but he has a very successful way of teaching people how to do hair.”

GOOD TIMES “I was very lucky to have learned my profession at that time, as the industry was more elitist, in a way. There were a lot of new things happening in fashion: the clothes, the hair, and the music and the movies. So many things were done in the ‘60 and ’70s that I don’t know if anything new is going to come for a long time. It feels like things are recycling. What is old is new.”

CARITA BONITA “When I was at Carita we mostly ‘set’ the hair and then put the person under the dryer. Sometimes they’d fall asleep! When I moved to Jean Louis a lot of things began to happen— we started to blow dry. The Vidal Sassoon look was very strong, but Jean Louis never went for the Vidal Sassoon look. He always made ladies look more sensual. With Vidal Sassoon, you could say that the look was more about intellect—it wasn’t about sex. Jean Louis was about creating hair that called for very smooth lines—very billowing.”

HEDI HAIR “At the moment I am working with Hedi Slimane—I’ve been working with him for a long time. I began working with him when he was designing Dior Homme and when he moved to Saint Laurent he asked me to work with him again. This is a great collaboration. For Hedi, hair is very important. He doesn’t see it as an inconvenience. He sees it as something to work with as opposed to many other designers who just want to slick it back and not care about it. A lot of designers are very apprehensive about hair.”

TEAM PLAYER “I don’t know if i have a muse. I work as part of a team. The photographer, in general, is the leader. They have an idea of how a woman should look, but then I have my own way of getting there.”

TOOL TIME “I’m very picky about my tools. I’m often very disappointed when I see people using tools that I wouldn’t even use on my cat! I don’t know how they manage. I use a lot of Japanese and French-made tools. Every hairstylist should have a Mason Pearson brush. I always say that if you want to be good in your profession, you need to use the best. Look at race car drivers!”

CARINE’S CORNER “She knows what she likes. She knows her style. She does not want to be traditional—she likes to shock people.”

MODEL BEHAVIOR “I like personality. I like when models don’t act like divas—when they’re professional. I like when they have some kind of innocence. I did a shoot for Proenza Schouler. They had one girl, Charlotte Hoyer, from Denmark. She has something special in her.”

SALON STYLE “Hair is something that is very individual and you have to find your own style—something that fits you. A lot of people jump from one style to another. They look good for three or six months. That is good for the salon! Hair salons like to give you their vision of you.”

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