Madame Martin (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1671) was the hairdresser at the court of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

who popularised a style of elaborate tall hair. Madame Martin was married to a whig maker and her profession was not as unusual in her position; however, she demonstrated true creative talent and became unusual in her success as an independent professional artist in a period when the profession of hair dressing was only just starting to emerge in France. In 1671, she became a leading artist of her time by creating hair style known as the "harum scarum", which became very popular and Marquise de Sevigne recommended to her daughter. Her style was a new initiative, as she broke with the previous fashion and arranged women's hair upward instead of on the sides, signifying a new style of fashion. She invented the hair style ''a' la Maintenon'', which was famously adopted by

Madame de Maintenon Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

. She remained the leading hair dresser of the French court for several years during the late half of the 17th-century.Mary Trasko: Daring Do's: A History of Extraordinary Hair, Random House Incorporated, 1994

References

French hairdressers 17th-century French businesswomen 17th-century French businesspeople {{fashion-bio-stub