Imperial Hair: The Russian Empresses and Their Court Hairdressers
Intricate curls, curly bangs, braids, and false hair — behind the lush hairstyles of the last Russian empresses stood French masters who built thriving businesses in Russia.
In the final century of the Tsarist era, the hairstyles of empresses, grand duchesses, and princesses were entrusted to brilliant professionals—masters who became legends of hairdressing. One of the most renowned was Henry Delcroix, known in Russia as Heinrich Genrikhovich, who owned a fashionable salon at 19 Bolshaya Morskaya Street in Saint Petersburg. There, clients could not only have their hair styled, but also enjoy manicures, facial massages, and purchase elegant hats and small false curls.
Delcroix’s appointment as a supplier to the Imperial Court only heightened his fame. Everyone longed to place their hair in the hands of the man who styled Empress Maria Feodorovna.
(Note: Delcroix went on to marry lady-in-waiting Madeleine Zanotti in an arranged marriage designed to let her escape to Europe following the Revolution it seems. Empress Alexandra's sister, Victoria Mountbatten, recalls in her memoirs: Madelaine escaped from St. Petersburg on her return from Sibzeria having gone through the Bolshevik form of marriage with the old French Court Coiffeur Delcroix. As soon as this "French" couple reached Paris they separated again and Madelaine, ultimately, became Ernie's housekeeper at the New Palace."
The Empress was famously meticulous about her appearance. She ordered her gowns exclusively from Charles Worth, the Parisian couturier whose clientele included Europe’s wealthiest royal families and the most fashionable socialites. Even after six pregnancies, she kept her waist laced to 65 centimeters and became the first woman in Russia to undergo plastic surgery. Demanding only the best, she never considered replacing her trusted hairdresser—an endorsement that served as Delcroix’s greatest advertisement.
The French master devised an everyday hairstyle for Maria Feodorovna built on three elements: curls, bangs, and an intricate braid. Early photographs of her as the Danish Princess Dagmar show her with straight hair, a simple center part, a high open forehead, and a heavy knot at the nape—striking for a young princess, but too plain for an empress. Delcroix transformed her look by curling her thick brown hair, sweeping it upward, adding soft bangs across her forehead, and weaving an elaborate braid at the back. The result was a style both solemn and modern, beautiful yet moderately restrained.
For grand occasions, Delcroix styled her more luxuriously, often arranging long curls (sometimes with the aid of extensions) to cascade over her shoulders. His service to the court spanned more than 25 years, during which he also styled Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger for her coronation.
Maria Feodorovna herself was a dazzling figure—impossibly charming, vivacious, and adored by society. Her daughter-in-law, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, by contrast, lacked what contemporaries called “the art of charming—the ability and desire to please the crowd.” The relationship between the radiant Maria Feodorovna and the reserved, stubborn Alix was inevitably strained; they had little in common.
According to the recollections of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, sister of Nicholas II, Maria Feodorovna constantly purchased fashionable outfits for her daughter-in-law: “flashy, with trim.” Yet Alexandra, who had grown up in one of the most frugal and conservative royal families in Europe, refused to wear them.
The last Russian empress had little interest in fashion. She could not understand how ordinary women could don the harem-style trousers and “hobble skirts” popularized by Parisian fashion dictator Paul Poiret. She rarely had her nails done, never used cosmetics, and wore her hair in the simplest manner: “Her reddish-golden hair was never touched by curling tongs. She preferred the plainest style, and only on holidays or formal occasions would she allow herself something more elaborate.”
Day to day, her hair was combed by a maid known in the family as Tudels. In her diary, Alexandra once complained: “Tudels left for two days and two nights, so Tatiana dresses me and styles my hair—and she does it very quickly and well, she manages everything very skillfully. Not like Olga, who is lazy.” At that time, her daughters were still very young: Olga was only fifteen, Tatiana thirteen. Yet even then the Empress never appeared at major events with her hair arranged by her children or a simple maid.
On occasion, her hair was styled by Delcroix, sent by Maria Feodorovna, but more often by Pavel Petrovich Pinasso, a second-generation French hairdresser. His father, Pierre-Louis Pinasso, had owned the fashionable salon Lucien on Nevsky Prospekt. In photographs taken during great imperial ceremonies, one can see the results of his craft—hair dressed with curling tongs, arranged in the more elaborate style befitting an empress.
Sources: Who Did The Hair of Russian Royals, Guide to fashionable St. Petersburg of the early 20th century
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Study for Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delcroix at the Art Institute of Chicago & The Liberty (with detail) by Frida Kahlo at the Portland Art Museum
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Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia embroidering while getting her hair done by one of her hairdressers. 1913.
The last Russian Empress was quite modest in regards to her appearance. Her list included two hairdressers — Pavel Petrovich Pinasso (Павел Петрович Пинассо) and Henry Delcroix (Генри Генрихович Делькроа). However, Alexandra resorted to their services only in special occasions, while at home she preferred to style her hair on her own.
Her close friend Lily Dehn recalls:
"Her reddish-golden hair was never touched by curling tongs, she preferred the simplest hairstyle and only changed her habit for holidays and important receptions and allowed herself a more intricate one."
Henry (mostly known as Heinrich Heinrichovich) Delcroa owned a successful fashion salon on Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 19 in Saint Peterbsurg. There customers would have haircuts done, manicures, facial massages, buy beautiful hats and small patchy curls.
He became an official supplier of the imperial court and the primary hairdresser of Empress Maria Feodorovna, mother of Nicholas II.
She, who always agreed only to all the best, never wanted to change her hairdresser - for Delcroa there no best advertising.
As for Alexandra Feodovna, her hair was mostly styled for formal occasions by Delcroa sent by Maria Fedorovna, and more often by Pavel Petrovich Pinasso, also a Frenchman and a second-generation hairdresser. His father Pierre-Louis Pinasso owned the Lucien hair salon on Nevsky Prospekt.
It was rare to catch the Empress in excessive attention to herself. She spent a minimum of time on hairstyles and makeup, did not polish her nails — neither she nor her husband liked manicures.
However, Alexandra Fyodorovna was well versed in perfumery and preferred subtle, floral scents, including the scent of lilac and lily of the valley, which perfectly suited her restrained, elegant outfits. "Her Majesty loved all kinds of flowers,— Lily Dehn added, "but especially lilies, magnolias, wisteria, freesias and violets. The love of flowers is akin to the love of perfume, and Her Majesty was no exception. Of the perfumes, she preferred the "White Rose" of the Atkinson perfume company. They, she said, were transparent, without any admixture, and infinitely fragrant. She used Verbena as her toilet water."
Like Alexandra Feodorovna, her daughters preferred light floral fragrances from Coty. Olga adored the perfume "Rose Thé", Tatiana — "Jasmin de Corse", Maria copied her mother in her aromatic preferences, using the perfume "Lilas", Anastasia used "Violette".
It was these fragrances from Coty that, following the royal family, high-society girls, aristocrats and townspeople began to use. In fact, the fashion of the early 20th century for floral scents came to Russia thanks to the Empress and her daughters fragrant with lilacs and violets. {x}
