Didier Malige grew up in Paris and was not particularly interested in hair, still he chose to become a hairdresser. His mother ,who worked in a veterinary clinic where one of the Carita sisters was a costumer, got him an apprenticeship in the Carita salon. This was pretty much the way he became involved in fashion.

Didier started working at the Carita salon in the mid-sixties, while he was still living with his parents. At that time Carita was one of the top beauty salons, with about 125 employees. Women who could afford it, would come back every two or three days to get a ‘do’. It was a set, with teasing and hairspray (Elnett was huge those days). In France they were a little bit backwards when it came to trends: the leading country was definitely England, where everybody wanted to be a hairdresser, manager or musician.

At that time for photoshoots, it was a different system: ‘You used to go to the studio, you did the hair and you left. They were using a lot of hairspray, doing up-do’s, nothing was really moving, so there was nothing more to do once you set the hair.’ Models were also more handy and could correct their hair themselves, also because it wasn’t as precise as nowadays.’

After his apprenticeship at Carita’s, Didier went to another really big salon, Jean Louis David, who also came from Carita. He was still assisting other hairdressers and didn’t really have any customers. Around that time there began a demand for hairdressers for magazine work and that was the beginning of Didier Malige’s career as a hairstylist. Not many were working as a hairstylist and he very quickly began working with Helmut Newton, Bob Richardson (father of Terry) and sometimes Guy Bourdin. Because Didier didn’t speak much English, there wasn’t much verbal communication, it was more about naming a movie as a reference.

In the seventies Didier went to America and worked for Glamour and Mademoiselle. ‘Photographers are very opinionated about what a woman should look like. Some give you a little bit more freedom than the other, but they definitely see a woman one way. Helmut Newton’s woman may have shorter or longer hair, but it was always the woman who goes to the hairdresser every day, who doesn’t really have an occupation except maybe taking care of certain man. (laughs) Or be taken care of. You had to be technically very good for that hairstyle.’

Over the decades Didier Malige collaborated with many famous photographers including Patrick Demarchelier, Athur Elgort, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Sorrenti, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, David Sims and Mario Testino. His ability to not only style, but flawlessly sculpt both men’s and women’s hair led to develop long-standing relationships with the houses of Dior, Dior Homme, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander, Raf Simons and Hedi Simane. As chef-de-cabine, recently Didier worked with Hedi Slimane on Slimane’s first women’s fashion show for Yves Saint Laurent.

BOY CRAZY. Photography: Hedi Slimane for NY TIMES T magazine fall 2011

Prada Homme campaign photography: David Sims

Prada perfume, Candy 

Vogue Italia cover photography: Nathaniel Goldberg

I-D cover with Lara Stone photography: David Bailey

V magazine cover photography: Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

Didier Malige loves to do fashionshows, deciding together with the designers on the look for the models in the catwalk. He worked with Proenza Schouler, Giorgio Armani, Philosophy, Prada, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Botega Veneta and many others. He has a collaboration with (another hairstylist/hairdresser) Frederic Fekkai and his brand for over two decades.

Didier Malige is an undisputed master of his craft and especially enjoys collaborating with photographers and editors who allow him the freedom to realize his vision. He believes that the biggest compliment he has received is learning that someone has become a hairstylist because they were inspired by his work.

He is living together with his partner Grace Coddington (read:  Grace Coddington, a legend in her own time, part 1&2) for over 25 years, whose style he describes as very feminine and fashionable without being too obvious.

I admire Didier Malige, specially for keeping a ‘young vision in his work’ all those years. If you look at his recent work, it’s hard to believe he’s already in the business for many decades, this is probably also the reason why younger people in fashion love to work with him!

A variety of recent work

Didier Malige, The Master

Patsy Stone, television character in Absolutely Fabulous, referred to Grace, her idol, as ‘Fash Ed. Supreme’.

Julie Kavanagh, Grace Coddington’s assistant in the 1970s and a friend ever since:‘Working for Grace converted me to fashion overnight. It was simply the power of Grace’s personality and style. “Fashion isn’t just frocks,” Grace has always maintained. “It’s how we do our houses, our gardens, it’s what we eat and drink.” 

Documentary The September Issue

In January 2009 the documentary The September Issue premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary, about the making of the important September issue of American Vogue (2007), highlights Grace Coddington instead of her boss Anna Wintour.

Amongst other things the documentary features a difference of opinion between Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington. During a photo shoot Grace asks the camera man of the film crew to star in the shoot together with the model, jumping and filming at the same time. When Anna Wintour views the photo, she doesn’t approve of the camara men’s ‘ big belly’ and orders it to be photoshopped. Grace gets furious when she is informed about this and persuades the staff member not to photoshop the picture…

Some of Grace’s work for Vogue

Vogue colleagues and collaborators on Grace and her work

Some quotes from an interview with Grace Coddington on Huffington Post.com , posted October 22, 2009 by author, journalist, contributing style editor Lesley Blume.

On photographer Irving Penn:

“It was one the great joys of my life to work with him.  He had a tiny, tiny studio, minimal lights, minimal people.  Everyone was very focused and he produced these extraordinary pictures.  I don’t know how he did it …  He was the last of those great photographers like Avedon and Helmut and all those guys; I’m sad to see them go … It’s our challenge now to find more and more and something different [and] I know we’ll find another way, but there will never be another Penn.”

On photographer Bruce Weber:

“He taught me so much about America, [and gave me] a whole new way of looking at things.  He was really responsible for scrubbing everyone’s faces, for fresh-looking women who you could touch, making them look vulnerable.”

On photographer David Sims:

“He’s much younger than me, and it’s a challenge.  I have to keep on my toes and be modern and keep up with him.  He’ll talk for three hours about a white background and I’m trying to go along with him and understand, and then we end up with a white background.  But I could do the same shot with a different photographer and it wouldn’t look the same.  He has that undefinable modern edge.”

On how celebrity culture is affecting the fashion world:

“I have the reputation of not working with [celebrities] … I just feel more comfortable working with models because I can push them around.   But I do work with them; I took Keira Knightley to Africa and you have to like someone to do that.  [However,] I hope it doesn’t go completely to the celebs because it will kill off the models, but it’s not my call.  It’s all your call.  It’s what you all are asking for.”

Grace and her beloved cats

In 2006 the book The Catwalk Cats was published. It is based on 20 years’ worth of sketches and notes she has faxed to her husband while they were apart. “Instead of calling him when I was in Milan or when he was traveling in India, I would do a sketch of where I was and put the cats in my place”. Didier Malige (her husband) photographs accompany Grace’s drawings throughout the book. Grace is well-known for her love for cats and so is Didier.

In 2012 Grace has designed a capsule collection with Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga named after her cat, Pumpkin. The line of scarves and bags will feature Coddington’s drawings of her petit chat modeling various Balenciaga looks from the past decade. Central to the new accessories line is the “Pumpkin Papier” tote bag and two printed “Pumpkin” scarves round out the collection, one in a classic silk twill and one in fringed wool and silk. (20 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons)

Grace, A Memoir will be published November 20, 2012   ( ISBN: 978-0-8129-9335-6)

Random House has offered Coddington a reported $1.2 million book deal for a tell-all memoir…. “If Wintour is the Pope . . . Coddington is Michelangelo, trying to paint a fresh version of the Sistine Chapel twelve times a year.”—Time

The divine Brassai-inspired 1920s-in-Paris spread. Title: Paris, je t’aime  Photographer: Steven Meisel