In the ‘70s, Manchester was not a very fashionable place to be. So, he beganpromoting it by inviting thousands of hairdressers from around the world to his newPierre Alexandre School of Hair design on King Street West, The Academy.. As hisguests began to fill the then empty hotel rooms and shops, the city took on a wholenew cachet: one of a place where exciting things were happening.

In November of 1971, during a New York layover on his way to see a client in the VirginIslands, he was inspired by some little angels, surrounding a figure that was paintedon the wall at the old New York airport. He began sketching them with short, soft Bobhaircuts, much like the ones he recalled his mother wearing in old photographs. Whenhe arrived back home, he went straight to work, cutting his soft “angel” Bob on twomodels—a blonde and a brunette.

It was a softer version of the geometric Bob Vidal Sassoon had introduced in 1963.Pierre Alexandre also added subtle highlights in lighter and darker shades at thesides. Barbara Duncan, the beauty editor of the Manchester Evening News, featuredhis “angel” Bob in a double-page spread in her newspaper, in an article which hailed:“Pierre has brought back the Bob.”

Two weeks later, Vidal Sassoon opened his first Manchester location and invited PierreAlexandre to his opening party, which was held at Kendal Mils ( House of Fraser). As atribute, Pierre Alexandre brought along his two models. When Vidal saw them,Sassoon told his stylists, “Boys, that’s what you should be doing.” Back in London afew weeks later, Sassoon introduced his own version of the softened Bob at aworldwide press launch.

Throughout the 1970s, Pierre Alexandre continued to build his name and reputation.In 1972, he created the “Tutankhamun” look, worn by Miss United Kingdom, CarolynMoore. The following year, he was invited by Norman Bloomfield, editor ofHairdressers Journal, to join Michael Rasser of Michael John Salon, Christine ofMainline and pop-star stylist Lawrence Falk to appear at an English Fashion Weekevent that was being held at the Sun Plaza Hall in .

After that appearance, Pierre Alexandre began touring Japan for two months everyspring and autumn, for the next 5 years. He and Norman Bloomfield would bringalong suitcases full of ‘Hairdressers Journals’, promoting the magazine throughoutthe country. Later, the duo did the same in New York at the New York Hair and BeautyShow.

In 1975, Pierre Alexandre was invited by Joshua Galvin to join Intercoiffure Mondial,the worldwide organization of elite salon owners. That autumn, he was invited topresent on stage at the Intercoiffure World Congress, held in Paris, France. During theEnglish hairdressers’ presentation, he secreted hid underneath wigs, two newhaircuts, the “Inter-cut” two tone hazel colours and a form of the flick in bright redand golden highlights, which he named “Halo.” Once he revealed them on stage, bypulling the wig’s off the models heads unexpected, he found that while he’d arrived inParis an unknown, he left an international star. Ever a fan, Bloomfield used photos ofthe cuts to publicise a new exhibition and trade show for hairdressers that he hadcreated, which was called “Salon” and was held at the Lancashire Hotel on BayswaterRoad in London from 4 – 12 October 1975.

In 1976. 21 January the Concord was Launched simultaneously from Paris Orly andHeathrow London, Pierre designed a Concord Hairstyle which was featured as adouble page the day after the launch in the Daily Mail, Chicago Tribune and manymore papers around the globe, making Pierre once more a household name globally.These are extracts from the Daily Mirror archive and British Airways fact sheets…1976 – Manchester coiffeur Pierre Alexandre created the £13 Concorde hair-do -permed, soft and pointed

In spring of 1977, Pierre Alexandre reinvented hairdressing yet again with his“Revenge” hairstyle, a softly permed look that he casually dried, using just his hands.He presented it along with a totally new hair-colouring technique, which usedaluminum foils to separate highlights that he created with five different shades ofhazel brown’s and soft gold, What are now called multi-colored highlights had neverbeen seen before, and they were featured in various international hair magazines,along with step-by-step photos and instructions that hairdressers could follow torecreate the new colour design.

In autumn of 1977, Pierre Alexandre brought out the “Twig” hair design, which wasintroduced with step-by-step instructions in Hairdressers Journal, along with adouble-spread feature on Pierre Alexandre’s show in . In 1978, he created “The PowerCut” and “The Bird,” along with a whole series of other cuts and styles.

That same year, Bloomfield asked him to headline a show of his own at Bloomfield’snow-annual Salon exhibition. The result was the first time a hairdresser used his ownfashion designs and coordinated hairstyles, along with a singer and choreographeddancers, who followed a theme to tell a story. Today, this has become the standard formost hairdressing shows’ main-stage presentations. The Salon exhibition wasrenamed “Salon International” when it moved to Earls Court. Today, it continues at theExCeL London Exhibition Center.

Through the end of the decade, Pierre Alexandre toured throughout , and ,demonstrating his skills to hundred of thousands of Asian hairdressers. In an industryfirst, he used gigantic projection screens, so that more attendees could get a bird’s-eye view of his cutting and styling techniques.