Couture Beauty

Photographs by Julie Bidwell

What is it that prompts a woman to travel from Philadelphia to Greenwich to have her hair done? Or for certain well-known names to drop their existing salons and try something new? A certain je ne sais quoi, one would guess, and the founder of Maison d’Alexandre has that in spades. Alexandre Chouery, who trained in Paris under Jacques Dessange before working all over the world, most recently as creative director at Frederic Fekkai, designed every aspect of his new luxe beauty atelier.

“All my life I’ve been in the very high-end places. I wanted to bring something different to the industry than a hair salon,” he says. To that end, his new Lewis Street salon doesn’t appear to be a salon at all. When you walk into the restored 1904 building, there’s no front desk, but instead a living room or library-like space: black walls lined with built-in bookshelves, a large fireplace flanked by sofas and original art on the wall that was a gift from Diane von Furstenberg.

“She’s a big mentor for me,” says Alexandre. “On the day of my opening, I went to her home in New Milford with my son and wife, and she took me to see her whole art collection and said, ‘Alexandre, just pick anything you want.’”

Elegant and welcoming defines the new salon just off the Avenue.

A staff member greets you at the door and ushers you into the elegant space, offering coffee or perhaps a bellini from the fully stocked bar cart, served in a Baccarat glass. The styling stations are housed around a custom sixteen-foot table that can be converted into a dining table. “Everybody here is family and our clients are part of the family,” Alexandre says. He didn’t hire an interior designer for the salon, but planned every detail himself, down to the ornate ceiling, to give clients a beautiful view while they’re being shampooed.

He took special care in selecting his team, led by creative directors Rabih Fakhoury and Beth Jablonska, and he uses only hair-care products from Leonor Greyl (which he calls “the Hermes of hair care”) and Phyto and the makeup line, Terry.

Ultimately, an elevator will connect four levels of the building, which will house a color floor, a spa and medical spa, with a rooftop garden for private events and parties. “We are going big. There’s more to come,” says Alexandre of his vision and investment. “I report only to my clients.”

33 Lewis Street, 203-661-1111; maisondalexandre.com

 

 

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