French hairstylist finds niche in Chinese fashion craze

Before moving to China, French hairdresser Mario Bruno D'agostino served European royalty, celebrities, and many of the wealthy and elite, with film star Sophie Marceau and Dutch Queen Maxima among his clients.

Now the 51-year-old is wielding scissors for Chinese customers in his own luxury salon in the sprawling south China city of Guangzhou, where he has been pursuing entrepreneurial success since settling down in the city two years ago.

D'agostino began styling hair as a teenager in Paris in the mid-1970s. He has staged over 200 hair shows worldwide and styled hair for many international fashion magazines, including Elle and Vogue.

After working in Europe for nearly three decades, the veteran stylist decided to start his own business in the capital of southern China's Guangdong Province, where he saw a burgeoning appetite for high-end cosmetology and fashion services among local Chinese.

"I was absolutely crazy because this country has been on the way to huge development in many areas," D'agostino said. "It's a huge market for European-style services."

According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the Chinese mainland was home to 271,400 hair salons and beauty parlors by the end of 2012, employing about 1.2 million people.

Last year, the industry's total revenue increased 12.12 percent year on year to hit 311.242 billion yuan (about 51 billion U.S.dollars), with middle- and high-end outlets showing stronger growth momentum, the ministry said.

Before settling down in Guangzhou, D'agostino had already sensed the growing popularity of French style when he worked in Hong Kong and Shanghai as a salon manager for European franchises between 2001 and 2010.

He was then frequently invited by Chinese hairdressing schools and salons from around the country to help train Chinese staff, whose keen interest in European expertise prompted him to set up his own brand in Guangzhou.

D'agostino said, "I am excited to help the Chinese people to better understand what the French style is."

In 2011, D'agostino, together with a Hong Kong business partner, founded Alma de Paris, the first French-style luxury hair salon in Guangzhou.

He spent more than three months designing the salon's theater-like interior, aiming to transplant the ambience and quality of authentic European fashion services to China.

The salon is decorated with regal curtains, hardwood flooring, and portraits of his notable Chinese clients, including Chinese film stars Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi.

"We make coffee and make tea for the clients to help them relax," he said, stressing that every service in Alma de Paris is "perfectly professional and in line with the European style."

In Alma de Paris, a haircut can cost as much as 1,200 yuan, which is almost 40 times the price in a local Chinese hair salon.

Expensive as it is, Alma de Paris has quickly earned a reputation among Guangzhou residents.

The salon has seen its turnover grow at more than 30 percent annually, attracting a large number of Chinese fashion lovers, high-income earners and expatriates, D'agostino said.

"Sometimes, when I finished a haircut for a Chinese lady, she was so happy with my work that she kissed me on the cheek!" he laughed, describing the experience as his "best moments" in life.

Confident in his prospects in China, the Frenchman said he is determined to continue his business adventures in the country.

"I want to open some more salons step by step. I want to develop my own brand here in China. This has been my dream for the future. Now, it is the 'China Time,'" he said.