Bernard Tapie’s “helmet” hairstyle, an icon of the 1980s

Series: Tapie promises to be the school event with Netflix in France. During the full promotion, Laurent Lafitte, who plays him on screen, stated that he did not study the character very closely to create “his own version of Bernard Tapie”; “I didn’t work from the archives. I didn’t record my voice to sound perfectly like him. I was not in imitation. However, there are essential visual designations, such as the hairstyle and appearance,” she confided to France 5’s C à Vous program.

Because if the line prides itself on the retro look, it’s also the hairstyle that marks the likeness of Laurent Lafitte and Bernard Tapie. All this thanks to a wig that does not go unnoticed. “But in the end, Bernard Tapie’s haircut had a helmet side,” notes Marc Delacre, founder of Cercle Delacre, which has seen many businessmen but also politicians (Francois Mitterrand and his ministers) and even Bill Clinton.

Pictured: the haircut, a key element in transforming Laurent Lafitte into Bernard Tapie

Because the knower of a thousand lives (singer, businessman, minister, host, actor…) seems to have kept this very iconic hairstyle of the 80s. his cut has evolved, says hairstylist Christophe-Nicolas Biot. First he was from the lineage of Seventies singers, like Mike Brant. She smartly knew how to bring this signature hairstyle to life. Then, when things got serious, and he became a city minister in 1988, he cut off this rather long neck, supposedly to gain confidence.” Does he better accept the seriousness of his task in government? “I don’t know if that has anything to do with it,” says Mark Delacre. After all, he hasn’t changed anything else, he has kept his jokes, his appearance. I think it’s mostly about the times.”

But what explains why the character is so defined by his hairstyle? For Christophe-Nicolas Biot, it’s because his hair was somehow “his trademark”. “There is a form of continuity for this businessman who started with a song in the 70s. If we look at his career and personal life, he has always flirted with the art world, be it with friends or returning to the theater. It didn’t matter if he cut his hair short, he kept the same movement, that was his signature.” A movement which, moreover, was not only due to the good will of mother nature. “She had beautiful hair, but it was quite straight, still flat and with a few spots in the front. To achieve this result, she regularly had mini-waves (a chemical process to create and strengthen light waves) to add volume to the roots. And have this well-styled blow-dry effect and this movement with a layered effect. Considering the ears, length and thickness, it suited him. And it suited his style,” analyzes Marc Delacre, who hosted many of Bernard Tapie’s friends in his living room while the latter was a regular at Carita.

This well-styled blow-dry effect and this movement with a layered effect, it suited her very well and matched her style.

Marc Delacre

Jean-Michel Henri, who has styled the former OM owner and his wife Dominique many times at the Carita sisters’ brand, remembers her coming every month and even getting manicures, all in a private salon over coffee. “His hairstyle was an integral part of his character. And Bernard Tapi was a person very driven by his character,” Marc Delacre concludes.