Hair styling and cosmetics application had a particularly important function in France. The toilette, or dressing, was a daily ceremony in which important persons were dressed (including hair styled and cosmetics applied) before a select audience; it was the feminine version of the lever. While the ritual was created by Louis XIV and is associated with royalty, aristocracy and even members of the bourgeois classes held their own morning dressing ceremonies before limited audiences.
The ideal woman of the 18th century had hair that was black, brown, or blond (particularly fashionable during Marie-Antoinette’s reign); strong red hair was unfashionable and generally would be dyed a different color, although chestnut and strawberry blond were popular. Her hair was of wavy or curly texture. Her forehead was high, her cheeks plump and rosy, and her skin was white. Fashionable eye colors included black, chestnut, or blue; eyebrows were divided (ie no monobrows), slightly full, semicircular, and tapered at the ends in a half moon shape. Her lips were small, with a slightly larger bottom lip creating a rosebud effect, soft, and red. The paintings of François Boucher are particularly useful as a visual reference for this look.
Hair powder was made from a variety of materials, from the poorest quality in corn and wheat flour, to the best quality in finely milled and sieved starch. It was usually white, but it could also be brown, grey, orange, pink, red, blue, or violet. It is important to note that the application of white powder over dark hair produces shades of light to dark grey, not the paper white seen in films and costume wigs. White powder applied over very light hair produces a heightened blond effect
Hair was nearly always curled, waved, or frizzed before styling, in order to create texture. Styling was accomplished with combs and curling irons, held with pins, and dressed with pomade. When height was desired, it was raised over pads made of wool, tow, hemp, cut hair, or wire.
Hairstyles of the 1750s were generally small and close to the head. Hair was worn in soft curls or waves, with little to no height. Most Frenchwomen powdered their hair with white powder; Englishwomen generally left their hair unpowdered. In back, the hair was generally arranged in small curls, a twist or braid (worn pinned to the head, not hanging down), or pulled up smoothly.
The tête de mouton (or “sheep’s head”) style was particularly popular in France in the 1750s and early 1760s. It featured defined twists of curls that were arranged in rows across the front and top of the head, and generally was powdered. Ornaments included a few small ribbons, pearls, jewels, flowers, or decorative pins styled together and called apompom (so called after Mme de Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV). It is in the1760s that hairstyles featuring height began to appear. This height was generally equal to about 1/4 to 1/2 the length of the face, and is usually styled in an egg shape. Again, Frenchwomen tended to powder their hair; Englishwomen appear to have left the hair unpowdered.
In the mid- to late-1770s, huge hair became all the rage. The height of these styles was generally about 1 to 1 1/2 times the length of the face, and was styled in what was considered a pyramid shape (it also looks very much like a hot air balloon).
This high hairstyle, called the pouf, was created usingtoques (or “cushions”) which were made of fabric or cork and shaped like a heart or spear. It was attached to the top of the head, and then natural and false hair was curled, waved, or frizzed and piled over and around the cushion. Such elaborate hairstyles could be worn for days or weeks at a time. Mary Frampton later recalled,
“At that time [1780] everybody wore powder and pomatum; a large triangular thing called a cushion, to which the hair was frizzed up with three or four enormous curls on each side; the higher the pyramid of hair, gauze, feathers, and other ornaments was carried the more fashionable it was thought, and such was the labour employed to rear the fabric that night-caps were made in proportion to it and covered over the hair, immensely long black pins, double and single, powder, pomatum and all ready for the next day. I think I remember hearing that twenty-four large pins were by no means an unusual number to go to bed with on your head”(1780).
The pouf was often styled into allegories of current events, such as à l’inoculation(vaccine), ballon (Montgolfier balloon experiments); or concepts, such as à la Zodiaque, à la frivolité, des migraines, etc. Ornaments included lots of ribbons, pearls, jewels, flowers, feathers, as well as ships, birdcages, and other items that evoked the theme. In 1774, the Duchess of Devonshire created a sensation when she introduced ostrich feathers into her hair.
Side curls angled up towards the top back of the hair. The back hair was generally styled in a looped-up ponytail or braid. Long curls were often left hanging at the nape of the neck. French styles often had an extra “bump” in the front of the hair, right above the forehead. In this period, both French and Englishwomen usually powdered their hair.
“Likewise I cannot help but touch upon a point that many of the papers repeat to me too often: it is the hairstyle that you wear. They say that from the roots it measures 36 pouces high and with all the feathers and ribbons that hold all of that up! You know that I have always been of the opinion that one should follow fashion moderately, but never carry it to excess. A pretty young queen full of charms has no need of all these follies. Quite the contrary. A simple hairstyle suits her better and is more appropriate for a queen. She must set the tone, and everyone will hurry to follow even your smallest errors…”
Marie-
Antoinette responded,
“It is true that I am a bit occupied by my hairstyle, and as for the feathers, everyone wears them, and it would look extraordinarily out of place not to”(quoted in Hosford).
During 1779-81, the shape of the hair started to become rounder and height began to diminish. This lower form of the pouf tended to be worn with fatter side curls than previously.
In 1781, Marie-Antoinette lost much of her hair after the birth of the dauphin. Famous coiffeurLéonard Autie created for her the coiffure à l’enfant, which she wore, along with herchemise à la reine, in the famously reviled painting by Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun. This was the catalyst that, combined with the growing interest in what were considered “natural” fashions brought about by the Enlightenment, created what was considered to be a more “natural” style in the 1780s: thehérisson (or “hedgehog”) [Important Note: I have my suspicions that the termhérisson/hedgehog may actually be incorrect! I'm going to look more into this, and will update this article when I find out]. The hair was cut shorter to form a large curly or frizzy halo around the head, which was wider than tall. A small hank of much longer hair, either left straight, in ringlets, or braided, hung down the back or was worn looped up. These styles could still be very large, and false hair continued to be used to fill out a woman’s natural hair.
In keeping with this more “natural” look, powdering began to fall out of favor, although it still appears frequently in paintings and fashion plates. Powder fell definitively out of fashion in France with the Revolution of 1789; in England, it remained popular enough that it was taxed in 1795 to raise money for the war against the French (although this tax was the final death blow). In keeping with the mood of the period, ornamentation became more restrained, generally a ribbon, or a few feathers, flowers, or jewels.
Powder fell definitively out of fashion in France with the Revolution of 1789; in England, it remained popular enough that it was taxed in 1795 to raise money for the war against the French (although this tax was the final death blow). In keeping with the mood of the period, ornamentation became more restrained, generally a ribbon, or a few feathers, flowers, or jewels.
I know it was a lot to take in with all the reading... but I thought it was so interesting. I also hope you enjoyed the imagery taken from the film "Marie Antoinette" by Sofia Coppola.
XOXO
