When seeking a particularly revolutionary period of hairstyling, look no further than, well, the Revolutionary period. Fashionable hair in the second half of the 1770s took on mountainous proportions and silhouettes, ascending up the back of the head with cascades of buckles tumbling down the sides and crested with the almighty pouf. Hairstyles of the last half of the 1770s are feats of geometric and architectural genius.
The widening of the headdress was simply a progression from earlier forms. Once the hair gets as tall as it can in the early 1770s, something has to be done with it. The broad coiffures provided an excellent platform for the incredible millinery that came about during these years, like the pouf. An excellent example of this hairstyle is the Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield by Thomas Gainsborough, 1777–1778.
We bet you’re wondering why we’re not calling this hairstyle the “pouf.” It’s because poufs are not the hairstyle but the headgear that sat on top of the hair. [1] Poufs came into fashion in April of 1774 thanks to Marie Antoinette’s hairdresser, Léonard, and provided a new and exciting way to decorate the hair, as opposed to a mere hat or cap. [2]
“[…] there came to me one of those grand ideas, which overthrow all pre-existing vogues, and to sit proudly on the ruins of all caprices … I invented the sentimental puff [pouf] … Great things are never boasted of; they are described. I find among my notes the description of the puff [pouf], worn in the month of April 1774, by Madame la Duchesse de Chartres.”
The pouf became exceedingly popular amongst the fashionable and their milliners alike. The thematic nature of the pouf meant that milliners could sell a huge and constant variety of them to their customers. [3]
The sloping hairstyle of the last part of the decade lends itself beautifully to showing off the pouf, and honestly, the look isn’t complete without a gauzy, feathered and thematic confection resting on top of the mountainous coiffure. So hold on to your poufs, y’all—things are about to get wacky.
