*Please note some of the links referenced throughout this work may no longer be active.
1. Please see our list of suppliers for purchasing information.
2. We didn’t use poly-fill because it’s a modern stuffing, but you’re welcome to experiment to see how you like it.
1. While there are other hair typing systems out there, this is the one that we have become the most familiar with and have chosen to use to give the widest breadth of description available. You can read more about the system here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Walker_Hair_Typing_System. We also referenced Nutrafol for additional information about this hair type system. https://www.nutrafol.com/blog/hair-texture-hair-types/
2. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Pages 246–269. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
3. Please refer to Cheyney McKnight’s essay here for more information.
1. According to Google, the average brown rat weighs around 8.1 ounces (230 g) and a black rat is 3.9 to 12 ounces (111 to 340 g), but there are articles citing New York City rats as big as 1½ pounds (680 g)!
2. Emma Markiewicz. Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England. here. 2014. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
3. While the products were available for everyone, there was an issue of “you get what you pay for.” The cheaper products were often riddled with terrible additives such as lime dust, chalk, plaster, etc. Every hairdressing manual in our bibliography discusses this at length, as does Emily Markiewicz in her PhD thesis.
4. The Toilet de Flora, 1772, is filled with recipes on different ways to treat and dye the hair, and every hairdressing manual that we referenced discusses dyeing the hair. Additionally, lead combs were regularly sold in perfumer ads, and they are referred to as a great way to color light or grey hair black (see Bibliography).
5. “[…] the saltiness is of too great an astringent quality, and prevents the growth and nourishment of the hair.” David Ritchie. A Treatise on the Hair. Pages here & here. 1770. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
1. Toilet de Flora (1772) & Plocacosmos (1782) both discuss the different animal fats used in hair pomatums.
2. Emma Markiewicz. Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England. here. 2014. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
3. As an example, Natural Care Dog & Cat Flea & Tick Spray has peppermint oil (0.2%) and clove extract (0.48%) as a part of their active ingredients. (www.chewy.com)
4. LiceDoctors (www.licedoctors.com) & American Academy of Dermatology Association (https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/contagious-skin-diseases/head-lice#causes)
5. James Rennie. A New Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris […]. Pages 339–340. 1833. London. Google Books.
6. James Rennie. A New Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris […]. Page 340. 1833. London. Google Books. We also use this recipe.
7. “When properly incorporated take it off and keep stirring it with a spatula until it be about half cold or congealed, and then put it into small pots, as before directed, or make it up into rolls the size of the little finger.” James Rennie. A New Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris […]. Page 340. 1833. London. Google Books. Also, Raibaud and Lewis refer to “sticks of pomatum for the toupet.” Raibaud et Louis (Perfumers: Paris, France). A l’Etoile Orientale. Varia Aromata. London. Raibaud et Louis Marchands-Parfumeurs, … à Paris, tiennent dans cette ville … chez Mr. Bawen, Air-Street Piccadilly: savoir, … = The Eastern Star. Varia aromata. London. Raibaud and Lewis perfumers, … at Paris, have likewise a wholesale and retail perfumery warehouse, at Mr. Bawen’s, Air-Street, Piccadilly: viz…. n.p. 1775 (?). London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
8. Raibaud et Louis (Perfumers: Paris, France). A l’Etoile Orientale. Varia Aromata. London. Raibaud et Louis Marchands-Parfumeurs, … à Paris, tiennent dans cette ville … chez Mr. Bawen, Air-Street Piccadilly: savoir, … = The Eastern Star. Varia aromata. London. Raibaud and Lewis perfumers, … at Paris, have likewise a wholesale and retail perfumery warehouse, at Mr. Bawen’s, Air-Street, Piccadilly: viz…. n.p. 1775 (?). London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
9. While the recipe is from an 1840s book, as we’ve stated before, pomatum recipes don’t really change much throughout history. See Arnold James Cooley. The Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts: Being a Compendious Book of Reference for the Manufacturer, Tradesman, and Amateur. 1841. London. Google Books.
1. Peter Gilchrist. A Treatise on the Hair. here. 1770. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. In this case Gilchrist is himself a secondary source, reporting on the first use of hair powder 100 years before. While Madame de Montespan may or may not have been the first to pulverize wheat starch, there is a hair powder recipe found in Polygraphice, 1673, to support Gilchrist’s statement regarding time period. Earlier portraiture may appear to show the use of pomade and powder, but further research and more primary evidence is needed here—another book for another time.
2. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Page 244. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
3. We’re referencing the use of wigs and powdered wigs/hair being worn by household servants, barristers and judges in the United Kingdom up through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
4. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell. Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. here. 2015. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.
5. John Hart. An Address to the Public on the Subject of the Starch and Hair-Powder Manufactories […] 1795. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
6. John Hart. An Address to the Public on the Subject of the Starch and Hair-Powder Manufactories […]. Pages here & here. 1795. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. According to Hart, this ill-formed propaganda also resulted in hairdressers, barbers and citizens wearing hair powder being verbally and physically assaulted in the streets.
7. Brian W Peckham. “Technological Change in the British and French Starch Industries, 1750–1850.” Technology and Culture 27, no. 1 (1986): 18–39. doi:10.2307/3104943.
8. John Hart. An Address to the Public on the Subject of the Starch and Hair-Powder Manufactories […]. here. 1795. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
9. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Pages 266–267. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
10. William Moore. The Art Of Hair-Dressing, and Making It Grow Fast, Together, with a Plain and Easy Method of Preserving It; with Several Useful Recipes, &C. Pages here–here. c. 1780. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. He also proceeds to explain how you can test your powder for lime, chalk or marble, and discusses the cost of decent powder. The best Common Powder should cost no less than 8 pence for a pound.
11. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Pages 321–322. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
12. A Practical Chemist. The Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts. 1841. London. Google Books.
13. Ingredients such as butane, isobutane, oryza sativa (rice) starch, propane, alcohol denat, parfume, limonene, linanool, geranol, benzyl benzoate, distearyldimonium and cetrimonium chloride can be found in dry shampoo bought at your favorite big-box store or drugstore.
14. However, modern developments in how the dry shampoo is applied are great options for eighteenth-century hair powder. You’ll see here that we used a modern pump applicator for our powder application, like a modern bellows.
15. Pierre Joseph Buchoz, M.D. Toilet de Flora. here. 1772. Google Books.
16. Many original hair powder recipes do not include the bone meal ingredients, such as one found in Polygraphice, 1673, calling for “iris roots in a fine powder one ounce and a half … some use white starch …”
17. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Pages 266–267. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
18. A Practical Chemist. The Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts. here. 1841. London. Google Books; Anonymous. The American Family Receipt Book: Consisting of Several Thousand Most Valuable Receipts, Experiments, &c. &c. Collected from Various Parts of Europe, America, and Other Portions of the Globe. Page 248. 1854. London. Google Books.
19. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Page 321. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
20. Pierre-Thomas LeClerc. Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français. 10e. Cahier des Costumes Français. 4e Suite d’Habillemens à la mode. K.57 Femme galante à sa toilette ployant un billet. 1778. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 44.1321; Alexander Roslin. Portrait of Marie-Françoise Julie Constance Filleul, Marquise de Marigny with a book. 1754. Private Collection. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-marie-fran%C3%A7oise-julie-constance-filleul-news-photo/600054461#/portrait-of-mariefranoise-julie-constance-filleul-marquise-de-marigny-picture-id600054461; Joseph Siffred Duplessis. Madame de Saint-Maurice. 1776. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 69.161.
1. Emma Markiewicz. Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England. here. 2014. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
2. We have yet to find a portrait of a woman depicted wearing a hard-front wig. When a tête (wig) is worn, multiple hairdressing manuals stress that the hairline should be blended with the wearer’s natural hairline, short though her natural hair may be. See James Stewart, Peter Gilchrist and David Ritchie.
3. Markiewicz, Emma. Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England. Pages here & here. 2014. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
4. Some excellent examples are: Thomas Rowlandson. Six Stages of Mending a Face. 1792. British Museum. 1876,1014.10; James Gillray. Female Curiosity. 1778. National Portrait Gallery, London. NPG D12976; Matthew Darly. Lady Drudger Going to Ranelagh. 1772. Yale University Library, Lewis Walpole Digital Collection. 772.04.25.01.1.
5. Amanda Vickery. “Mutton Dressed as Lamb? Fashioning Age in Georgian England.” Journal Of British Studies 52:4 (2013). Pages 858–886.
6. David Ritchie. A Treatise on Hair. 1770. Eighteenth Century Collections Online; Peter Gilchrist. A Treatise on the Hair. 1770. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online; William Moore. The Art of Hair-Dressing, and Making It Grow Fast, Together with a Plain and Easy Method of Preserving It; with Several Useful Recipes, &c. c. 1780. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online; Diderot and d’Alembert. Encyclopédie Méthodique, ou par Ordre de Matières; par une Société de Gens de Lettres, de Savans et d’Artistes. 1789. Paris. Google Books; and Legros de Rumigny. L’Art de la Coëffure des Dames Françoises. 1768. Paris. Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique. Just to name a few.
7. William Moore. The Art of Hair-Dressing, and Making It Grow Fast, Together with a Plain and Easy Method of Preserving It; with Several Useful Recipes, &c. c. 1780. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
8. Trust us, we failed with fake hair so you could avoid the suffering.
9. False chignons or long hair were extremely common in the eighteenth century, and most of our hairdressing manuals discuss their use (See Bibliography). James Stewart writes, “Now to put on: and first the false chignon; I have before said where this is to be placed; but if it is not made very flat and strong with a good small comb, it will make the head appear bumpy and aukward behind.” Plocacosmos. Page 299.
10. David Ritchie. A Treatise on the Hair. Pages here–here. 1770. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online; James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Pages 298–300. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
11. Many cartoons and depictions of the hair being dressed show false buckles in use, such as “The Village Barber,” 1778. The British Museum. J,5.121. Additionally, Gilchrist and Ritchie both offer false buckles for sale in their books, both aptly named A Treatise on the Hair, 1770, and there are many more references.
1. Anonymous. “Caution against using White Lead as a Cosmetic.” The Bristol and Bath magazine, or, Weekly miscellany. Containing selected beauties from all the new publications, together with a variety of Pages here & here. 1782–1783. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
2. Le Camus. A. Abdeker; or, the Art of Preserving Beauty. Translated from an Arabic manuscript or rather from the French of A. Le Camus. here. 1756. Google Books.
3. Pierre Joseph Buchoz, M.D. Toilet de Flora. 1772. London. Google Books.
4. Anonymous. “Caution against using White Lead as a Cosmetic.” The Bristol and Bath magazine, or, Weekly miscellany. Containing selected beauties from all the new publications, together with a variety of. here. 1782–1783. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
5. Markiewicz, Emma. Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England. Pages 69, 70, 79 & 82. 2014. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
6. We did not include an eyebrow “pencil,” or burnt clove, in our book. If you are interested in trying this method, see Toilet de Flora. 1772. Pages here & here. Google Books.
7. Pierre Joseph Buchoz, M.D. Toilet de Flora. here. 1772. London. Google Books.
8. Every model in this book wore the rouge, and, in our opinion, they all looked amazing.
9. OutKast. “Hey Ya!” Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. 2003. LaFace & Arista Records.
10. Pierre Joseph Buchoz, M.D. Toilet de Flora. here. 1772. London. Google Books.
11. This substitution was provided in Toilet de Flora. here. 1772. London. Google Books.
1. Legros de Rumigny. L’Art de la Coëffure des Dames Françoises. 1768. Paris. Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique.
2. Legros followed up with supplemental publications in 1768 and 1770 with even more plates and descriptions.
3. Recollections of Léonard, here.
4. Recollections of Léonard, here. “… high head-dresses are becoming very common; it is long since the bourgeoisie has taken possession of it, and now it is the turn of the common people.”
5. Recollections of Léonard, here. The Journal des Dames was resurrected in January 1774.
6. In A Treatise on the Hair, 1770, the description Ritchie gives aligns perfectly with Legros’s hairstyles: “[Of a crape Toupee] Of a regular one-row of curls, and a crape before them.” here.
7. Take your pick between Gilchrist, Ritchie, Stewart and Moore, as they all discuss how the English were slow to adopt hair powder.
8. This personal preference amongst English (and American) women is visible through existing portraiture.
9. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Page 244. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
1. Peter Gilchrist. A Treatise on the Hair. Pages here–here. 1770. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
2. See Portrait of the Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher, 1756; The Marquise de Pompadour by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, 1748–1755; and the marble bust of Madame de Pompadour by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, 1748–1751.
3. James Stewart. Plocacosmos. Pages 242–243. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
4. Jean-Étienne Liotard. Portrait of Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (Marie Antoinette). 1762. Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva. 1947-0042.
5. Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers, par une Société de Gens de Lettres, 1773, and The Lady’s Magazine vol 16, Robinson, 1785, both describe the tête or tête de mouton in relation to the front of the head only, but David Ritchie and Peter Gilchrist in their respective A Treatise on the Hair, 1770, and James Stewart in Plocacosmos also describe the tête de mouton by name as covering the back of the head in curls.
6. In L’Art de la Coëffure des Dames Françoises, 1768, Legros includes instructions and diagrams for cutting the hair to achieve these styles.
7. Cap Back. c. 1740. Victoria and Albert Museum. August 2018. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O134732/cap-back-unknown.
8. Please read the chapter introduction for more information on what is, isn’t, maybe is and maybe isn’t a tête de mouton.
9. David Ritchie. A Treatise on Hair. Pages here–here. 1770. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
10. Legros de Rumigny. L’Art de la Coëffure des Dames Françoises. 1768. Paris. Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique. In the plates showing the back of the head, Legros illustrates tiny, closely-cut hairs at the nape of the neck. See here and here and their accompanying plates.
11. A description and illustration labeled “coëffure de dentelles” (or “lace head” in English) appears in Diderot’s L’Encyclopédie, Arts de l’habillement, Chapter “Lingerie,” plate 1.
12. Cap. 18th Century. MFA, Boston. 38.1206; Accessory Set. c. 1750. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 2009.300.2195a-d; Cap Back. c. 1740. Victoria and Albert Museum. T.27-1947.
1. David Ritchie. A Treatise on the Hair. here. 1770. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
2. This is just our name for this piece, not the historical term. We have not found a proper name for this headgear, but if you have please let us know!
3. Anonymous. “Patterns for the Newest and Most Elegant Head Dresses.” The Lady’s Magazine. May 1771. Yale University Library. Lewis Walpole Digital Collections. 771.05.00.03.
4. Three American portraits by John Singleton Copley, between 1772 and 1773, depict this type of headgear: Dorothy Quincy (1975.13), Mrs. Isaac Winslow (39.250) and Mrs. Richard Skinner (06.2428). All Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
5. Hat. c. 1760. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1984.140.
1. Pierre-Thomas LeClerc, Nicolas Dupin, Esnauts et Rapilly. Galerie des Modes et Costumes Français, 6e Suite d’Habillemens à la mode en 1778. M.67. “Jeune Dame se faisant coeffer à neuf …”. 1778. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 44.1333.
2. Joseph Siffred Duplessis. Madame de Saint-Maurice. 1776. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 69.161. This painting was exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1777 and is apparently dated 1776 according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s webpage. However, the height and shape of her hair is more in keeping with the style of the previous years of 1774 and 1775. Madame was a bit out of fashion, but as with all modes in dress, fashions do not suddenly cease from December of one year to January of the next.
3. Every manual we’ve studied uses the term “cushion.” Please see bibliography if you don’t believe us.
4. Sarah Woodyard. “Martha’s Mob Cap? A Milliner’s Hand-Sewn Inquiry into Eighteenth-Century Caps ca. 1770–1800.” here. University of Alberta. Accessed June 2018. https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/d08025c6-d1b7-4221-81f4-fc1601b57258.
5. If your hair is thinner and finer, you might not need/want to do this step, but instead just pin the hair to the inside of the donut. See the Ski Slope chapter (here) for an example of this technique.
6. Several examples are “Woman Wearing a Flowered Dress and Hat.” 1770–1780. Lewis Walpole Library. 778.00.00.02; “Portrait of an Unknown Woman in a White Cap.” Grigoriy Serdiukov. 1772; and “Lady Nightcap at Breakfast.” 1772. Carington Bowles. British Museum. 2010,7081.1223.
7. A wonderful description of the calash bonnet from Annals of Philadelphia by John Fanning Watson reads, “‘A Calash Bonnet’ was always formed of green silk; it was worn abroad, covering the head, but when in rooms it could fall back in folds like the springs of a calash or gig top; to keep it up over the head it was drawn up by a cord always held in the hand of the wearer.” John Fanning Watson. Annals of Philadelphia. here. 1830. New York. Google Books.
8. Woman’s calash bonnet, green and rose silk. 1777–1785. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Acc. No. 1960-723.
9. See Art Works Cited (here) for a list of original calash bonnets held in various museum collections.
1. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell. Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Pages here–here. 2015. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.
2. Léonard Autié. Recollections of Léonard, Hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette. Translated from French by E. Jules Meras. here. Originally published 1838. Translated 1912. London. Archive.org.
3. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell. Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. here. 2015. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.
4. We did a lot of YouTube and Google searches here, and one of our favorite videos on the subject can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_61hv7tPU4.
5. “Cousin Itt is a fictional character in The Addams Family television and film series. He was developed specifically for the 1964 television series The Addams Family, and is a regular supporting character in subsequent motion picture, television, and stage adaptations.” Wikipedia.org.
6. Freebird, y’all.
7. Léonard Autié. Recollections of Léonard, Hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette. Translated from French by E. Jules Meras. here. Originally published 1838. Translated 1912. London. Archive.org.
8. Léonard Autié. Recollections of Léonard, Hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette. Translated from French by E. Jules Meras. Pages here–here. Originally published 1838. Translated 1912. London. Archive.org.
1. Léonard Autié. Recollections of Léonard, Hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette. Translated from French by E. Jules Meras. Pages here–here. Originally published 1838. Translated 1912. London. Archive.org.
2. Ralph Earl. Portrait of Esther Boardman. 1789. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1991.338.
3. A treasure trove of hairstyle fashion plates can be found in the Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français, Claude-Louis Desrais, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (www.mfa.org).
4. Just to confuse us, Gallerie des Modes labels all sorts of headgear, hairstyles and parts of the hair as toque and also sans toque. For the sake of differentiating this project, and in reference to the many examples in Gallerie des Modes, we choose to call it a toque, but cap (bonnet in French) and even pouf are also correct. Gallerie des Modes. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. www.mfa.org.
5. Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français shows a black Therese from 1776 (mfa.org, 44.1265). More plates appear depicting both black and white Thereses from 1779 (mfa.org, 44.1403) and 1785 (mfa.org, 44.1633 and 44.1613).
1. The hérrison (or “hedgehog”) hairstyle first appears in Gallerie des Modes in 1776, showing the hair dressed over a tall cushion and corralled at the top by a ribbon or band, the ends left sticking straight up and uncurled creating the “spiky” effect the name eludes to. The term persisted through the early and mid-1780s craped and frizzed hairstyles. The common link is the ribbon and spiky top, not the frizzed or curled crown. Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français, plates from 1776–1785 show many variations of the hérisson hairstyle. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. www.mfa.org (Accession Nos. 44.1243, 44.1249, and 44.1527, for example).
2. Pierre-Thomas LeClerc and Pélissier. Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français. Plates 200 (44.1498), 201 (44.1500) and 204 (44.1505). 1780. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. www.mfa.org.
3. Recollections of Léonard. Pages here–here.
4. The fashion magazines named these styles all manner of things, such as Coëffure dite à la Princesse, Coëffure à la nouvelle Créole or Coëffure aux Colimaçous d’amour, just to name a few from the Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français.
5. David Ritchie. A Treatise on Hair. Pages here–here. 1770. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Ritchie describes the hair being crape’d and staying in dress for “some months.” See here for more on crape-ing.
6. James Stewart in Plocacosmos explains, “[…] after that take a very large net fillet, which must be big enough to cover the head and hair, and put it on, and drawing the strings to a proper tightness behind, till it closes all round the face and neck like a purse, bring the strings round the front and back again to the neck, where they must be tied; this, with the finest lawn handkerchief, is night covering sufficient for the head.” Page 294.
7. Abby was actually crazy enough to do this with straws, and it totally worked!
8. A description and illustrations of papillote curls, paper and irons can be seen in L’Encyclopédie, Arts de l’habillement by Diderot, chapter “Perruquier, Barbier, Baigneur-etuviste,” plate 2.
1. Legros de Rumigny. L’Art de la Coëffure des Dames Françoises. 1768. Paris. Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique.
2. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Marie Antoinette in a Chemise Dress. 1783. Hessische Hausstiftung, Kronberg.
3. Charles V. Linneaus. A General System of Nature Through the Grand Kingdoms or Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals […]. 1766/1802. London. Archive.org.
4. Charles V. Linneaus. A General System of Nature Through the Grand Kingdoms or Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals […]. 1766/1802. London. Archive.org.
5. S. White & G.J. White. Stylin’ African American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. here. 1999. Ithaca. Cornell University Press.
6. S. White & G.J. White. Stylin’ African American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. here. 1999. Ithaca. Cornell University Press.
7. L.L. Tharps. & A.D. Byrd. Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair. here. 2002. New York. St. Martins.
8. L.L. Tharps. & A.D. Byrd. Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair. here. 2002. New York. St. Martins.
9. L.L. Tharps. & A.D. Byrd. Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair. here. 2002. New York. St. Martins.
10. S. White & G.J. White. Stylin’ African American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. here. 1999. Ithaca. Cornell University Press.
11. S. White & G.J. White. Stylin’ African American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. here. 1999. Ithaca. Cornell University Press.
12. Aileen Ribeiro. Dress in Eighteenth-Century Europe. here. 2002. New Haven and London. Yale University Press. Another example is a letter written by Elizabeth Montagu in 1764, “[I?] never saw such a set of people as appear in the publick rooms … [t]heir dress is most elaborately ugly. A friseur [to curl the hair] is employ’d three hours in a morning to make a young Lady look like a virgin Hottentot or Squaw, all art ends in giving them the ferocious air of uncomb’d savages.” From Angela Rosenthal. “Raising Hair.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 38, no. 1 (2004): 1–16. here. https://muse.jhu.edu/.
13. Florence Montgomery. Textiles in America 1650–1870. Pages here–here. 2007. New York & London. W.W. Norton & Company.
14. David Ritchie. A Treatise on Hair. Pages here–here. 1770. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
15. For this tutorial, we follow James Stewart’s instructions in Plocacosmos as closely as we can. Pages 258–260.
16. Yes, we’re referencing that classic scene in Little Women. It’s Abby’s favorite movie, by the way.
17. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Page 278. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
18. Diderot and d’Alembert. Encyclopédie Méthodique, ou par Ordre de Matières; par une Société de Gens de Lettres, de Savans et d’Artistes. 1789. Paris. Google Books.
19. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Pages 257–280. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
20. Diderot and d’Alembert. Encyclopédie Méthodique, ou par Ordre de Matières; par une Société de Gens de Lettres, de Savans et d’artistes. 1789. Paris. Google Books.
21. Before Stewart goes into the details of crape-ing and setting the hair, he explains the cut, which was as short as a half-inch (1.2 cm) in the front! Plocacosmos, pages 250–254.
22. That is, if we’re not ugly crying because buckles are mean.
23. Designed by Pierre-Thomas LeClerc, Engraved by Nicolas Dupin. Much of the Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français can be searched on the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston website (www.mfa.org). Caps very similar to this one appear in many fashion plates, both French and English, across a broad range of years.
24. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond. 1785. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Accession No. 53.225.5.
25. Claude-Louis Desrais and Nicolas Dupin. Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français. 41e Cahier des Costumes Français, 11e Suitte de coeffures à la mode en 1783. tt.250. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accession No. 44.1555.
26. Here are some examples of bonnets that are not black: Carrington Bowles. A Decoy for the Old as well as the Young. 1773. Yale University Library Digital Collections, Lewis Walpole Library. Call No. 773.01.19.02+; William Redmore Bigg. A Lady and Her Children Relieving a Cottager. 1781. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Accession No. 1947-64-1; William Redmore Bigg. A Girl Gathering Filberts. 1782. Plymouth City Council: The Box. Accession No. PLYMG.CO.3; Carington Bowles after Robert Dighton. Youth and Age. 1780–1790. The British Museum. 1935,0522.1.78.
27. There’s more evidence of black bonnets existing than colored versions. In Instructions for Cutting Out Apparel for the Poor, black durant is presented as the fabric and color option. In Annals of Philadelphia the author comments on eighteenth-century bonnets, “As a universal fact, it may be remarked that no other colour than black was ever made for ladies bonnets when formed of silk or satin” (here). While this is not entirely true, based on observation of portraiture from the last quarter of the eighteenth century, it furthers the understanding that black was the dominant color for bonnets.
28. J. Walter. Instructions for Cutting Out Apparel for the Poor […]. Pages here & here. 1789. London. Google Books.
1. Plocacosmos (1782) explains the process of both curling and crape-ing for the hair, with the crape-ing being at the front. The Art of Hair Dressing by Alexander Stewart (1788) only curls the hair. These differences can also be seen in the hair texture in portraiture as the 1780s progresses.
2. Alexander Stewart. The Art of Hair Dressing. Pages here–here. 1788. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
3. Anonymous. Seated Woman, Seen from Behind. c. 1790–1795. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Accession No. 2000.131.
4. James Stewart. Plocacosmos: or the Whole Art of Hair Dressing; Wherein Is Contained Ample Rules for the Young Artizan, More Particularly for Ladies Women, Valets, &c. &c. Page 254. 1782. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
5. Alexander Stewart. The Art of Hair Dressing. here. 1788. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
6. We’ve made up this name for the cap, because we think it looks like a jellyfish.
7. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Madame Victoire de France. 1791. Phoenix Art Museum. Accession No. 1974.36; Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Madame Adélaïde de France. 1791. Musée Jeanne-d’Aboville, La Fère, Aisne. Accession No. MJA 124.
8. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. Portrait of a Woman (formerly thought to be Madame Roland). 1787. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper. Accession No. 873-1-787; Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. Marie Adélaïde de France, Known as Madame Adélaïde. 1786–1787. Palace of Versailles. Accession No. MV 5940.
9. We’re talking about Marie Antoinette and her chemise gown again.
10. There are lots of lovely examples, such as Mrs. Thomas Hibbert by Thomas Gainsborough, 1786 (Die Pinakotheken, Munich. FV 4) and the Comtesse de la Châtre by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1789 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 54.182).
11. In hat-making, hoods and capelines are the basic, roughly-shaped, un-blocked hat forms in straw or wool. Hoods produce more narrow-brimmed hats while capelines make for wider-brimmed hats.
1. N. Heideloff. Gallery of Fashion Vol. 1 (April 1794) – Vol. 9 (March 1803). London. Bunka Gakuen Library, Digital Archive of Rare Materials. http://digital.bunka.ac.jp/kichosho_e/search_list2.php.
2. If you have our first book, you know that our 1790s chapter was heavily influenced by the art of Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Her Russian portraits in the 1790s have that slightly matte appearance to the hair, nothing like the glossy shine that appears in her 1800s portraits. This contrast, plus our experimentation, has brought us to this conclusion. Joseph Baillio, Katharine Baetjer, Paul Lang. Vigée Le Brun. 2016. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.
3. The term chiffonet is used throughout Gallery of Fashion. Here is just one example: Heideloff. Gallery of Fashion Vol. 1 (April 1794) – Vol. 9 (March 1803). Vol. 1 (1794) Fig. VII. London. Bunka Gakuen Library, Digital Archive of Rare Materials. http://digital.bunka.ac.jp/kichosho_e/search_list2.php.
4. For an extensive description of applying papillote papers, see Alexander Stewart’s The Art of Hair Dressing or, The Ladies Director, 1788. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
5. Yeah, we just made a French Revolution joke … too soon?
6. Heideloff. Gallery of Fashion Vol. 1 (April 1794) – Vol. 9 (March 1803). Vol. 1 (1794) Fig. VII. London. Bunka Gakuen Library, Digital Archive of Rare Materials. http://digital.bunka.ac.jp/kichosho/index.php.
7. All of the figures in Gallery of Fashion for the first volume have a variety of turbans, caps, wraps, etc.
1. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell. Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Page 278. 2015. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.
2. While we’re not going to go into much detail about how the British government almost stopped the use of hair powder in its tracks, you can read more about what was happening in John Hart’s An Address to the Public on the Subject of the Starch and Hair-Powder Manufactories […]. 1795. London. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. It wasn’t good. People were being attacked in the streets, and this tax was causing a great deal of damage to the starch manufacturing industry.
3. Stephen Dowell. A History of Taxation and Taxes in England from the Earliest Times to the Year 1885. Volume III. Direct Taxes and Stamp Duties. Pages 255–59. 1888. London. Longmans, Green & Co.
4. Emma Markiewicz. Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England. here. 2014. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
5. Stephen Dowell. A History of Taxation and Taxes in England from the Earliest Times to the Year 1885. Volume III. Direct Taxes and Stamp Duties. Pages 255–59. 1888. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
6. James Rennie. A New Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris […]. Pages 353–54. 1833. London. Google Books.
7. Recipes found in eighteenth-century manuals and nineteenth-century manuals are often identical in their composition, or incredibly similar. There are too many to list, but comparing Toilet de Flora (1779) to A New Supplement to the Pharacopeoias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris (1833) comes to mind.