Everything we now use is made [in] imitation of those models lately discovered in Italy. – Observation by an Englishman
Diana Sackville, 1777
In the late 18th century, hairstyles for women took a dramatic turn from the pouffed-up and constructed hairdos of the earlier Georgian age to the simple hair styles inspired by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Curls now framed the face and chignons replaced the complicated, almost architectural concoctions that took hairdressers hours to create. Ancient statues and works of art brought back as spoils of war or as souvenirs from grand tours revealed classical hairstyles. Women began to wear simpler hairdos with long hair pulled back in chignons or simple pony tails, long curls trailing over the shoulder, and short ringlets framing the face. Hair ornaments consisted of flower wreaths, ribbons, jewelry, tiaras, and combs.
Hairstyles on statues from antiquity
Lady Caroline Lamb (lower left) sported a saucy short bob, whose influence can be seen from the portrait in the Roman mural at the Metropolitan Museum. Madame Recamier, whose hair is longer, achieves a similar effect with ringlets around her face. Her curly hair, gathered in back, allowed the ringlets to fall. At right, the Marchioness of Queenston achieved a very similar style to Madame Recamier’s, but her bandeau sat further back on her head and the ringlets framing her face were thicker.
Longer hair, while not as prevalent as the up-do’s, usually took the form of a long curl draped over the shoulder. At second to right, Mrs. Henry Baring wore a more casual “do”, with her locks streaming around her neck and shoulders.
The long curl
Straight, simple hairstyles with few ringlets and ordinary bangs, or a style simply parted in the middle were worn, but were not drawn or painted by artists or depicted in fashion plates as often as the curlier styles.
Fashion plates of the time show how these hairstyles looked with bonnets and hair ornaments with a (l – r) walking dress, ball gown, afternoon dress, or morning dress.
The hairstyles that Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson wore in Sense and Sensibility seemed to be particularly true to the period (in my opinion). Some of you may have noticed that I use Kate Winslet’s image of Marianne as my avatar.
This image of a Roman statue (a copy of an earlier Greek statue) shows the hairstyle that would become prevalent in the later Regency/early Victorian era (1820’s to 1830’s).
1st C. AD Roman bust
“We wore white crepe dresses trimmed with satin ribbon & the bodices & sleeves spotted with white beads. . . Thursday night, Pearl combs, necklaces, earrings, & brooches. . . Tuesday evening we had sprigged muslin. . . gold ornaments & flowers in our heads & Friday we wore yellow gauze dresses over satin, beads in our heads & pearl ornaments” – Fanny Knight Austen
Fanny Knight wrote a vivid description of how women dressed and what sort of accessories were popular when she was a young woman. The 1811 fronticepiece to The Mirror of Graces (above) shows how simple and elegant the combination of Neoclassical hair, dress, and accessories looked. Jewelry styles favored smaller, lighter forms of draped chains and classical motifs, which were reflected in hair ornaments. These days jewelry from the Georgian era is difficult to find, for many of the pieces were refitted or redesigned to reflect motifs of the neoclassical period. (Neoclassical Jewellery ). Ebay Guides can be extremely useful in researching information about this era, such as this one entitled, Georgian and Regency Combs and Hair Accessories – 1800-1814. (Click here for the PDF document.)
Georgian tiara and combs, early 19th c.
In addition to gold and silver hair ornaments, such as tiaras and diadems, young women wore silk ribbons, strands of pearls, feathers and other fancy hair ornaments in their hair, most notably for balls and formal occasions. These hair jewels were a visible sign of a family’s or husband’s wealth. Bonnets, hats, or turbans were also worn on social outings. The second image from the right (above) is of a George III silver comb, 1807. ”Silver combs of this type appear to have been a speciality of Birmingham, where they were produced in a small quantity and in a collectable variety of forms.” (Cinoa)
As the Regency era progressed long hair became increasingly popular and full ringlets began to appear near the side of the face. Hair ornaments for balls included jewellery, bandeaux, turbans and wreaths of grapes and towards the latter end of the Regency era flowers, turbans and ostrich feathers were seen to adorn the hair. (Overseale House)
These days we achieve curls and ringlets with a hot curling iron. The use of hot irons in the 19th century was tricky, for hair could easily be singed. Back then, curls were made with pomade, a hair gel, and curling papers. The lost art of the paper curl describes how a person today can make a similar curl using old-fashioned techniques.
Perdita Weeks as Lydia Bennet in Lost in Austen
The transition from the structured hairstyles of the mid-18th Century to the Regency period was not achieved without its own set of complications, as this James Gillray cartoon shows. The cartoon was drawn in the earlier Neoclassical period, when round gowns were still worn.
A lady putting on her cap, Gillray, 1795
The fashion plate below shows how charming and uncomplicated, yet classic, the combination of the 1802 hairstyles and afternoon dresses are together, whereas the 1811 fronticepiece showed how rich both hair and fabric can be made to look using similar principles of fashion design.
Afternoon Dress 1802 Lady's Monthly Museum
More links on this topic:
- The History of the Curl from Every Woman’s Encyclopedia offers a short discussion about hairstyles in early 1800. While the discussion is quite informative, please note that the drawings are Edwardian interpretations of Regency paintings.
- Read more: http://haircare.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_copy_pride_and_prejudice_hairstyles#ixzz0Vcw73tTj
- Ebay Guides can be extremely useful in researching information about a certain era, such as this one entitled, Georgian and Regency Combs and Hair Accessories – 1800-1814, Click here for the PDF document.
- Encyclopedia of hair: a cultural history by Victoria Sherrow
- Jessamyn’s Regency Costume Companion Hairstyles
- Regency Hairstyle Tutorial
- Regency hairstyles on Ups and Downs
- Vintage Styling: Regency Hair
- Barbara Anne’s Hair Comb Blog: EBay
- Her Crowning Glory: Nineteen Teen
- We Make History by Lord Scott: Series of paintings showing Regency hairstyles
- Period Hairstyles: Crowning Glory
- Victorian Hair Combs
Found in the vaults of Pemberley are three letters that Elizabeth Darcy wrote to her sister Jane describing a shocking discovery about her husband. These letters have been published for the first time.
Click Here for My Oxford World's Classics Reviews of
I do like the idea of the whole neoclassical hair styles, I however, can never get my hair to do any of those things! Give me ribbons and combs, I swear it just falls flat in every way. Curling iron ringlets are tough to tame too.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who tests that paper curls technique.
Vic, have you experimented with any of the above styles?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sheila Littleton and Vic , Caroline Rance. Caroline Rance said: RT @janeaustenworld Regency hairstyles and accessories on Jane Austen's World. http://bit.ly/33JWpV <– Lovely post [...]
Hi Lauren, My hair is as straight as straw. I’ve tried everything, including paper curls, which show the “cricks” and bends in the paper. The technique works best if your hair is short and wet.
Only my hairdresser is able to sweep my hair in an updo that stays, using a ton of gel and hairspray. Those simple straight styles with a curl dangling in front of each ear is the best I can do on my own.
As for accessories, I have draped jeweled chains in my hair, and used combs, but I dare not use my pearls for fear of staining them with hair product.
A couple of my links show how these hairdos can be achieved. They generally sit at the bottom of the link list.
Fabulous post! I had never seen that Roman bust and the first thing I thought of was: I’ve seen this hairstyle in more Regency illustrations than Roman artwork. I’ve gone to lectures on Regency fashion but they didn’t do half as nice a job as you did with your connective images.
I must say I am quite a fan of the loose turbans and wraps (which look especially great with curls) but I can’t imagine the time it took to put them together.
Thank you, Heather. Coming from you this is a huge compliment. I have always been left feeling a bit hungry when looking up Regency hair styles, so had to create my own post. Vic
I can’t thank you enough for this post! I really appreciate it!
When I want to create an up-do on my very fine, straight hair, I find it works well to wash with baking soda and rinse with vinegar, rather than using commercial hair products. Use 1 T. baking soda in 1 c. warm water (pour on and work into scalp for several minutes before rinsing). Then rinse with 1 T. cider vinegar in 1 c. warm water, and do a final warm water rinse.
One can go completely shampoo-free using this method – it does take some time for one’s scalp to adapt to lack of stripping from commercial shampoos, but after about two weeks it “settles in”.
This method leaves the hair with more volume, and it’s less “slippery” when dry, so it can be worked with more easily in up-dos.
I also find the ornaments from France Luxe invaluable in creating a modern, yet historically-inspired, hairdo.
http://www.franceluxe.com
(If you purchase three items, they automatically throw in a freebie. No affiliation.)
Thanks again for creating this wonderfully informative post!
Stasia – thank you for the great link to France Luxe. I have been searching for a classic double headband for years. They have a beautiful selection. I wanted everything, but settled on two. Free shipping for the rest of the year. Thanks again. LA
Wonderful post! I’m a classicist (as well as a Janeite) and I love how the ideals of the Enlightenment were expressed in period fashions by imitating Greek and Roman designs. I can never tire of this subject.
Regarding paper curls – try strips of fabric instead. Use them on wet hair before going to bed and even the lankest hair will hold the ringlets (applying a bit of styling product before twisting them up never hurt either). If you have very thick hair, make sure you use a lot of curlers – if you make too few curls, the weight of your hair and the dictates of gravity will prevail by the end of the day. I learned this technique from my grandmother whose mother painstakingly twisted up her hair each night before bed in order to achieve perfect ringlets, ala Shirley Temple.
Thank you, Alexa. Those instructions are so helpful. It’s amazing, isn’t it, how quickly some skills are lost when new inventions come along?
Lurve this post about hair! Very interesting influence from all the Greek statues left behind! Great pictures too.
An other great post! From now on, I’ll look better at hair styles on classic statues..My hair is as straight as possible, I wonder how many times I would have need in those times to get such a curly hair!But the work was worth of it, all women were so pretty!
Beautiful post Vic. You have surpassed even yourself.
Try using strips of t-shirt like cotton cloth for the curls instead of paper. I used this method years ago with success even though I have straight fine hair that does not want to hold a curl no matter what.
Great post. I really like learning about the day-to-day lives of people in the past.
Beautiful images and very interesting post! Thank you.
As did everyone else, I particularly enjoyed this post; thanks, Vic. Also, I’m throwing in my two-cents’-worth on using strips of cloth for making ringlets. I learned to do it in the ’60’s when ringlets made a brief appearance during an iron-your-hair-straight phase of hairdos, and it worked very well for all the girls in my class. I used strips of old muslin sheets for mine.
Thanks again,
Cathy Allen