The Lady’s Monthly Museum, Or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction. (1819). United Kingdom: Vernor & Hood.
We have gone, with Regency era adaptations, from no hats to now no hairstyle at all.
In the Regency era, women like men moved from the Roccoco style wigs and towering hair, to more natural, romantic looks. But that did not mean flowing down their back. In fact, many women wore shorter hair to imitate Greco-Roman ladies, or in 1810 preferred a simple topknot which would begin to evolve into increasingly elaborate up dos (check out the fashion plates I share from the 1820s for a look) (Jolly, P. (2004). Hair: Untangling a social history.).
This tension between romanticism and neoclassicism resulted in more natural looks, but still dressed. I have snipped some primary source discussions of ladies’ hair to help illustrate what countless depictions in paintings, drawings, and literature depict — women, all types in all classes, with their hair up and often covered in Regency Britain. Rachel Knowles posted a compilation by year, from 1811 to 1820, of fashion plate depictions of hair and headresses here: Blog | Regency History
The practicality of a dressed head was as important as the aesthetic, as Astley indicates. But not just for riding horses. This was a time when ladies’ dresses were constantly catching fire, houses could be cold (and therefore a cap welcome), and people did not regularly wash their hair (founders of the #nopoo movement). These considerations made the efforts of dressing one’s hair a habit.
The most rebellious thing a woman might do is cut off her hair, although it was still often considered fashionable.
What do you think about the debate of undone hair in Regency adaptations?
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