1830. 1855.
BIRD'S-NEST CHIGNON, 1872. PRESENT DAY, 1894.
The labours of Hercules would be mere child's play compared to giving a faithful record of the chameleon-like changes which have affected that kaleidoscope, public taste, during the last forty years, and a very limited study of this fascinating subject at once convinces us that, whatever peculiarities may appear, they are certain to be revivals or modifications of styles favoured by our more or less remote ancestors.
In 1872 loomed upon us that ghastly horror the chignon, which bore a faint resemblance to the exaggerated coiffures of the 18th century. Upon this monstrous edifice, with its seductive Alexandra curl, were tilted bonnets so minute that they were almost invisible in the mountains of hair that surrounded them. These were replaced by hats à la Chinois, like shallow plates; while for winter wear, others of fur or feathers were introduced, with an animal's head fixed firmly on the brow of the wearer, and resembling nothing so much as the fox foot-warmer, with which ladies now keep their pedal extremities at a proper temperature when enjoying an airing. Besides these, there were pinched canoes turned keel uppermost, and flexible mushrooms, which flapped and caught the wind till it was necessary to attach a string to the edge, to keep them snug and taut; such hats as Leech has immortalised in his sketches. Turbans and facsimiles of the delicious but indigestible pork-pie, Gainsborough, Rousby, and Langtry hats, all named after styles worn by their respective namesakes; and hats made of straw, leghorn, crinoline, lace, satin, and of silver and gold tissue, of every shape and size that fancy could devise, or the heart of the most exacting woman of fashion could desire. The hair beneath was dressed like the frizzy mop illustrated, in plaited wedges flowing like a pendant hump half-way down the back, or in a cascade of curls reaching from the crown of the head to the waist. These were followed by gigantic rolls at the back of the skull, Grecian knots, varying from the dimensions of a door handle to those of a cottage loaf, and latterly by that hideous monstrosity, the "bun." Another turn of the wheel of fashion has given us a simple mode of dressing the hair, which is well adapted to the average English head, and which is fully explained by the accompanying sketch. It may be taken as a safe rule, when the forehead is low and face small, that the hair may be drawn back with advantage, but a long face is generally improved by arranging the hair in soft curls on the forehead, and by waving it slightly at the sides, which adds to the apparent width of the countenance. But whatever style is in fashion, it is sure to have its admirers, for has not Pope left on record:
"Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us by a single hair."