“In order to account for the apparent high prices of the above, it is necessary to observe, that there are as many qualities of Hair as of Silk, Fur, or Wool (the guinea, and the guinea and a half Wigs, as they are called, can only be made of the refuse, or of Hair procured in this Country); all that Bowman uses is collected at Fairs, from the French Peasants, on the Continent, which (from the present[49] convulsed state) is now very dear; as, notwithstanding the artful and false insinuations of interested persons, the importation of last year is not more than one-fifth of former years, and no part of it Men’s Hair.
“☞One thing T. B. intreats Ladies to observe, that he does not expose, or dress his best articles on Heads, Poupées, or Dolls, for Show, the common trick at the Cheap Shops, to hide Defects, as many Ladies know to their cost. His Head-dresses are, until they are sold, the same as a Head of Hair that wants cutting; they are then cut and trimmed to suit the Countenance, or fancy, of the wearer. No article is sold that is not in every respect perfect in fitting; and the most disinterested advice given as to what is fashionable, proper, and becoming. Ladies’ Hair dressed at 3s. 6d., 5s., and 7s. 6d.—No. 102, New Bond Street.”
A few days later on, the same paper (March 21, 1800) relates a fearful story. “Yesterday a bald-pated lady lost her wig on Westminster Bridge; and, to complete her mortification, a near-sighted gentleman, who was passing at the time, addressed the back of her head, in mistake for her face, with a speech of condolence.”
In June of the same year, the same paper takes the ladies to task for their décolletée dresses. “The ladies continue to uncover their necks behind, and well they may; for, since they are covering them before, they cannot be so much afraid of back-biting.”
The Queen and the Princesses set practical lessons in social economy to the ladies of England. The latter were not ashamed to embroider their own dresses for a drawing-room, and the Queen, in order to encourage home manufactures, used Spitalfields silk, or stuffs made in this country; and “stuff balls,” like our “calico” ditto, were not uncommon.
At the end of the first decade of the century costumes became even more bizarre; although, of course, Les Invisibles is an exaggeration. The ordinary out-door dress of ladies of this year is shown in the two following illustrations.
GRACE, FASHION, AND MANNERS. FROM THE LIFE—1810.