1625-1702 - Jacobean Ladies Hairstyles & Headdresses as Shown in
'English Costume History by Dion Clayton Calthrop'
This costume history page is about hair fashion history. It consists of a selection of women only
headdresses and hairstyles of illustrations with Calthrop's
text and from Calthrop's
English Costume from 1625 to 1702.
They are as shown in individual Calthrop costume pages
for a specific era on 36 other pages in another section of this website. The partial text copy
is from the book ENGLISH
COSTUME PAINTED & DESCRIBED BY DION CLAYTON CALTHROP. Full
text is on the individual dated pages.
This page is about female headwear and hair styles for the era
1625-1702. Later eras of headdresses are shown on other pages.
For the Introduction to this book see this
introduction written by Dion Clayton Calthrop. My comments are in italics.
Right -
Hairstyle Of Jacobean Woman Time of Early
James 1st.
Early in the reign the high-dressed hair was abandoned, and to
take its place the hair was dressed so that it was gathered up by the
ears, left parted on the crown, and twisted at the back to hold a plume
or feather. Time went on, and hair-dressing again altered; the hair was
now taken in four parts: first the hair was drawn well back off the
forehead, then the two side divisions were curled neatly and dressed to
fall over the ears, the fourth group of hair was neatly twisted and so
made into a small knot holding the front hair in its place. Later on
came the fringe of small curls, as in the portrait of Queen Henrietta at
Windsor by Vandyck.
This is not one of the most Puritanical dresses, but shows how the
richness of the reign of Charles I was toned down. She carries a muff in
her hand, wears a good wide collar and cuffs, and neat roses on her shoes.
This shows the modification of the dress of the time of Charles I.
Not an extreme change, but an endeavour towards simplicity.
With the careless air that was then adopted by everybody, which was to
grow yet more carefully careless in the reign of Charles II, the hair
was a matter which must have undivided attention, and centuries of tight
dressing had not improved many heads, so that when the loose love-locks
and the dainty tendrils became the fashion, many good ladies and
gentlemen had recourse to the wigmaker. In the
days when to be wigless was to be undressed the perruquier was a very
great person.
The ladies, for a time, indulged in a
peculiar loop of hair on their foreheads, called a 'fore-top,' which
gave rise to another fashion, less common, called a 'taure,' or bull's
head, being an arrangement of hair on the forehead resembling the close
curls of a bull.
The loose curls on the forehead were called 'favorites'; the long locks arranged to hang away from the face over the
ears were called 'heart-breakers'; and the curls close to the cheek were
called 'confidents.' Ladies wore cloaks with baggy hoods for travelling,
and for the Mall the same hats as men, loaded with feathers.
The costume plate shows a woman who has adopted the fair golden locks
hairstyle and twirled into ringlets which are tied with a ribbon
which is dressed
over a frame at the sides.
Ladies Costume - Time of Charles II
Left - Ladies Hairstyle - Time of Charles II
Right - Ladies Hairstyle - Time of James II
Here you see the cap called the 'fontage,' the black silk apron, the
looped skirt, and the hair on the high frame called a 'commode.'
'We see her coming afar off; against the yew hedge her weeds shine for a
moment. We see her figuretto gown well looped and puffed with the
monte-la-haut. Her échelle is beautiful, and her pinner exquisitely
worked. We can see her commode, her top-not, and her fontage, for she
wears no rayonné.
A silver pin holds her meurtriers, and the fashion
suits better than did the crève-cœurs. One hand holds her Saxon green
muffetee, under one arm is her chapeau-bras. She is beautiful, she needs
no plumpers, and she regards us kindly with her watchet eyes.'
'The hat is a paille d'Italie trimmed with a profusion of pink roses,
accompanied by a pink chiffon ruffle fashioned into masses bouillonnée arranged at intervals and circled with wreaths of shaded
roses.'
The modern terms so vaguely used are shocking, and the descriptive
names given to colours by dress-artists are horrible beyond belief - such
as Watteau pink and elephant grey, not to speak of Sèvres-blue cherries.
However, the female mind delights in such jargon and hotch-potch.
The 'commode' is the wire frame over which
the curls are arranged, piled up in high masses over the forehead.
The 'top-not' is a large bow worn at the top of the commode; and the
'fontage' or 'tower' is a French arrangement of alternate layers of lace
and ribbon raised one above another about half a yard high.
It was
invented in the time of Louis XIV, about 1680, by Mademoiselle Fontage.
This costume history page is about hair fashion history. It consists of a selection of women only
headdresses and hairstyles of illustrations with Calthrop's
text and from Calthrop's
English Costume from 1625 to 1702. They are as shown in individual Calthrop costume pages
for a specific era on 36 other pages in another section of this website. The partial text copy
is from the book ENGLISH
COSTUME PAINTED & DESCRIBED BY DION CLAYTON CALTHROP. Full
text is on the individual dated pages.
This page is about female headdresses and hairstyles dresses for the era
1625-1702. Later eras of headdresses are shown on other pages.
For the Introduction to this book see this
introduction written by Dion Clayton Calthrop. My comments are in italics.
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This costume history page is about hair fashion history. It consists of a selection of women only
headdresses and hairstyles of illustrations with Calthrop's
text and from Calthrop's
English Costume from 1625 to 1702.
