Marie Antoinette, Big Hair and moi (Part III)

These poufs, no doubt, were impossible to wash and provided a bit of a breeding ground for bugs. Special head-scratchers called grattoirs were made from ivory, silver and gold. Women gracefully slid the flattened, slightly curved end of the stick up into their do for a graceful, discrete scratch.

Christie’s, Paris, April 2006

from Les Arts Décoratifs

The reign of the three Louis Louis Louis is synonymous with everything elaborate, dramatic and no doubt dazzling. Not one object – even utilitarian – seems to have escaped the court unadorned or under embellished. Shopkeepers, hairstylists and menuisiers benefited from this extravagance (while peasants paid the price). So why would a hair dressing chair be ignored? A variety was created, in different forms and from different materials. Fauteuils à coiffer, as they were called, were comfortable. They had to be, women had to sit in them for long hours. Cushioned during the winter months and caned for the summer, they were indented back to facilitate the fixing of a lady's do.

Christie’s, London, April 10, 2002

Sotheby's, Paris, France, June 14, 2006


Christie's, London, United Kingdom, December 14, 2005,
by Antoine Nicolas Delaporte, circa 1775

Marie Antoinette, Big Hair and moi (Part I)

I’ve never particularly liked my hair. It is fine and of a dark reddish-brassy color. I can fix the color (as I do often) but I can only do so much with the lack of thickness. Root boost, thickening spray, Velcro rollers and backcombing helps, but only for a few hours. It ultimately grows weary and limp. The only lift I have is an enormous cowlick on the right side of my forehead. That area sticks straight up with no help at all. And it won’t lie down either – despite wind, rain, snow, humidity or even a bucket of water dumped on my head.

In grade school my mom would often put my long hair in two braids. Because my hair was so fine, I would always lose one of my ponytail holders by the end of the day. Somewhere on the play ground, or on the floor of a classroom or in the gymnasium was one of my lone plastic and elastic hair bobbles. It would just slip out and fall away. I would ask the teacher for some scotch-tape to hold my loose braid together.

After the original Star Wars movie came out in 1977, I desperately wanted to go as Princess Leia for Halloween. I wore my Dad’s white dress shirt which fell past my knees and tied a thick rope around my waist. I had my mom do my usual two braids, but then wrap each one around and around pinning them to the sides of my head. But my braids weren’t anything like the big, fat cinnamon buns like Princess Leia had. I had two dinky little nuts on either side of my head. I was embarrassed for myself and mad at my Mom for not making them look thick like Carrie Fisher’s. No one knew who I was that night as I rang doorbells for candy.

I’ve always wanted thick hair. I’ve mixed packages of gelatin with water and slurped it down, washed my hair with horse shampoo, and coated my thin, straight strands with all sorts of thickening sprays and creams. The only thing I have not tried is crimping it with an iron. A crimping iron makes me think back to 1989, torn Levi’s, Woo Woo shots and a particular ‘Guns ‘n Roses’ song... all with quite a bit of distaste. It also makes me think of more recent times wondering if Kelly Wearstler was trying to bring it back when she appeared on Top Design. I couldn’t crimp then and I still can’t now. So when I’ve read stories about characters -- real people or in fables -- with thick, glorious hair I’ve gotten… a little envious.


Most of us know about Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793). And we’ve heard about her penchant for big hairdos. Many of us can’t understand why she went to such measures to create tall and enormous dos. Though we may desire to have big bouncin’ and behavin’ hair, to go to the great lengths as the women of the court in the eighteenth century did is hard to understand. But we need to put this in historical context. Marie Antoinette's came to the spectacular and glitzy court created by the "Sun King" Louis XIV who had rebuilt Paris and Versailles as THE style centers earlier in the century. Under his reign, "couturière" was born. Women seamstresses were taken seriously and under the protection of a guild, they were allowed to create their own dreamiest of gowns. Some of these women were specifically sought out and recognized in Paris and became the first celebrity designers. Hairdressers as well. The Sun King encouraged luxury goods, fancy furnishings and the latest fashions, and this was to entrance Marie Antoinette.

Court of Versailles was always crowded with hairdressers, dressmakers, and milliners (much like stylists today), who exercised more influence than the King's Councilors. Big hair wasn’t anything new before Marie Antoinette discovered it. Although the Sun King was only about 5’-7” tall, he towered over six feet tall sporting with his high 6” heels and his tall coiffeur. Hairstyles in the early eighteenth century were big and high, so much so that Duc de Saint-Simon who resided for many years at Versailles complained that women's faces were now "in the middle of their bodies."

From very humble beginnings, came a dress designer and stylist named Rose Bertin. According to legend, when Rose was a small girl she would sneak food to a woman in prison who was a fortune teller. She told Rose that one day she would be very successful in life. After apprenticing as a milliner in Paris to Mademoiselle Pagelle, things quickly moved ahead for her, and she eventually became Pagelle's partner. In 1770, Rose opened a shop in Paris called The Grand Mogol filling it with all sorts of grand and gilded displays. Customers walked through the door and felt they were in a jewelry box. She quickly had customers, many among them were influential noble women at Versailles, who included many ladies in waiting to the new Dauphine, Marie Antoinette.

Rose’s style wasn’t limited to clothing; she worked with the court’s leading hairdresser, Monsieur Leonard, developing le pouf – the latest hairstyle. In 1774, when Rose Bertin was presented to Marie Antoinette by the Duchesse of Chartres, that is when the vogue for the big hair began.

(Top image from The Brat Pack Blog...)

Queen Anne: Loyal and Unfortunate

Following the death of her sister Mary from smallpox in December of 1694, Princess Anne of England quietly waited. She should have become Queen in her own right on that day, but her brother-in-law William III continued as sole monarch until his own death in 1702. He was thrown when his horse stumbled on a molehill breaking his collar bone. Shock hit his system and tuberculosis set in. He was two weeks later. Anne’s patience was rewarded. Now crowned as queen, it was the moment she had worked for and waited all her life.

Separated when she was very young from her parents and sister, she had only the affections of her nursery servants. She grew up in an atmosphere of controversy. She had witnessed the deaths of her mother, grandmother and aunt. She betrayed her Catholic father for her Protestant religion. She broke ties with her only sister. She suffered financial humiliation by her brother-in-law. Anne’s one great friendship with Sarah Churchill proved to be baneful, manipulative and ensnaring. She endured nearly two decades of 18 pregnancies and watched her only living child slowly die at the age of eleven clinging to the hope she was pregnant again only to realize it was false. An invalid by 37, her life was filled with mental anguish, physical pain and emotional turmoil. Having a great deal of self-restraint, she was described as "very hard" and "not apt to cry."

In 1683, Princess Anne married the Protestant Prince George of Denmark. An unpopular union viewed by the people, but a very good one for the two of them. She was seen as completely fulfilling gender expectations for women of the time -- an obedient and dutiful wife, who liked to play cards quietly and sew. George was characterized as a fat, lazy and drunk who had little aspirations submitted to the wishes of his wife. Charles II, the Merry Monarch, famous quip about George:

"I have tried Prince George sober, and I have tried him drunk; and, drunk or sober, there is nothing in him."

Never to be crowned king, Anne was devoted to him her entire married life and he to her. He was comfortable with the fact that she was the head of the household. They enjoyed quiet retreats together. And he stood by her during the wrenching times she lost her children.

Unlikely to rule as queen, she received a limited education similar to that of other aristocratic girls of the time: learning languages, music and sewing. Her knowledge of history was basic and she received no instruction in civil law or military matters. She was misunderstood. She was said to be weak from her gender, suffered from poor eyesight and mediocre intelligence. Her personality was shy and reticent and she often isolated herself. In reality, Queen Anne had great common sense, forethought and worked with her personal servants to seek information withheld from her by government ministries. Although short, Queen Anne’s reign would be pivotal. It was one of the most brilliant and critically important periods in British history.

On the morning of the first day of August, 1714, Queen Anne died. She was only 49. Her swollen body from a bacterial infection remained unburied for three weeks as preparations were made. Her physician said Anne's life was shortened by the "scene of contention among her servants. I believe sleep was never more welcome to a weary traveller than death was to her."

Queen Anne reigned over Great Britain for 12 years. It was a time of great watershed from the violence of the seventeenth century and into the stability and prosperity of the eighteenth century. A distinctively English style in furniture and decorative arts developed under the Queen marked by soft and simple curved lines.

Portraits of Queen Anne by Edmund Lilly (1703); Peter Lely (1667-68); Peter Lely (1678); at the time of her marriage in 1683; with her only surviving son Duke of Gloucester.

Margot: Queen of Hearts

Marguerite de Valois (1553 - 1615)

Known as Margot by her family, she was a daughter of a king, a sister of three kings, sister-in-law of another king and a wife of a king. She was among the most vilified women in French history. Accused of having an insatiable sexual appetite, also added to the list of accusations was incest, corruption, murders, treason, and the cause of the political disintegration of France.

Many lies were said about her. Protestant propaganda deemed her as a whore living a decadent life. Catholic propaganda cast her as a woman of dubious faith who committed unspeakable with her brothers in order to gain power. One of her brothers accused her of inappropriate behavior with a lady-in-waiting and later conspired against her. Her mother, Catherine de’ Medici, said she was born on an evil day.

It is difficult to know the real truth. Women were mere pawns in the royal game of power.

Chronicles document that she was one of the most beautiful women of her time; and most noted for her intelligence and learning. Unique, dynamic and daring, she enjoyed wearing various colored wigs -- pink, lilac, purple and red -- to dances and parties. When she was older and her natural color turned gray, she wore powdered wigs sprinkled real gold, the flecks catching in the sunlight.

She wrote a memoir and poetry. And even in an age where licentiousness ran mad, her morals were lax -- she was known for her string of lovers.

In an attempt to bring a peace between Catholics and Protestants, the 19 year old Catholic Margot married the French Hugenot, Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre, on August 18, 1572. A Catholic-Huguenot marriage was controversial and irregular. It was said the couple looked straight ahead during the ceremony, never looking at one another. Margot married him with a forced nod by an older brother's hand upon her head shaking it up and down. Henri spent most of his time outside the church during the mass. Just six days after the wedding, Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre occurred. The wedding offered an opportunity for the most wealthy and prominent Huguenots to attend and linger in Paris. Wedding celebrations would go on for days back then. The massacres spread throughout Paris, to other urban centres and then to the countryside. It lasted several weeks. Tens of thousands of Protestants were killed.

Margot hid several Hugenots in her rooms, including her new husband, not answering to her Catholic mother or any of the assassins. Henri's mother, Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, had opposed the marriage, but traveled to attend the wedding. She never got to see her son married dying under mysterious circumstances. Some say Margot's mother killed her with a gift of poisoned gloves.

Shortly after their marriage Henri took a mistress. He was known to neglect Margot. By 1575, the couple's relations were no longer physical: "I could not endure the pain that I felt," Margot wrote, "and I stopped sleeping with the King my husband". Then she took a lover too. Henri didn’t mind her love affairs as it allowed him ample opportunity to pursue his numerous mistresses.

But her brother Henri III did.

Margot's lovers all died violent deaths. Beheaded, hanged, dismembered or wounded. It was said that Margot saved the heart of each lover and had them embalmed carefully storing them away in gold boxes which she would tuck in little pockets sewn on the inside of her hoop skirt. She spent much of her life apart from Henri in the castle of Cazeneuve, near Bordeaux. She would sneak off at night through a secret passage to a cave on the River Ciron where she would meet her young lovers. Henri IV, king for over a decade, divorced her in 1599 because she was unable to provide him a succession to the throne.

However, after 20 years of an estranged marriage followed by divorce, Margot and Henri became good friends. He let her keep her title after he remarried and gave her a large allowance. The Queen in her fifties never slowed down with her boyfriends.

Her famous words: Is it a crime to love? Is it right to punish me for it? There are no ugly loves, no more than there are beautiful prisons!