A Fair English Rose Or A Towering Pompadour: Beauty In Regency England
- Q&Q Publishing
- Jun 4
- 6 min read
By Jan Ashton and Justine Rivard, authors of A Delicate Rose
"Lady Catherine was a tall, large woman, with strongly-marked features, which might once have been handsome." --Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 29
In our book, A Delicate Rose, we get a glimpse of a Lady Catherine De Bourgh who is unknown to her nephew and his new wife. They see her caught in a time-warp, still preferring the fashions of her youth, such as towering wigs, massive panniers, huge, gaudy jewels, and sometimes outrageously garish makeup, and late to discovering the way fashion and appearance has changed in the period between her youth and her dowager years.
The Highs and Lows of Hairstyles
Lady Catherine was in the first blush of womanhood in the mid-1770s to mid-1780s, when hairstyles shot upward. Perfumed powders and pleasant-smelling pomades made from rendered animal fat were used to condition their hair, keep it clean, and make it hold a style. Ladies also relied on different kinds of hairpieces and wrapped their hair around cushions to create loads of volume, extra curls, and a towering sculptural appearance.
Marie Antoinette was originated and epitomized these styles, and she wore more exaggerated versions than most Frenchwomen. Englishwomen usually did not go quite as far overboard with the height of their hair. Whether English or French, women usually preferred to use their natural hair rather than wearing full wigs, but wigs were certainly not unheard of for those whose natural hair was thin or could not grow long enough for the tall styles. Big backcombed styles, hairpieces, and powders thickened the illusion.
But whether it was one’s real hair or wigs, big hair hid a variety of unpleasant secrets, such as hair loss or the sores common in the advanced stages of syphilis. Lice were unavoidable and common, so much so that ladies’ lice combs developed into elongated forks that could be used to scratch the scalp without dislodging the style. Of course, when an expensive hairstyle was set, washing became unthinkable, so weeks, perhaps months, could pass without a good shampooing. Particularly in hot summer months, having one’s head covered in products and animal fat to hold it in place must have been unbearable. (Hence one source of Lady Catherine’s crankiness?)
Styles changed quickly in the two decades after the French Revolution. Wealthy Frenchwomen had to stop wearing extravagant coiffures if they wanted to keep their heads, and Englishwomen, be it for common sense or fashion sense, toned theirs down, as well. It was not unheard of for women to wear hair powder well into the Regency era. Perhaps Lady Catherine would have continued to powder her hair and saved her more elaborate wigs for a big night out.
During the Regency period, women went for a more natural, classical look. Inspired by ancient Greek and Roman aesthetics, their hairstyles featured soft curls and updos, with accessories like ribbons, pearls, jewels, and gold and silver combs adorning the hair, adding elegance without excessive ornamentation.
Ladies still colored their hair, too, but instead of using powder, dyes were developed using natural products such as oils, pitch, nuts, and saffron. And when hair was washed—hopefully more than once a month—it might be done with beaten egg whites, followed by a rinse of rum and rosewater to cleanse and add shine.
Dying For Beauty
Cosmetics could be weird—false eyebrows fashioned from mice skin?—or deadly. Face paint was lead-based, sometimes mixed with manure for traction or vinegar to thin out the consistency.
Maria Gunning, the Countess of Coventry, is a cautionary tale on cosmetics and vanity. Today she would be a great believer in Botox and plastic surgery, but in the 18th century, her addiction was to cosmetics. Inspired by a trip to France, she began whitening her face with ceruse, a deadly concoction of lead oxide, hydroxide, and carbonate. These chemicals combined with moisture in the skin to form acids that slowly ate away flesh. She used a red plant dye containing poisonous mercury to paint her lips, and a teeth-cleaning solution made from sulphuric acid that gave her a brightly lethal smile. Her husband, concerned about the effects of cosmetics on her health, banned her from using them, but to no avail: she died at 27, her face destroyed by acid and her body ravaged by lead poisoning.
Things were a tad tamer a few years later. Ladies still wore bright rouge on their cheeks, lip coloring, a little pencil, and sometimes some light powder. An Englishwoman who followed the French style, powdering her face white and using a great quantity of rouge on her lips and cheeks, might have been viewed by her peers as a trollop. In the 17th and 18th centuries, both men and women of wealth sometimes sported velvet mouches (French for flies), or beauty patches, in many different eye-catching shapes on their faces. Similar to the language of the fan, the placement of mouches could be communicative: one next to the eye, for example, indicated the wearer was in love. Dark mouches also set off the wearer’s pale skin and could camouflage blemishes or smallpox scars. Moralists considered them a bit louche, and they were years out of fashion by the Regency era.
The Ideal of Natural Beauty
Naturalism was in vogue for the Regency era, when English society was marked by elegance, refinement, and a keen awareness of appearance. For women, beauty was not merely a matter of vanity but a reflection of social standing and moral virtue. Cosmetics played a subtle yet significant role in achieving the era's ideal of natural beauty.
Regency beauty standards favored a delicate, natural look characterized by pale skin, rosy cheeks, and soft features. Heavy makeup was associated with actresses and women of questionable reputation, so respectable women aimed for a more understated appearance. This shift from the flamboyant styles of the 18th century to a more subdued aesthetic was influenced by changing social attitudes and a desire for modesty. Publications such as The Mirror of the Graces offered guidance on maintaining beauty while adhering to social norms. The book emphasized that true beauty stemmed from health, cleanliness, and a graceful demeanor, cautioning against excessive or conspicuous use of cosmetics.
While overt makeup was frowned upon, subtle enhancements were acceptable and even desirable. To achieve the desired pale complexion, women applied rice powder or finely ground starch sparingly. A touch of red on the cheeks was achieved using homemade concoctions from ingredients like cochineal or carmine to give the illusion of a natural flush. Uncolored balms made from beeswax, almond oil, and honey kept lips soft and added a slight sheen. It is easy to imagine that women of Lady Catherine’s generation might view this look as dull and washed out in comparison to the brilliant cheeks and penciled eyebrows of their youth.
Regency women were fastidious about their complexions, and maintaining a clear, luminous and untanned complexion was paramount. Women employed various homemade remedies and commercial products to cleanse and nourish their skin. Virgin milk was a popular facial cleanser made by adding a tincture of benzoin resin to water, creating a milky solution believed to improve skin clarity. Cold cream was used to cleanse and moisturize the skin, often applied at night to soften the complexion. An ointment called Unction de Maintenon combined ingredients like Venice soap, lemon juice, and oil of bitter almonds to lighten freckles and blemishes.
Many women prepared their own beauty products using readily available ingredients. These recipes were passed down through generations and shared among friends. The 1810 book How to Cook provides recipes that could replace pricey items such as Gowland’s Lotion or Sperry’s Lavender Water.
And for those inclined to a Regency spa day, moisturizing face masks were created by blending melon, pumpkin, gourd, and cucumber seeds with cream and milk.
Beauty trends and standards constantly evolve and sometimes get recycled. A century after the Regency era, women in England were again wearing heavy makeup, plucking their eyebrows, and using hot irons to curl their locks into unnatural hairstyles. Today, fortunately, more than two hundred years after Jane Austen created her indelible characters, women have the freedom to go natural, get pierced, or airbrush their faces into their own vision of beauty.
______________________________________________
Public Domain Images:
Portrait of Countess de Bavière-Grosberg, Alexander Roslin
Maria Gunning, attributed to Allan Ramsay.
Ackermann’s Repository, Natural Look, 1817
Mlle des Faveurs a la Promenade a Londres, anonymous, British Museum
Six Stages of Mending a Face, Dedicated with respect to the Right Hon-ble. Lady Archer, Thomas Rowlandson (PG version)
References:
Harper Franklin, 1800-1809, 19th century decade overview, Fashion History Timeline, Fashion Institute of Technology. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1800-1809/, published 25 June 2020.
Michele Meyer, 1780-1789, 18th century decade overview, Fashion History Timeline, Fashion Institute of Technology. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1780-1789/, published 3 August 2021, revised 5 August 2021.
Lauren Stowell, Abby Cox, and Cheyney McKnight, The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty (Salem, Mass: Page Street Publishing, 2009)
The Duties of a Lady’s Maid, 1825
The Toilette of Health, Beauty, and Fashion, 1832, Wittenoom and Cremer
The Mirror of the Graces: Or, The English Lady’s Costume by A Lady of Distinction, 1811
The Art of Beauty: or, The best methods of improving and preserving the shape, carriage, and complexion, 1825, Knight & Lacey
Comments