During the Nineteenth Century there were a lot of
developments in hair styles, during my research I have found a lot of sketches
demonstrating popular year by year looks, to narrow these all down I focus on
the years of 1800 – 1870, reducing it down further by looking into English
styles and those for children in consideration towards Estella as a young girl.
1800
– 1810
In this decade, hairstyles took a dramatic change
and had a much larger variety in choice; short and long equally curled and
accessorised. These highly ornamented hair styles added more glamour to the
woman’s appearance, compensating for their plain gowns.
These images highlight popular hairdos women styled
their hair into during this new turn of a decade, the circled images are ones
fashioned in Britain and most commonly worn. It also shows the use of
accessories in the hair, adding more class and richness to their look.
1810
– 1820
As time passed into the next decade, styles became
more clearly designed. These new styles were usually straightened hair, dressed
very close to the head with a top knot to add more height. To add variation,
the bun would be adorned with braids or curls, causing the topknot to be of
huge importance to the styles. The hairline was often softened by adding curls,
braids or accessories, but as the years went by, more hair was used in front
making it more part of the style then just an afterthought to finish the
design.
Once again, the images displayed above very clearly
demonstrate these styles, the circled sketches being those that were very
common and highly regarded in Britain. There are less accessories in the hair,
but the style itself is more elaborate and perfectly designed.
1820
– 1830
During the third decade of the period, topknots had
become highly desired and continued to develop, adding more height in some
cases and unique styling in others. However, the higher the hair was styled,
the harder it was to keep it sturdy, this resulted in women having their hair
wired into place to add more structure and make the style more stable and
long-lasting. The front of the hair also became more important, it’s
arrangement becoming more and more elaborate for both front and back of the hair,
only to become more complicated by going back to old fashions of the early
nineteenth century and adding accessories into the style once more with
ribbons, feathers, jewels, flowers and pins. Ringlets were also becoming ever
more popular and fashionable; along with the great desire to have dark hair,
black being considered to be very elegant and beautiful.
(Facts demonstrated in images above)
1830
– 1840
Entering the 1830s, hairstyles developed to having
individual designs for that of young girls, designed for older women didn’t
change much from the previous decade, but the idea of styling younger girls
hair made them appear more sophisticated and grown up. There isn’t much information
to be found about these looks other than the sketches below.
Being younger, the girls tended to have shorter
hair as it was still growing, so the looks were mostly loose and didn’t include
top knots and buns like those of the adult hairstyles. However, these looks did
include the braids and other hair décor such as flowers, leaves and feathers.
1840
– 1850
In this decade, the change in hairstyles took a
very minor change, that being that the top knots all evolved into buns on the
back of the head rather on top, though some buns being higher up, coming close
to previous styles. Braids also became more excessive and desired, they added a
natural glamour to the wearers hair without need to add other accessories,
though they were still highly used until later in the decade when braids became
less common though still used in evening hair-dos. This meant accessories were
more glamourised and took the place of braids in the hair to add more beauty.
(Facts demonstrated in images above)
1850
– 1860
Accessories in the hair were still high regarded in
styles entering this decade, but unfortunately for those with short hair, this
era was focused on long hair on women. Long hair in this era was greatly
admired, with envy from many. Though this was the desired look, not many of the
new styles showed this off, most of the hair still being put up out of the way,
though new looks developed allowing parts of the hair to hang loose, perhaps so
women could show off the length of their own hair to show the beauty of its and
therefore themselves. Naturally curly hair was also envied, many women striving
to achieve the look that others naturally gained.
(Facts demonstrated in images above)
1860
– 1870
This decade began the obsession with false hair,
throughout the ten years women wearing more hair then they had natural,
obscuring their natural hair completely. It was also the era of the chignon
hairstyle, the images below showing the great variety in chignons, most of
these styles having to be done professionally so having the look was considered
very high-class and the person would have been very well off to afford these
very popular styles. Curls were also now more popular and desired then ever
before.
(Facts demonstrated in images above)
Conclusion
Having researched all the popular hairstyles in the
years covered in ‘Great Expectations’, I believe I am now most prepared to
start creating designed based on the time frame and ages of the characters as
they appear throughout the story, then making it possible to select what
chapter I wish to recreated Estella from, and what style Ms Havisham would have
been presented in for her wedding, though I will consider how time would have
effected growth of hair and effect of time to the actual styling. I feel very
confident I can create a look that reflects each character both in personality
and appearance through considering the hair styles appropriately.
References:
Richard Corson (2001) Fashion in Hair: The First
Five Thousand Years. Peter Owen Publishers. Suffolk. Pages 463-484. (Images
used from pages 499-531)
