Research - Elizabethan society - Week 2

Detail: Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses, 1569. 

Variously attributed to Joris Hoefnagel and Hans Eworth. © The Royal Collection.

The type of people that would be wearing the hairstyles that I have been looking at were the rich people and royalty. Upper class fashion, which included elaborated hairstyles, could only be afforded that those who had money and power, not by the poor. Poor people wore much more simple hairstyles, because it was less time and money consuming. They had to work outside, in the sun, and of course a "periwig" wouldn't help, plus that it was way too expensive for them to have someone doing they hair everyday. It was much effective to style the hair simple, in buns or plaits or even loose and to cover it with hats.
The Queen was definitely the one who could afford any kind of hairstyle, and as she grew older she even became dependent of wigs, because she started to lose hair due to the harmful chemicals that she used to pour on her. She had the most complicated hairstyles, that required lots of time to do, and styling a wig in a certain way and wearing it when she wished was the best solution. She also had lots of hair pieces that she used to give volume to her natural hair.
Other upper class ladies were inspired by Elizabeth and tried to copy her hairstyles. Those who were rich usually incorporated precious stones and expensive pearls and head decorations into their hair.

Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I of England. 

The 'Virgin Queen' costume designed by Alexandra Byrne.

"Elizabethan Hair Styles for the court were led by Queen Elizabeth. Upper class fashion, which included hairstyles, was highly elaborate - and necessary to achieve attention and success at court. It was referred to as the Peacock age as the Upper class Elizabethan men were often more elaborately dressed than the women and their hair and beards received a similar amount of attention!

It was important for Queen Elizabeth to maintain her image and the beauty of a 'Virgin Queen'. The Elizabethan view of ideal beauty was a woman with light hair and a snow white complexion complimented with red cheeks and red lips. Queen Elizabeth achieved this picture of ideal beauty by using white make-up. This explains the odd white face make-up seen in many of her portraits. Queen Elizabeth had a natural red color hair. This red hair look was emulated by many of the nobility of the Elizabethan era, as was the fair hair ideal of an ideal woman. An Upper Class Elizabethan woman followed this fashion further and might even dye her hair yellow with a mixture of saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil. Wigs were also commonly used - Queen Elizabeth had a wide variety of wigs and hair pieces - believed to number over eighty. These were often referred to as Periwigs.

Elizabethan Hair Styles for women were designed to compliment the upper class fashions of the day. Ruffs, or ruffles, were in high fashion and during the Elizabethan era these became more elaborate and were constructed on gauze wings which were raised at the back of the head. The ruffs, or collars, framed the face and dictated the hairstyles of the age which were generally short for men ( at the beginning of the Elizabethan era) and swept up look was required for women. A frizzy hairstyle was also one of the required styles for women. Women kept their hair long and the full natural beauty of their long hair was displayed by the young women of the era. The long hair flowing hair of a young girl was a sign of a virgin and the favoured hairstyle for a bride on her wedding day. An Elizabethan bride would adorn her hair with fresh flowers. Once a woman achieved the married status she wore her hair swept up. Much of the hair was covered by some form of head covering. Long hair was generally dressed in a bun to which the variety of head coverings could be pinned. The front and sides of the hair received great attention as this was the area that was most displayed.

Fringes were not in fashion - hairstyle fashion dictated that hair was combed way from the forehead. The hairstyle was usually designed to compliment the style of the hat. Frizzed hair was favoured by the Queen and therefore followed by ladies of the court although straight hair was favoured with a centre parting which especially complimented the french hood.

Elizabethan Hair Style - a comment dating back to 1583:

During the Elizabethan era pamphlets were printed and distributed commenting on life in Elizabethan England. A writer of one such pamphlet was a well travelled Londoner called Philip Stubbes. He was believed to have been born c1555 and died c1610. He was well educated and attended both Oxford and Cambridge University. He was also a strict Elizabethan Puritan and held firm views on any social practices which, in his view were, unfitting  true Christians. He named his work " The Anatomie of Abuses " in which he strongly criticised many of the fashions of the Elizabethan era. It was entered in the Stationers' Register on 1 March 1583. This pamphlet includes his view and some valuable information about Elizabethan hair styles:

"Then followeth the trimming and tricking of their heds in laying out their hair to the show, which of force must be curled, frizled and crisped, laid out on wreathes & borders from one eare to an other. And lest it should fall down, it is underpropped with forks, wyres, & I can not tel what, rather like grim stern monsters, than chaste christian matrones. Then on the edges of their bolstered heir (for it standeth crested round about their frontiers, & hanging over their faces like pendices or vails with glasse windows on every side) there is layd great wreathes of gold and silver, curiously wrought & cunningly applied to the temples of their heads. And for feare of lacking any thing to set foorth their pride withal, at their heyre, thus wreathed and crested, are hanged bugles, ouches, rings, gold, silver, glasses , & such other gewgawes and trinckets besides, which, for that they be innumerable, and I unskilfull in wemens terms, I cannot easily recount.""

Sources:

1. Elizabethan hair styles (no date) Available at: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-hair-styles.htm .
2. Elizabethan make-up and hairstryle insp (2015) Available at: https://ro.pinterest.com/isimonagabriela/elizabethan-make-up-and-hairstryle-insp/ .