The Hair Historian

Female Musicians via

New Kingdom, 18th dynasty, c. 1421-1372 B.C.

Tomb of Nakht (TT52). Sheikh Abd el-Qurna. Thebes

The Spy / The Refugee (B), 1917
The Refugee (A), 1918
The Artist's Model, Yvonne, 1917

Who is this woman, and is she a spy, a refugee, or a model? All of these paintings are by the Irish war artist, William Orpen and they all feature his Yvonne Aupicq, and her fantastic hair.

Behind the paintings lies a WWI scandal. Orpen initially titled the first portrait ‘The Spy’, spinning a wild, fabricated tale that the subject was a doomed German agent who faced a firing squad dressed in a fur coat and satin slippers. In reality, Yvonne was a French nurse and Orpen’s mistress.

The ruse earned the artist a reprimand from the War Office, who were particularly sensitive about female spies following the very real deaths of Mata Hari and Edith Cavell. Orpen feared a court martial over his lies, but his diary entry about the meeting with the War Office only notes: “I was in black disgrace.”

He painted Yvonne again as The Refugee, and – a bit more truthfully – The Artist’s Model. The original painting was later renamed, The Refugee (B).

In 1929, Yvonne married Orpen’s driver – Charles Grover-Williams - but the couple remained friends until his death. Charles worked for Bugatti and ushered his wife into the stylish world of Monaco racing. She later became a courier for the French Resistance during WWII, and was ultimately arrested and imprisoned. Finally, after the war, she got into breeding, and even judged at Crufts. She never discussed Orpen, and died in 1973.

(Sources: The Gloss, Imperial War Museum, New York Times)

Frances Witts in Profile, 1935, John Downton 🎀

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According to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where this portrait is held, Downton was inspired in composition, if not hair accessories, by this portrait of a woman, held in Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan.

Once attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci, scholars now suggest it could be by Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, or someone else entirely.

We also don’t know the subject, who has been identified as a whole array of glamorous women.

Music 🤝 hair 🤝 fashion
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If you’re looking for inspiration from the music industry, these books are a great place to start.
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From towering hair metal moments to backwoods bouffants, these books show how hair has helped define musical movements, communities and identities around the world.
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Have you got a favourite music book with brilliant hair? I’m always looking to add to the shelf!

Snazzy handbag or men’s hair accessory?

At first glance, the wig bag looks a bit silly – a silk sack hanging from the back of a man’s head, finished with ribbons and a large decorative bow. But in the 18th century, it was seriously fashionable.

Originally designed to protect clothing from pomade and powder used to dress wigs (and natural hair), wig bags gradually became decorative objects in their own right. By the late 1700s, ribbons, rosettes, and black silk bows were part and parcel of a fashionable masculine appearance.

Today, bows and ribbons are often coded as feminine, but here they’re presented as simply another must-have accessory to showcase wealth, status and personality.

Pic credits

Wig bag, c. 1830–40, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Wig bag, c. 1760-90, my visit to the Royal Collections Trust
Wig bag, c. 1770, Germanic National Museum
George Washington, 1795, Adolph Ulrich Wertmuller, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Perruquier, barbier, baigneur-étuviste, 1765,
Les gentilshommes du duc d’Orléans dans l’habit de Saint-Cloud, 18th century, Louis Carrogis Carmontelle
Suit, c.1780, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Hair bag, c. 1785-1800, George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Wig bag, c. 1770, Germanic National Museum
Wig bag, c. 1790-1810, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
A Seated Man Seen from Behind, c. 1700-ca. 1710, Luca Carlevarijs, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

One of my favourite things about hair history is seeing how little human behaviour changes.

Dr Scott’s “Electric” Hair Brush was sold at the height of Victorian fascination with electricity, despite not actually being electric at all. Instead, it used magnets, and its manufacturers claimed could improve hair growth, prevent baldness, cure dandruff, soothe headaches, prevent greying and much more.

The same company also sold electric corsets and body brushes designed to slim and tone the body.

Behind the bonkers Victorian language and imagery are concerns that still drive huge industries today: hair loss, ageing, body image, miracle cures and the hope that the newest technology might finally provide the answer.

If you encountered this in a modern advert, would you be sceptical or intrigued? 👀

📍 Royal College of Pharmacy, London

Images

Dr Scott’s Electric Hair Brush. c1880-1890, Royal College of Pharmacy
The Electric Shock, about 1865, London Stereoscopic Photographic Company, The J. Paul Getty Museum
Dr. Scott’s electric corset advertising leaflet, about 1882, Wellcome Collection.

I should start a GoFundMe to restore the powder closet at Doctor Johnson’s House, Y/Y?

Zamorka, 1895, Anton Azbe

Although Willie’s hair is great, it’s not the most expensive hair ever sold.
 
According to the Guinness World Records, the priciest hair sold at online auction belonged to Elvis. His barber, Homer ‘Gill’ Gilleland, sold some clippings in 2002 for $115,120.

From my shelves ➡️