Victorian Era & Beauty

The Victorian Era is something that I am not particularly familiar with but whilst doing my research I realised I had a subliminal interest in it - the beauty and elegance of the wealthy really stood out to me and attracted me to this idea of an obvious divide between the classes. Even throughout the book and film this was obvious, if you were from a lesser background you kept it quiet so the rest thought you were equal.

The Victorian Age started in 1837 when the 19 year old Queen Victoria started to rein she then died in 1901 where at which she became the longest ruling monarch in Britain, she reined for 64 years.

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Before the Victorian era took a hold, the idea of covering the face with pastes and paints was particularly very common, even the poor did so. However a religious ruler named Clergymen preached against this idea of 'painted ladies' as he considered it to be 'ill repute' which basically means very lower class and women that had little respect and no importance wore it. Church of England played a very hefty role in determining what the females did in this era, they wanted to keep this idea of all women being pure and modest, Queen Victoria then went along with this idea and considered the use of make up as vulgar and only prostitutes and actresses wore it. Despite all this negativity towards females wearing make up, many still did so - but applying it in a very natural, almost invisible, kind of way.

Ladies of Leisure would make sure their eyebrows were perfectly plucked, trim their eyelashes and apply pearl powder (chloride of bismuth and french chalk, talc) to their faces to hide freckles and blemishes. Similarly to the Elizabethan era the idea of having a pale, clear complexion was seen as beautiful as they wouldn't have to work outside, even the idea of having freckles was an ugly concept. In regard to eye make up some upper class females would apply the smallest amount of black to their eye to open it up, if confronted about it they would instantly deny it, on the other hand the 'fallen women' would have relatively heavy eye make up either in red or black. Small bit of red beet juice was applied to the cheeks to add a healthy glow - this was the Victorians main objective, to create a youthful glowing face with bright shiny eyes and porcelain skin.

In regards to hair, Queen Victoria herself was a great influence - she created a thing called an 'Apollo Loop' which was false hair plaited around some wire and then attached to the head. In comparison to previous era's the Victorians were all about trying to keep it natural, with a simple middle parting, the back of the hair in a bun and loose hairs curled down around the face. At the end of the 19th century the 'Marcel Wave' was invented by the man who invented the curling iron - Marcel Grateau. Which made creating a wave rather than a curl so much easier.

                                                           Traditional Marcel Wave

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http://www.katetattersall.com/?p=3735
http://chertseymuseum.org/hair

The History Of Makeup – Gabriela Hernandez