The amazing lengths these ladies went to, in order to out-do each other, became responsible for some of the most decadent excesses in hair styling and accessorizing in history. Hair truly became an art form; a sculpture requiring many stylists, assistants, and all sorts of tools, props and even ladders! Never were more incredible hairstyles accepted as the norm. Portraits and letters from this period show us such themes as spinning windmills and running brooks made from mirror shards. Clever ladies and their hairstylists dreamed up all kinds of astonishing fantasies. And these hairstyles were considered topical, current, and above all, massive.

In the 1770’s the French stylist, Baulard, invented a headress “á la grand-mére”, complete with wire mesh and springs that could collapse a hairstyle a full foot, should the lady in question encounter an elderly family member who would faint at the sight of such a ludicrous wig. Imagination ran wild, and it seemed that almost everything was possible. The Princesse de Machin once had her own tresses wrapped around the bars of a birdcage containing live butterflies! Ribbons, artificial flowers, gauze, pears and other such demands elevated hair above and beyond two feet, three with feathers.

In the time of Marie Antoinette, styles in architecture, landscaping and even current events were incorporated into these super structures. Entire gardens and ships on rolling waves could be found on ladies’ heads, making them monuments to ingenuity.

Do not discount men in this scenario however, for they also went to many lengths to adorn themselves. In the Court of Louis XIV, men wore wigs called “periwigs”, and they were huge contraptions – high, full and draping over the shoulders. Even though no wires were used to construct these wigs, they were bigger overall than most women’s hair of this time. Forty full-time wigmakers lived at Versailles, and on any given day, hundreds of wigs would be pomaded, styled on hot irons, baked in huge ovens to set and then finally powdered. Yet, the Court ladies of Louis XIV were always the center of attention. Louis himself observed that “For the women of my court, hairstyle remains the most important thing. The subject is inexhaustible.” And it was.

Circles of the elite were constantly inventing new flourishes that kept the irons hot – ringlets sat on “U” shaped wire, held to the head with pins, puffs of hair over mesh frames, never the same thing twice, if possible. The need to change constantly meant hair was not sewn or baked, and often ringlets would slip from wire frames, meaning a lady would have to step away to “re-wire”. Bonnets and decorative caps were acceptable, leaving one curl to cascade over the shoulder.

Of course, a whole language developed concerning hair. “Confidants” were small curls at the ears, “créve-coeurs” or “heartbreakers” were curls at the nape. In Boursault’s comedy, “Les Mots la Mode”, he depicts this phenomenon through an enraged husband who finds what appears to be a very scandalous letter from another man on his wife’s dressing table. He is reassured by the daughter that the letter is a bill from the hairdresser. No wonder the man was confused when he read “note of expenses” in gallantry for a “somersault with a muscateer”, plus a “go-ahead” and a squeeze-me-all-over – 800 francs.”