Daily Life During the French Revolution (15 page)

Even as powdered wigs, once very common, began to
disappear, they continued to be used by men in such positions as magistrates
and lawyers, as well as by officials and courtiers at Versailles. In general,
the hair at the back was worn in a very short pigtail or plait that was wound
with a narrow ribbon. The cravat, wrapped around the neck and tied in a bow in
front, endured well into the nineteenth century.

Early in the reign of Louis XVI, women’s hair was worn high
off the forehead with curls dressed over pads at the sides and at the back of
the neck. The addition of false hair provided height and volume, and strings of
pearls and flowers were added for full dress occasions. When Marie-Antoinette
became queen, coiffures became more and more fantastic as wool cushions were placed
on top of the head, with both natural and false hair combed over them and held
in place with steel pins. The hair and scalp were massaged with perfumed
ointments; then, a paper bag covering the face, flour was thickly applied.
Next, the hair was twisted into curls before being arrayed over the pads.
Fastened on top was a fantastic variety of objects that could include flowers,
ribbons, laces, bunches of fruit, jewels, feathers, blown glass, model ships,
coaches, or windmills. Behind, the hair was loosely curled into a chignon.
These hairdos took so much time to prepare that attempts were made to keep them
in place as long as possible. Scalps, however, suffering under the weight,
itched and perspired. To alleviate this, pomade was used, but frequently it
became malodorous within a few days, causing hair to fall out, with
accompanying headaches and other problems. In addition, fleas and lice lived
comfortably within the tresses, so that head-scratchers, long sticks with claws
at the end, at times trimmed with diamonds, became the rage.

Sometimes the coiffure itself rose to two or three feet in
height, making it difficult for the wearers to sit in a coach (they often had
to kneel on the floor or ride with their heads sticking out of the window) 9
and even harder to sleep, since the hair had to be wrapped to keep everything
in place. The story is told that one of Marie-Antoinette’s most fantastic hair
arrangements was so high that it had to be taken down so that she could enter
the room for a soirée, then redone once she was inside.

Hats for members of the court included circles of flowers,
as well as more elaborate hats with cornucopias of fruit along with white
feathers, worn with short veils.

As the size of the coiffure increased, so did the bonnets.
The
dormeuse,
or sleeping bonnet, so called because it was also worn at
night, covered the cheeks and hugged the head tightly, being threaded with a
ribbon that was tied in a bow on top. The daytime bonnet was worn higher,
showing the ears and the back of the head. Others included the
thérèse,
of
gauze or tulle or sometimes black taffeta, and the
calash,
with reed or
whalebone hoops that could be raised or lowered by a ribbon to accommodate the
height of the hairdo. Each of these was a kind of large cage that covered the
huge coiffures.

There were many other styles, but two of the more unusual
ones during the 1780s were the
coiffure à l
’
enfant,
in which the
hair was cut short in a bob that became fashionable when the queen was ill and
forced to cut her hair. Another, appearing about the same time, was the
coiffure
à la hérissson,
or hedgehog hairstyle (not unlike that of men), which was
cut fairly short in front, frizzed, and brushed up high off the face, with
long, loose curls in back.

When the more simple styles became popular, bonnets became
smaller, and all sizes and shapes of hats, made of felt or beaver, trimmed with
plumes, ribbons, fruit and flowers, and worn at all angles, appeared. At this
time, one of the most elegant was what is known as the Gainsborough hat, worn
by the duchess of Marlborough in a portrait painted by Gainsborough.

In vogue for a while were straw hats with wide brims, a
simple ribbon around the low crown. Their popularity was greatest during the
queen’s “milkmaid” period, and they were considered a rustic fashion.

The
pelisse,
a fur-trimmed wrap or cape with
armholes, continued to be worn in winter, and women carried large fur muffs to
protect their arms and hands. In the summer, small muffs made of silk and
satin, beribboned and embroidered, were worn at balls. Long, soft gloves of
light-colored kid were used throughout the century.

Slippers were made of satin, brocade, or kid, with
moderately high heels; sometimes the back seams were encrusted with gems.
Leather shoes were worn only by the middle or the lower class. Stockings of
both silk and cotton were white.

THE BOURGEOISIE

Some of the wealthier bourgeoisie dressed colorfully, but
magistrates, lawyers, and officials kept to sedate and somber blacks, browns,
or grays. The materials they chose, however, were luxurious and included silk,
wool, and velvet, and their wigs were elegant and expensive. Other
professionals, like doctors, architects, and writers, did not spend much on
their apparel and so, as a symbol of their sobriety, wore black in the main.
Merchants were more richly attired and used jewelry and other adornments. In
these groups, the wives and daughters were turned out with more magnificence
than the men. Dressed for a special occasion, a lady might wear an outfit that
included a lace cap decorated with a violet ribbon, a white dress, or perhaps a
sheath dress with scarlet belt, and matching earrings, a pearl necklace, and a
Madras bandana. Dull- colored frock coats of taffeta were generally worn. A
young girl attending a festival at the Tuileries in 1793 wrote a letter to her
father about her apparel:

I
wore an overskirt of lawn [cotton or linen], a tricolor sash around my waist,
and an embroidered fichu [shawl] of red cotton; on my head, a cambric fichu,
arranged like the fillet round the brows of Grecian women, and my hair, dressed
in nine small plaits, was upswept on to the crown of my head. Mama wore a
cambric dress at whose hem there was a vastly pretty border and on her dear
head a wide-brimmed straw hat with violet satin ribbons.

A deputy from the Vendée, Goupilleau de Montaigu, made
several trips to the south of the country between 1793 and 1795 and noted that
“between Nevers and Roanne, all the women wore straw hats and between Roanne
and Lyon the straw is black and the brims are wider.” He went on to say that
“at Nice imprudent beauties, grilled like toast, are coifed only with a light
gauze scarf.” At Marseille, women wore headdresses to protect their skin from
the sun.

Marie-Antoinette, showing some of the elaborate clothing
and hairstyles of the age.

THE PEASANTS

Just before the revolution, many peasants wore homemade
clothes of coarse black cloth, the dye coming from the bark of the oak tree.
Others, who could afford it, wore wool. A contemporary writer commented:

A
French peasant is badly dressed and the rags which cover his nudity are poor
protection against the harshness of the seasons; however it appears that his
state, in respect of clothing, is less deplorable than in the past. Dress for
the poor is not an object of luxury but a necessary defence against the cold:
coarse linen, the clothing of many peasants, does not protect them adequately .
. . but for some years . . . a very much larger number of peasants have been
wearing woollen clothes. The proof of this is simple, because it is certain
that for some time a larger quantity of rough woollen cloth has been produced
in the realm; and as it is not exported, it must necessarily be used to clothe
a larger number of Frenchmen.

The very poor often had only one miserable outfit for both
summer and winter. A man’s thin, cleated shoes, often procured at the time of
marriage, had to last all his life. Peasant women wore short cloaks with hoods
of coarse woolen material and often went barefoot.

THE REVOLUTION

After 1789, it became dangerous to display elegance and
affluence in public, and hoops, paint, powder, beauty spots, artificial flowers
and fruit, and all the trappings of the old regime in costume disappeared. By
the time the court lost its influence, the social life of high society had
ceased, and the privilege of wearing clothes made of fine materials, with
feathers, red heels, and other such attire, now extended to all citizens, but
such finery was scorned by most.

The fashion center now moved from Versailles to Paris,
where political opinions (rather than social class) were expressed through
dress: those loyal to the monarchy wore cockades that were white on one side
(to represent the monarchy) and tricolor on the other (for the revolution) —
presumably as insurance against the outcome whichever way it went!

Evidence of social distinction by means of dress was
abolished by the National Assembly, and since fashion journals quickly
disappeared, information concerning the mode in Paris had to come from
contemporary English and German sources.

Although many of the bourgeois leaders continued to wear
the old-style breeches and shirts with ruffles, the official costume for a
“true patriot” required the substitution of trousers for breeches (or
culottes
),
which created a new trade—the manufacture of suspenders and of hocks, that is,
shortened stockings. The pants opened in front with a panel attached to the
vest by three buttons. They were called
pantalons à pont
(bridge
trousers) because the panel operated like a drawbridge. Previously, these had
been used only by British sailors, but in late-eighteenth-century France, those
who wore them—the sans-culottes (literally, without breeches)—were completely
set apart from the aristocrats; they also wore the red bonnet or cap, with the
cockade, one of the primary symbols of liberty. In addition, the patriot wore
either a vest or a short, blue jacket called a
carmagnole
that was
originally used by Piedmont peasant workers who came from the area of
Carmagnola. Deputies from Marseille took the garment to Paris, where it was
adopted and worn by the revolutionaries, sometimes accompanied by a brown
redingote
with collar and lapels faced with red and, as shoes,
sabots
(or
clogs).

Early in 1790, a “constitutional costume” was also
prescribed for women. To be stylish now meant that patriotism had to be
displayed, and militant women used badges and symbols to show their espousal of
the revolution. Sometimes, especially at festivals, they wore only white, with
tricolor cockades in their hair. Others appeared in the uniform of the National
Guard, while some aggressive women armed themselves with pistols or sabers. The
everyday clothing of working-class women would have included a striped skirt,
an apron, and clogs.

The tricolor became obligatory in everything from gloves to
shoes. For women, this meant red-white-and-blue cotton dresses (often printed
with revolutionary symbols with the requisite colored stripes), sashes, shawls,
shoes, hats, and even bouquets of flowers (daisies, cornflowers, and crimson
poppies) placed to the left side above the heart. The tricolor was used by
everyone of all ages, in all levels of society. The cockade in particular was
worn all the time.

Like that of men, women’s costume became simpler. The basic
lines of the style of the last years of the Louis XVI period were retained,
however, with the only noticeable change being the new raised waistline. The
bodice was laced tightly from waist to breasts, and a full shawl of sheer white
tulle or gauze was tucked into the neck of the bodice. Folds of satin reaching
up to the chin were often added, making the wearer look like a puffed-up
pigeon. Sleeves were long and tight; skirts were full and worn over many
petticoats.

A ban against luxurious materials such as silk and velvet
led to the increase of simple, figured cottons and linens. Satin, now used more
rarely, was brownish green or dull blue. Later, ostrich plumes reappeared.

The peasant or milkmaid cap, called today the “Charlotte
Corday cap,” had a full crown with a ruffle around it and was decorated with
the tricolor cockade. Hair was now cut low in front, sometimes parted in the
middle, with soft puffs at the sides, the back hair hanging in ringlets or
gathered in a chignon.