HATS, BONNETS, MILLINERS

ALTHOUGH the bonnet has been in use from the medieval times onward, it became a huge fashion accessory throughout all of the 19th century!

A fashionable or elaborate bonnet was a status symbol, akin to today's mobile phone or a pretty mobile phone case.

New arrivals at the millinery, as well as new ribbons for the bonnet were important news for any town or village, as we know from the novels of Jane Austen.

In Charlotte Bronte's Villette, a plain straw bonnet with flowers makes the beautiful Ginevra look even more beautiful!

Today the word "bonnet" is largely replaced by the word "hat"; bonnet-like hats are still worn at elegant events. A great book about millinery and hats is Hats: An Anthology, by famous milliner Stephen Jones!

EXACTLY MY TYPE

THE TYPE WRITER is one of those inventions which is a milestone in women's history! This is because it gave women a way out of the home and into the work-place!

Up until the 19th century, there were few occupations "allowed" to women, i.e. few professions were considered respectable and "appropriate for" women. A woman who wanted a profession could be a governess or a teacher, perhaps even a nurse. I will come back to women and work in later posts -- here it is enough to say that most of the professions were closed!

The type-writer was first sold commercially in 1870; because the typist was often an "assistant" to an office, to a government department, or to a writer, the post was considered fine for a woman!

Of course, what was not predicted was that the new openings were another step on the road to female independence!

In literature, one memorable typist is Mina Murray (later Mina Harker) from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). She is a working woman before she marries protagonist Jonathan Harker; later, her typing skills help Van Helsing and his team keep a track record of Dracula's story and movements and eventually trap and kill him.

In fact, Jonathan and Mina Harker have a relationship which is closer to what we might call a relationship of equality today; they respect each other, know each other well before they marry, and can tell each other everything. Jonathan is, in my view, the best male character in the novel. He is remarkably brave and strong, but he is also emotional, sensitive and devoted!

In popular literature today, a memorable typist is Linda Voss in the novel Shining Through by Susan Isaacs. Though the novel has many faults, it is true that being able to work at a large office opens Linda's horizons and allows her to escape the more conventional lifestyle expected from her.

The profession of the typist has a long history and tradition, and was vital to the fight for women's equality!

THE LIPSTICK PAPERS WEEKEND REVIEW

ANOTHER weekend, another book review from The Lipstick Papers! Today we have a memoir by scholar and author Patricia Volk, published in 2013, and titled Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli and Me!

I got this book after hearing an interview with Patricia Volk on NPR, the public radio station of the US. Anything that has to do with beauty interests me, and this memoir is about Audrey Volk, the author’s mother, who was a famed beauty and restaurant hostess in New York.

Theme: the theme is Audrey’s life and beauty, and her relationship to beauty, juxtaposed with Elsa Schiaparelli’s life and beliefs. Beauty, as the author tells us, “was Audrey’s main arena”. A large part of Audrey’s identity was defined by being beautiful, and by being a wife and mother. Also, by being a true lady. However, these ideas were sometimes also restricting. The author juxtaposes Schiaparelli’s lack of beauty and anti-conformity to her mother’s never ending beauty routines and devotion to convention.

Strong point(s): Because Audrey was a good mother, if only a bit peculiar, the memoir is written lovingly, and any criticism is positive; the author draws a good picture of her mom, and a lively picture of 1960s New York. The account of Elsa Schiaparelli’s life is also very well-written. Also, the presence and importance of beauty, beauty rituals, fashion and make-up is drawn very well.

Weak Point(s): Not much really; Patricia Volk’s book is complex but not difficult to read, and contains advice we all need on the way to self-definition. However, sometimes the juxtaposition of the two lives (Audrey Volk’s and Elsa’s) seems slightly forced, and not natural.

Weak Point(s): Not much really; Patricia Volk’s book is complex but not difficult to read, and contains advice we all need on the way to self-definition. However, sometimes the juxtaposition of the two lives (Audrey Volk’s and Elsa’s) seems slightly forced, and not natural. 

This is a lovely book for anyone who is interested in beauty and the time, patience and art women need to carry out their beauty routines!

Till next week, have a great time, always with beauty and a book!

GIFTS OF FASHION

FOR me, the most memorable jean trousers are the light-blue jeans worn by Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey! According to Miss Steele, these jeans turn Christian from ABSOLUTELY HOT to ABSOLUTELY SUPER-HOT.

This gave me the idea to write a post about jeans, and here it is!

The blue jeans was created by Levi Strauss at about 1860: a trousers especially for workers, made with a type of strong cloth called "denim", dyed with indigo blue. At first, Levi Strauss used another type of cloth called "jean", but then denim prevailed. The name of the trousers, however, remained the same; jeans.

In 1872, Strauss collaborated with a tailor named Jacob Davies who eventually designed the blue jeans as we have it now, with back pockets fastened on the cloth with copper rivets.

The cloth was so thick that it did not absorb the blue dye in a homogeneous manner; however, this irregularity of color made it all the more popular.

The word "jean" is derived from the word "genoese", that is "from Genova". Italian fashion writer Cinzia Felicetti claims that this is because the precursor of the jeans trousers was a type of trousers worn by Genoese sailors. The cloth was brought in from the French town Nimes, which gave it the name de Nimes, or "denim".

Jeans was used widely, but it became massively popular because of Hollywood. Fashion Bible Vogue presented jeans for the first time in 1935; however, it was John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando and James Dean who made jean trousers legendary!

Jeans became associated with being strong, sexy, brave, naughty, and with being a rebel!

The first haute couture jeans were manufactured in 1977 by Calvin Klein.

If you are interested in the complete history of the jean trouser in fashion, have a look at Cinzia Felicetti's Assolutamente Glam! However, I haven't found this book in English translation -- only in Greek and its original Italian.

Two other books containing amazing information about jeans are Michel Pastoureau's Bleu. Histoire d'une couleur and Niall Fergusson's Civilization.

Christian Grey wears jeans more beautifully -- but I think that jeans are one of the most valuable gifts of fashion not only for Christian, but for all of us!

A MYSTERY AND POWER ALL OF ITS OWN

MUSIC in literature, as in life, has a mystery and power all of its own.

In The Woman in White, Laura Fairley is a skilled musician, and uses music to say to Walter Hartright what she cannot say to him in words. Not allowed to love him by social convention, Laura plays the piano their last night together to express her pain but also to declare her undying love.

The scene is mystical and eerie, and the same goes for two other beautiful scenes with the piano in literature.

In Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian's exquisite and mournful playing of Chopin in the penultimate chapter, moves the novel, together with Dorian's life, to a close and an end. There is something almost magical about Wilde's writing in that scene.

In E.L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian is also a talented pianist. Like in The Picture of Dorian Gray, the scene where Ana finds him playing the piano is suggestive and fraught with meaning; like in The Woman in White, Christian's music contains a truth about himself, his past and his life, that he cannot properly express with words.

More about these lovely novels, and about music, in later posts!

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC

THE ballerina is a figure I have personally not found so often in novels. In paintings and films yes, but not in books.

One exception is Catherine in Flowers in the Attic, by Virginia Andrews. I have read both Flowers in the Attic, and Petals in the Wind, its sequel. I liked the books, but I also found them disturbing.

Catherine's devotion to the ballet is astonishing. She practices and dances daily, even under the most appalling conditions. Catherine and her brother Christopher are the novel's protagonists, and are both absolutely beautiful. I believe their beauty places the novel in the realm of (dark) fairy tales, signifying enchantment, love, pain and both light and darkness at the same time. Their bond is most memorable in a scene where Christopher gets mercilessly whipped; he is determined not to scream or show pain, so Catherine, who is locked outside, screams out for him.

The novel portrays the ballet and the world of professional dance in a negative light. I can't say whether Catherine becomes famous, so as not to spoil the story.


Catherine is as beautiful as a doll; like a doll, she is used and abused by people around her. However, she strikes back and, damaged as she is, manages to survive. Dolls are much stronger than we may think!

DELIGHTFULLY BEAUTIFUL: Male Beauty in Literature and Culture

THOUGH the Goddess of Beauty is, famously, female (Aphrodite or Venus, in Latin) male beauty is also spectacular. 

In Homeric epic, the beauty of the man is at least as important as the beauty of the woman; there is also the suggestion that beauty was a quality women indeed appreciated in a man. Paris is scorned at some point by his brother, wise Hector, for being too pretty --"you pretty boy", Hector calls him; yet Paris's famous (or infamous) success with the ladies is never in doubt.

In later centuries, male beauty was often upstaged by the female, but men were beautiful too: Romeo is so beautiful Juliet compares him to a rose; Sir Tristan from Arthurian Legend is a knock-out, Hamlet was admired for his looks and style, while Orlando, in Shakespeare's As You Like It is also lovely.

In the 19th century, men did not have to be beautiful -- beauty was considered to be the province of woman. Still, the ideal of male beauty exists in books such as Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and in many of the novels of Charles Dickens, such as in David Copperfield and Our Mutual Friend. In Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth, hero-villain Henry Bellingham is also absolutely beautiful -- his beauty impresses even the men.

Nowadays, male beauty fares well in books and in the runway too (see Sean O'Pry, Mariano Di Vaio, Adrien Sahores, the models for Abercrombie and Fitch). In the first picture in this piece have a look at actor James Preston modelling for this (in)famous jeans brand!

I meant to write about Christian Grey from Fifty Shades, Jace Wayland from Mortal Instruments and some other delightfully beautiful young men from literature, but I think that this must wait and go to another post all on its own!

IN THE VICTORIAN STYLE 

I AM currently re-reading Antonia Byatt's Possession. This is a neo-Victorian romance novel I read about ten years ago, and which I am now reading for the fourth time. Novels like Possession are called neo-Victorian because they are written today in the Victorian style -- realistic, thick prose, with Victorian themes and concerns.

I love this novel because it is original, beautifully written and intricate; it is also about many things which interest me personally, such as beauty, fashion, Victorian women, the meaning of blonde hair in literature and culture.

Blonde hair has multiple meanings today -- from saintly and innocent to sexy and bewitching. It was so for the Victorians too, who saw blonde hair having antithetical meanings: it could signify the true shine of gold but also the beauty of the femme fatale. For this mythology of hair the Victorians drew on long traditions from fairy-tales and folk legends, as well as ballads and paintings. Hair had an almost totemistic power for the Victorians; to give a lock of hair to someone signified strong attachment or even love. Hair was put in jewels such as amulets and rings. Locks of hair could be framed and placed on the wall.

For Charles Dickens, blonde heroines are absolutely good and fairy-like. He also liked brunettes, of course, creating the memorable Estella in Great Expectations, as well as the amazing Bela Wilfer and mysterious Lizzie Hexam in Our Mutual Friend!

Possession is the novel which made me want to do my PhD on the Victorians. I wanted to be like Maude Bailey and Roland Mitchell, the novel's protagonists, who know so much about this amazing age!

More observations on Possession in a later post!

A ROSE-LIKE NAME (The Rose in Religion and Literature)

THERE is little that has not been said about the Rose. To me, beauty, rose and perfection are one and the same.

The rose plays a part in many religions. It is sacred to the Goddess Aphrodite and to the Virgin Mary. Mary is the rose of paradise. A poor, young shepherdess brought a rose to the baby Christ; Saint Cecilia wore a wreath of roses on her head.

The rose appears often in fairy tales and literature -- from Beauty and the Beast to The Thorn Birds and The Da Vinci Code.  Oscar Wilde used the dark red rose in a tragic short story, while John Keats compares the beautiful Madeline to a rose in the disturbing and lovely poem Saint Agnes Eve.

Personally, I have noted that, in Victorian literature, girls with an alluring or tragic beauty are often given a Rose-like name: Rosamond in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Rosalie in Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey and Rosamond in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Kate Winslet is called Rose in the Titanic, her most famous role.

Finally, Oscar Wilde compares Dorian Gray to a beautiful rose; he does this also with Sybill, Dorian's tragic fiancee.

The reference to Dorian Gray reminds me of this: men also have their own fair share of beauty, for which The Lipstick Papers has not said much; we must return to male beauty in a later post!

THE LIPSTICK PAPERS WEEKEND REVIEW

EACH weekend The Lipstick Papers brings you a review from the book world! The review is usually of a beauty book, but it can also be fiction or general interest/ non-fiction. All books come from my own collection at home; evidently I love them, but I will try to be objective!

This weekend's review is for Beauty Steals (2009), from Sarah Stacey and Josephine Fairley, the professional beauty journalists who also do the Beauty Bible series.

Theme: this book reviews beauty products which cost little -- most of them "nothing over 10 pounds". The writers did their own reviews, and also sent products to ten women, who tested them and then answered questionnaires. The products are rated on a system of 10 points, with "daisy" ratings for being natural/ organic/ green and the "Supersteal" symbol given to good products under 5 pounds.

Strong Point(s): The book is very pleasant and easy to read, covering everything from hair, skin, day cream, night cream, mascaras, sun products -- you name it! Some of those products (like the Nivea facial creams) I used myself and I think I agree with the book's reviews and rating. There is also a lovely section with tips from beauty editors, titled "Cheap Tricks from Very Clever Girls". The illustrations by Orlando Hoetzel are pretty.

Weak Point(s): Generally, there is nothing really wrong with this book. It sticks to the point, you can even read while lying on the beach, it gives interesting information and has a tasteful overall design.

This is the review for this weekend! Till next time, be well, and have beauty always with you!