{FYI: the lady in the tutorial isn’t me!}

At no time is the arrangement of the hair so noticeable as in the summer, when the average healthy American girl goes hatless. At about sixteen or seventeen years the hair is generally worn up on the head, and if the present modes are followed, and the hair arranged deep over the brow and ears and low in the back, the youthful grace and charm will not be sacrificed.

Girls of fourteen and fifteen may wear their hair parted in the center or on either side, or combed back in a soft pompadour with the ends of the hair fastened with a barrette as shown below. For straight hair the plaited mode at the bottom of this page is very pretty. A flat bow is suitable for daywear, or a satin band for parties.

The Hand

Manicuring had formerly been considered a part of the doctor’s profession, but by the turn of the century, it became a separate practice in its own right, and a recommended occupation for working women. Because of the sudden demand for manicurists, it was a very lucrative profession, and its short hours, the ability to have a flexible schedule, and its all-around glamorous aura, young women acquired manicurist licenses in droves. Many times a manicurist was attached to a barber shop, and oddly enough, the first consumers for this new service were men! The work was simple, consisting of the trimming and shaping of the nails, trimming the cuticle, and when necessary, performing slight operations in shaping the nail or doing away with hang nails, and also removing stains and polishing. A complete set of tools for the expert manicurist included a file, scissors, cuticle knife, buffer, polisher, orange sticks, finger bowl, nail brush, and emery boards. Other items necessary for a manicurist were Castile Soap, Borax, Nail Bleach, Nail Powder or Polish, Nail Cream, Cold Cream, Styptic Pencil, and Tincture of Benzoin, which was used as an antiseptic.

Nail polish existed in various forms since before A.D., and 19th century cookbooks contained directions for making nail paint, the stigma against any form of cosmetic was too strong, and most women merely polished their nails with tinted powders and creams into their nails, then buffing them shiny. Nail polish could also be mixed by manicurists. One mixture was composed of Oxide of Tin, Carmine, Oil of Lavender, and Oil of Bergamot. Tips were, however, whitened with items such as Cutex Nail White, and polished with Cutex Nail Cake. Care for the nails included massaging cocoa butter, Vaseline, or olive oil on them for shine and health. One of the famous polishing products sold was Graf’s Hyglo nail polish paste. Women used this clear, glossy varnish to paint their nails with camel-hair brushes. Colored nail polish didn’t arrive on the scene until 1920, inspired by automobile paint, as until then, cars were typically black or maroon in color. But it wasn’t until the 1940s that the entire nail was painted–it was fashionable in the 1920s and 1930s to leave bare the tips and half-moon on the nail-bed.

The Foot

Though heels were never as high as today’s stilettos, women of the Edwardian period did suffer from corns, bunions, and other ailments of the foot. Chiropody was also a lucrative, though arduous occupation that arose in the Edwardian era. Chiropody also derived from the medical field, and licensed chiropodists were trained not only in massage, but in the anatomy of the foot. The tools a proper chiropodist had on hand were hones to sharpen instruments, nail nippers to cut heavy nails, a chisel knife for fine work (not on calluses or nails), tweezers, shears, a scapula, an operating knife for work on corns, bunions, ingrown toe ails, and calluses.

A chiropody parlor was furnished with well-lit booths or small apartments, where an easy chair was provided for each customer and a low stool for the chiropodist. Feet were soaked in a bath, massaged, and the nails trimmed–recommended once every two weeks–and calluses rubbed with a pumice stone. For bunions and corns, excessive care was taken in their removal. Careful advice was given to clients about the dangers of abusing one’s feet, such as:

• Sore feet hasten the advent of old age
• Diseased feet cause premature grayness
• Every long-neglected corn may be the seen of a dozen gray hairs
• The story of injured feet writes itself in wrinkles on the face
• High heels cause week knees
• Weak knees pave the way to nervous breakdown
• Pressure of pain in any part of the body, long continued, seriously marks the expression of the face, disturbs and sometimes ruins the disposition, and may upset the brain at last

The Face

One beauty manual of this time considered beauty a God given gift and its preservation “a solemn duty.” To preserve this beauty, women visited masseuses as often as they did manicurists and chiropodists, and the facial massage became as necessary to women as to men who wished to retain their youthful looks. Masseuses believed that hard, firm strokes caused the parts to waste by destroying fatty cells, while easy, gentle pressure built up the tiny cells and caused development by increasing the circulation and the blood supply to the wasted parts. Hand massages were considered too slow, and a number of machines for vibratory massage were developed, the most recommended being Automatic Massage or Hydro-Vacu.

The client sat in a comfortable chair, the hair was pinned back, the collar removed and a towel was tucked around the neck to protect the clothing. Then a large apron was placed over the client’s body. The masseuse then rubbed a cold cream over the face, which also acted as a bleach to remove impurities from the skin’s surface. The “Automatic Massage Bag” was filled with very hot water if the client’s skin was inclined to be oily or prone to blackheads, or lukewarm, with a teaspoon of powdered borasic acid, if normal to dry. The bag was hung about six feet from the floor and the client’s face was wiped clean of the cream. The “Depurator” was placed on the face, the clasp opened, and moved slowly upward on the mouth line, to the nose, across the cheek, up to the temple, and down across the lines that formed beneath the eyes. Also applied to the face during this process was the “Tissue Food,” and if the client wanted plump cheeks, the “Depurator” was worked in circles where the plumpness was desired. If age lines or blemishes remained, hand massage was the next step, and unless the client wanted a reduction in flesh, the massage was light and with fingertips only.

Some ingredients for making cold cream were Lanolin, Almond Oil, Cocoa Butter, Benzoin, Coconut Oil, White Wax, Spermaceti, Petrolatum, Glycerine, and Witch Hazel. Wrinkles were thought to be the result of an internal disorder, and a lack of oil in the system, which led to starved tissues beneath the skin. Those with wrinkles were advised to drink plenty of rich milk and cream, take olive oil on salads, and equal parts grape juice night and morning, to eat vegetables and fruits and drink quantities of water each day, as well as keeping the bowels well regulated. Other ailments for which beauticians treated were freckles, sun tans, sunburns, liver spots, oily skin, blackheads, and acne. Another process for ridding the body of unwanted blemishes was electrolysis, which removed superfluous hair, warts, moles, varicose veins, birthmarks, and scars with a electric needle.

The Body

Despite hiding the figure beneath layers of petticoats, underclothing, and corsets, flesh reduction and good health were a common concern with women of this period. Though there were a series of dieting fads, women and men still searched for exercises and regimens to force their bodies into the svelte–or muscular–silhouettes of their youth. A beauty manual found three things essential for success in weight loss: diet, exercise, and perspiration. Turkish baths taken once a week were advised, regulated bowels, and drinking copious amounts of vichy or kissengen water. Sugared drinks and alcohol, as well as milk, cream, cocoa, chocolate, butter, oil, starchy foods, white bread, sweets, pork, fat meats, and hot cakes were to be avoided. If possible, rubber undergarments made of medicated rubber tissue, which caused profuse perspiration and melted the fatty cells without violent exercise, were to be worn.

There were a number of dieting systems promoted by health gurus:

BANTING’S SYSTEM: Created by William Banting, who advised the removal of all saccharine, starchy, and fatty foods from the diet, and the substitution for these of meat or fish and fruit in moderate quantity at each meal, together with the reduction of the amount of liquids cosumed, and the daily use of an antacid.

SCHWENINGER’S SYSTEM: Dr. Schweninger of Munich based his method on a careful analysis of each case and each patient’s previous ailments. He deduced that the intake of fat-forming food must be reduced, while the expenditure of energy must be increased. Recommended foods were lean fish and lean beef, mutton, olives, onions, stale bread, poached eggs, skimmed milk, vinegar, mineral water, etc, while avoided or sparingly eaten foods were fatty and greasy foods, thick soups, white bread, sugar, candy, pies, macaroni, salmon, made dishes, pork, etc.

Exercises recommended were rolling around the room in as little clothing as possible for ten to two hundred turns, depending on experience; walking; massage–including the Zander Method (a vigorous tapping with electrically driven leather-covered hammers)–hand massage of double chins; push-ups; leg lifts; and sit-ups.

On the other side, some men and women desired to add flesh to their thin and scrawny forms. They were advised to eat fatty foods, but to consume them often, rather than stuffing one’s self at mealtimes. Another major concern for women was the development of the bust, and exercises and creams were developed to aid in helping women achieve what nature felt fit to withhold from them.

Hair

By the 1900s, a growing segment of women broke away from the former practice of washing the sporadically, rarely brushing, and otherwise negligence of their locks to devote actual care to their hair. Now shampoos were developed to treat alopecia and dandruff, as well as special mixtures for brunettes and blondes, and those with oily hair, dry scalp, or curly hair. Hair coloring was another practice, though women winked at one another over the directions given for coloring only gray hair. Titian or copper-colored hair was obtained by a henna paste, which was spread over the hair with a small tooth brush. The hair was then wrapped in hot towels for at least fifteen minutes, or longer, should one wish for a deeper hue. Hair was bleached with dioxogen and ammonia, and it was darkened with sulphate of iron. The prevention of gray hair, which was said to be caused by dryness, was from a mixture of oil, rum, glycerine, and oil of bergamot. After shampooing, brilliantine, which was a rich glossy product, was applied, to give hair a nice sheen.

The dressing of hair was not a simple task. However, the styles favored by Edwardian women were aided with the help of hair switches, false braids, and “rats” collected from their hairbrushes.

Further Reading:
The Barbers, Hairdressers, and Manicurerers Manual by A. B. Moler
Beauty Culture by William A. Woodbury
Beauty Culture At Home by Pauline Furlong
Beauty’s Aids, or How to be Beautiful by the Countess of C—-

(hat tip to weHeartit)

The early 1890s saw a slight loosening of the hair, and as this decade progressed, ladies’ hair softened and ballooned nearly as drastically as their sleeves! Fringes remained, though with the slight pompadour effect, the height required need as much hair as a woman had on her head–and then some. Ever since the simple coiffures of the first two decades of the 19th century disappeared, ads filled newspapers selling all manners of fake hair. Ladies brushed their hair daily not only for cleanliness but to collect enough hair in the bristles to make their own “rats” and “pads” to bulk up their thin locks. The sale of hair became big business (hence the scene in Little Women) and to save even more time, hair companies created styled hairpieces–braided coils, ponytails, even whole wigs! No longer was it shameful for a woman to lack her own head of plentiful, glossy hair: she could buy it.

The 1900s were apogee of false hair. The full-blown pompadour look was in fashion, mostly inspired by Charles Dana Gibson’s iconic Gibson Girl. The sketches showed a beautiful woman with high and full up-do, and women rushed to emulate this with any manner of rats, pads and hair pieces. The Gibson Man–square-jawed, broad-shouldered, athletic, and more important, clean-shaven–inspired a new generation of young men as well. Beards had fallen out of favor and though mustaches retained their supremacy (particularly in the military, where officers were required to sport one), a lack of facial hair signified youthfulness and vigor, which matched the cavalier and derring-do spirit of the age. The latter part of the first century saw a widening of hats and a widening of hair to carry the wide-brimmed “Merry Widow”. However, the hair lost a bit of its height and was generally parted on the side or in the middle, and was fluffed low and wide towards the ears and nape.

The 1910s saw a near abandonment of facial hair for young men. Their hair was now loose and tousled, no longer trapped by the macassar oil and brilliantine pomade of former years. For ladies, the slimming silhouettes needed slimmer hair, but rather than a retread of the 1880s, their hair was dressed so that it appeared ear-length and curled–almost bob-like beneath their close-fitting hats. In fact, some women even went so far as to bob their hair, mostly inspired by Irene Castle who chopped her locks in 1914 before a scheduled surgery (she didn’t want to deal with caring for long hair during her convalescence). This inspired a craze for the “Castle Bob” and when Irene added a necklace around her head, the “Castle band” took off as well. The craze for bobs during the war years actually preceded the Golden or Roaring Twenties, and ironically (or not), ladies’ hair of the immediate post-war years made an attempt to recapture the twilight of the Edwardian era with a short-lived favoring of a slight pompadour. But the tide of fashion is unstoppable in progress, and the new generation threw themselves headlong into embracing hairstyles the older considered horrid and masculine, altogether forgetting the horror that met their generation’s shift in coiffure.

Further Reading:
Encyclopedia of Hair by Victoria Sherrow
One Thousand Beards: A Cultural History of Facial Hair‎ by Allan Peterkin
The History of Hair: Fashion and Fantasy Down the Ages‎ by Robin Bryer
1911 Hairstyles from the Girls’ Own Paper and Woman’s Magazine

It is not difficult (she says) to set down the rules I follow for taking care of my hair. Greatly as I prize and value my gift, I am no slave to it, for I devote only about three-quarters of an hour every day to its care. If women generally did the same, I have no doubt that in a short time they would soon notice an improvement in the condition of their hair.

The first essential, in my opinion, is to keep both the scalp and hair perfectly clean. It may seem superfluous to say that to women who realise the necessity of keeping the whole body clean. Especially is this the case with regard to Englishwomen, who have a bath every day. I am perfectly certain that much washing of the hair with water is bad. As a matter of fact, I wash my own hair as seldom as possible. I cannot give any exact interval of days or weeks when the hair is to be washed, for that depends on circumstances.

In the dark, foggy days, when there is much dirt and soot in the air, the hair naturally gets more dirty, and may therefore require more frequent washing than in the light, bright days of summer. Still, even under these conditions, it is possible by much brushing to avoid any excessive use of water.

When the hair is washed, it should be allowed to hang down until it dries naturally in the air, as I do not believe in rubbing it with a towel or using hot irons for the purpose of driving off the moisture. Those things are bad – very bad. Hot irons ruin the hair. The woman who uses curling-tongs courts disaster. The heat dries up the natural oil which is supplied by the little oil glands at the roots of the hair and keeps it soft and moist. The result of tongs or of heat is to make the hair brittle, so that it breaks off short. It stands to reason that if you are constantly breaking the hair it will never get long.

Only once in my life did I ever have my hair curled with curling-tongs. That once taught me my lesson. The hairdresser used irons which were too hot, and he burnt a lot of the hair in the middle of my head. Since that day no hot irons have ever been put near my hair.

How Often To Clean Brushes
Although I so strongly disapprove of washing the head with water, it is possible, as I have said, to keep the scalp and the hair quite clean by brushing it. To do this, perfectly clean brushes are absolutely necessary. My own brushes are washed every day. When once a brush has been used it is never allowed to touch my hair again until it has been thoroughly washed and dried. Doing this regularly becomes a matter of routine, and it takes scarcely any time at all, although I know only too well that when these things are done only occasionally they seem to take a great deal of time. Another reason for brushes taking so much time when they are only washed occasionally is that they are really dirty, and to clean dirty brushes must necessarily take longer than to wash those which have only been used once. If you think of it, it is no more nice to brush your hair with dirty brushes which have not been washed for two or three weeks than it is to dry your face with a towel which has not been washed for the same time.

Every morning when I get up my maid brushes my hair. As it is so long I have had to have a specially high stool made to sit on. The maid brushes both my scalp thoroughly and my hair from the roots to the end for half an hour. The other quarter of an hour I devote to dressing it for the day.

In addition to keeping the hair perfectly clean, this brushing prevents the possibility of any scurf or dandruff – and scurf is death to the hair. It may come because the hair is too dry, or it may be due to the hair being too greasy. To whichever cause it is due it should be cured at the very earliest moment it is seen, so that it may not cause the hair to drop out, as it most assuredly will if it is neglected. I should strongly recommend the doctor being called in when there is scurf, but sometimes a home remedy like “golden ointment,” which is a compound of mercury, will cure the condition rapidly. In that case, what I have said about washing must be ignored for the time. The ointment must be well rubbed into the roots of the hair at night, and washed out the next morning. In the course of a week of this treatment the scurf ought to be quite cured.

If the hair is very dry, it is a clear indication that the little oil glands are not supplying enough nourishment. This must, therefore, be supplemented by the use of a little good brillantine. It is not a good thing to put it on all over the hair. What should be done is to dip the tips of the ringers into the brillantine and rub it well into the scalp until you feel a distinct tingling. The result of this massage causes the blood to circulate very freely in the scalp, and so takes to the oil glands the material they need to make the oil they secrete. At the same time the glands are stimulated to take up the oil which has been rubbed into the scalp, so that the massage acts in a two-fold manner.

Dry hair is invariably dull hair. Now, there is an undoubted beauty in seeing hair shine and reflect the light. This effect is produced by the natural oil, supplemented by the use of the brush. When, therefore, the natural oil is absent, it is well to put the smallest quantity of brillantine on the palm of the hand, and then rub the bristles of the brush over the palm. In this way they get an infinitesimal quantity of oil on them. This little is, however, quite sufficient to make the hair shine without being enough to damage the hair in any way, provided that the brush is used enough.

The Value Of Massage

I need scarcely say that as the oil glands improve in health by the massage, the need for even the exceedingly small quantity of artificial oil will be done away with, and the daily brushing will be quite sufficient to give the hair that wonderful sheen and lustre which are so desirable.

One of the Queens of France, who was famous for the beauty of her hair, used to make her maid brush each of the four strands, into which she divided her hair when it was dressed, a hundred times. And her hair always grew luxuriantly and kept its beautiful youthful appearance all her life.

Another advantage of brushing the hair so much is to give a sensation of great lightness to the spirits. Indeed, a headache can often be cured by massaging the aching part and then well brushing the hair.

People often ask me whether I believe that cutting the hair and singeing the ends with a lighted taper is beneficial for the growth. I am quite sure they do great good. I have the ends of my hair cut and singed very often.

With many people the ends of the hair have a great tendency to split. In the first place, if these ends are kept cut, the splitting will be prevented, and, in the second, if the ends have split, the cutting will prevent the split from proceeding farther and ruining the hair.

Just as the gardener cuts the branches of the young trees to make them grow stronger, so, it would appear, it is necessary for us to clip the ends of our hair if we would have it attain the most luxuriant growth of which it is capable. Indeed, the habit of the gardener in taking care of the beautiful flowers which are entrusted to his keeping might well, and should undoubtedly, be followed by every woman with regard to her hair and that of her daughters.

It was no doubt this care bestowed on my hair when I was a girl which helped to make it grow so long. As a matter of fact, when I was a child I was not noted for the length of my hair. It was no longer than that of any of my companions. By the time I was thirteen or fourteen it had reached my waist, and many girls have hair as long as that. It was when I was sent to a convent to finish my education that my hair began to grow luxuriantly. One of the nuns had a special lotion which she used for her hair. She gave me the recipe for it, and I have used it ever since. Unfortunately, I cannot make the recipe public, as I promised to keep it a secret. Every doctor, however, can give a prescription which, if persevered in, will make the hair grow.

One thing which I find disconcerts some women, and is even a matter of grave concern, is that, at times, their hair falls out. Mine does, too. Sometimes, indeed, it comes out almost in handfuls. So much has come out that I have a great big box full of these “combings.” I never worry about it. I know from experience that just as the hair falls out, so it grows again. It is the law of nature.

[Source]

Hair-washing and Care in the 19th Century by Lydia Joyce

Between 1910 and 1913, the hobble skirt reigned supreme in fashion, obtaining popularity from the Oriental- and Directoire-inspired crazes. These skirts were extremely slim to the point of forcing women who wore them to take tiny, mincing “geisha-like” steps, and nearly barring them from independent movement (it is rather curious that as the suffrage movement moved to militancy, fashions for women became restricting). Though the hobble skirt was denounced as unsafe, and some employers even barred their female workers from wearing them, a few factions approved of the trend: “Grandmothers think that the means justify the end, and that the hobble skirt will bring back to women the old grace. They will be compelled to shorten their strides, learn to place their feet in a straight line, and not throw them in or out in the slovenly modern way, and that the entire appearance of women will be thus benefited.”

By 1912, the hobble skirt had become a tad more practical, with many concealing slits, hidden pleats, draping, and sometimes even Turkish trousers, beneath the narrow outer-skirt, which allowed greater movement than the hobbled walk initially characterizing the fad. Thank goodness, for the newspapers of the day reported countless accidents involving hobble skirts, with many women tripping, falling, and even breaking their legs while maneuvering in the skirt. To save face against the backlash, many Parisian couturiers began to characterize the trend as “American”!

To the rescue did come an American firm who, with great ingenuity, designed “Hobble Skirt” cars for city tramways. The correct name for these trams was Low Level Center Entrance cars or Hedley-Doyle cars after their designers, Frank Hedley, who was Vice-President and General Manager of the New York Railways Company, and James S. Doyle, Superintendent of Car Equipment. In 1912 they produced three prototype cars for the company–the sills of the doors were only about 8 inches from street level and once inside the floor sloped up into each saloon to give space under the floor for the bogies–and by 1914, tramlines throughout the world were equipped with “Hobble Skirt” cars.

As with all fads, the hobble skirt passed from fad to fashion history by 1915. The odd thing is, with the fabric shortages of WWI, it should have remained in style rather than the fabric-hoarding “war crinoline” trend (left), but who can tell what drives fashion?

Further Reading:

She was a confessed shopaholic, never ordering one thing of a kind, but duplications of each item by the dozens, often with the slightest of variations in materials, lace or design. It was not uncommon for her closet to boast twenty-five copies of a favorite coat. However Rita didn’t dress for display; she dressed for art. Each item was but a piece on the canvas of her body, to convey a mood perhaps, or a “look” she felt that day. For her own pleasure she would dress herself in an antique gown made of 11th century lace which cost her $9,000. Daily costumes included black velvet dresses for day, low-cut and bare-backed evening gowns, jackets and coats of rich and rare materials to be worn with velvet skirts by day or satin culottes by night, black lace mantillas, small sable hats, and an umbrella stick of platinum with her name set in diamonds on top. She also brought her own linens, books, silver and objects when she traveled, and filled her hotel rooms (an entire floor) with white flowers. “Politicians bowed to her, painters painted her and sculptors sculpted”.

But more than clothing and art, shoes were her first passion. True to form as a lady of society, Rita only walked short distances, yet she owned at least three hundred pairs of shoes. Each was specially crafted by the elusive Pietro Yanturni, the East India Curator of the Cluny Museum in Paris, who only created his feather-light, unique shoes for a select clientèle. Before he would even agree to add a woman to his list, he would demand a deposit of $1,000, from which he would subtract the price of each shoe or boot supplied, though delivery often took two or three years. If he accepted the lady as a client, he would make a plaster model of each foot, on which he would then work and mold his materials until they were as flexible as the finest of silk.

The shoes he designed for Rita were fashioned from costly 11th and 12th century velvets, the toes varying between long and pointed, or square with square heels. Evening and boudoir slippers utilized brocades of gold- and silver-metal tissue, some covered with lace appliqué and leather spats that fit like a silk sock. To house these delicate, expensive shoes, Rita would collect violins to use their thin, light wood as shoe trees, and then these would be placed in trunks of Russian leather made in St. Petersburg, closed with heavy locks and lined with a rich cream velvet.

In the midst of this opulent beauty, one would assume her life was a thing of beauty as well. By 50, her feverish pursuit of aesthetics led to financial ruin. She was barred from marrying Reverend Dr. Percy Stickney Grant by his bishop on the grounds of her previous divorce, and soon after, her health failed. Bankrupt and denied the pleasure of her life-long purchases, she died at 53 in relative obscurity in comparison to the fame of her earlier years.

Further Reading:
The Glass of Fashion by Cecil Beaton
The Power of Style by Annette Tapert & Diana Edkin
Step Lively: Pierre Yantourny by An Aesthete’s Lament

The modern perfume industry came into being in Paris between the years 1889 and 1921, with the introduction of synthetic fragrances. Prior to this development, perfumers relied heavily upon natural scents, which could be difficult to obtain, such as with vanilla, ambergris, civet, or benzoin; or to extract its essences, such as with freesia, lilac, violet, or orchid. From the natural distillation of fragrances, the chemical developments of the 19th century culminated in a new perfume industry, based around the combination of natural and synthetic fragrances.

The first synthetic fragrance was the essence of Mirbane introduced by Collas in about 1850. Soon after, came the creation of artificial oil of wintergreen and of bitter almonds in 1868; the creation of coumarin, a chemical compound found naturally in lavender, clover, and tonka beans, that was designed to replicate the scent of freshly mowed hay, by Sir W. H. Perkin that same year; vanillin, which as the crystalline component, was first isolated from vanilla pods in 1858, but was obtained from the glycosides of pine tree sap in 1875, and temporarily caused an economic depression in the natural vanilla industry; and of ionone, almost identical with the natural irone, the odorous principle of violets, by Tiemann and P. Kruger in 1898. In 1888 the chemist Alfred Baur discovered the “artificial musks,” Musk Baur, and secondly, Musk Ketone in 1894, which was widely used until the 1990s because its production was easy and cheap.

From 1887 to 1915, Schimmel & Co, one of the major suppliers of essential oils at the turn of the century, made twice yearly reports on the fluctuations in the supply of natural ingredients as territories were colonized and recolonized and their resources exploited. Gradually, in reaction to the instability of access to natural resources, more and more perfumers turned to synthetic fragrances and Schimmel’s catalogues reflected this. 1895 saw the report of the first synthetic jasmine, and synthetic rose, neroli and ylang-ylang (despite its relative inexpensiveness) followed. Artificial rose oil, was especially touted for its ease of use. It would not “become cloudy in the cold, or separate into flakes. It could be relied upon to be always of exactly the same composition.”

Ironically, the synthetic fragrance became an oxymoron: they were cheap, but colorless in every way. The chemical make-up of an essence had been cracked, but in its creation, the complexity and nuance of a natural fragrance was lost. But that didn’t deter perfumers from both blending the synthetic with the natural and capitalizing on the brusque, one-dimensional quality of the synthetic (Chanel No 5, created accidentally, is a good example of the latter).

One of the first perfumers to use a synthetic fragrance was Houbigant, whose Fougère Royale,or Royal Fern, was built around an “accord of oakmoss, geranium, bergamot … and synthetic coumarin” in 1882. However, this fragrance quickly vanished from the scene, and the House of Guerlain is frequently cited as creating the modern perfume industry with the creation of Jicky in 1889. A fougère, or fern fragrance, also based around coumarin, it included bois de rose, vanillin, lemon, bergamot, lavender, mint, verbena, and sweet marjoram, with civet as a fixative.

“When it first appeared, many women did not accept or understand it. The hint of animal scent was too brutal and unexpected for women in 1889. In fact, men were the first to appreciate it, and it wasn’t until 1912 that women’s magazines finally began to sing its praises. The perfume bottle is inspired by medicine jars but with a surprising ‘champagne bottle stopper’, symbolizing joy and celebration.”

The House of Guerlain quickly followed which such fragrances as Au bon Vieux Temps (1890), Belle Epoque (1892), Après L’Ondée (1906) and L’Heure Bleue (1912).

A rival was found in François Coty, who completed the birth of the modern perfume age with his revolutionary packaging techniques. Obsessed with the idea of creating fragrances and presenting them in the perfect bottle, Coty moved to Grasse, the capital of perfumery, where he entered the school of fragrance run the House of Chiris, one of the largest producers of floral essences. Returning to Paris a year later, he met with rejection until, in 1904, after a flamboyant demonstration, Coty got an order for twelve bottles of his latest creation, La Rose Jacqueminot, from the Grands Magasins du Louvres, a major Parisian department store.

In 1908, he opened an elegant shop on the Place Vendôme, which was next door to René Lalique, the great art nouveau jeweler. Asked to design Coty’s perfume bottles, Lalique was able to mass produce them with iron molds. Selling perfume in uniquely designed bottles was revolutionary enough, but Coty dared to allow customers to sample the perfume before purchasing it! Designed by Lalique, small perfume bottles (testers), signs and labels were produced to encourage ladies to try a dab of Ambre Antique or Le Muguet.

As he did with many trends in the years leading up to the Great War, Paul Poiret was the first couturier to create perfumes under his fashion label. In 1911, he set up two companies, one for each of his daughters. For Martine, the youngest, he established Les Ateliers de Martine. For Rosine, the eldest, he established Parfums de Rosine. With packaging designed by Erté, Raul Duffy and Paul Iribe, his fragrance house was so successful, it was rumored Coty wished to buy him out. His perfumers, Emannuel Bouler, Maurice Shaller and Henri Alméras brought Rosine lasting fame with such fragrances as Borgia, Alladin, and Nuit de Chine, which ventured into new territory, combining Oriental ingredients with intense and heady florals.

Hand in hand with the modern perfume industry were cosmetics. Into this field, women featured heavily. Born into a socially prominent Chicago family, Harriet Hubbard Ayers spent a year in Paris after the 1871 fire, thereafter moving to New York to begin business selling a beauty cream called Recamier. Experiencing much success with this, she began to sell perfumes with names like Dear Heart, Mes Fleurs, and Golden Chance. From this, she emerged to become America’s first beauty columnist and the country’s best-paid, most popular female newspaper journalist.

One of the most enduring names in the cosmetics industry is that of Helena Rubinstein. Born in Poland, Rubenstein emigrated to Australia where, with the help of her sister, she began to sell beauty treatments she claimed derived from the Carpathians. Leaving her sister Ceska to assume the Melbourne shop’s operation, Rubenstein moved to London with $100,000 in 1908 to began what was to become an international enterprise.

Her deadly rival, Elizabeth Arden, founded a North American-based beauty empire. Born Florence Nightingale Graham, Arden traveled to France in 1912 to learn the beauty and facial massage techniques used in the Paris beauty salons. Returning to the States with a collection of rouges and tinted powders she created, she introduced modern eye makeup to North America and the concept of the “makeover” in her salons. With her collaborator, Swanson, a chemist, they created a “fluffy” face cream called Venetian Cream Amoretta, and a corresponding lotion, named Arden Skin Tonic, which revolutionized cosmetics, bringing a scientific approach to formulations.

Other beauty inventions included the hair-color formula, developed by chemist Eugene Schueller (the founder of L’Oreal) in 1907, called Auréole; the Marcel wave, a process by which heated tongs were used to curl and wave hair, invented by Francois Marcel, a French hairdresser in 1872; and the Nestle Permanent Hair Wave, created by Charles Nestle in 1906, wherein an electric heat machine was attached to the hair pads protecting the head and curled the hair.

Edwardian ladies also used papier poudre, which came in books of colored paper and were pressed against the cheeks or nose to remove shine, burnt matchsticks to darken eyelashes, and geranium and poppy petals to stain the lips. For those who wished to turn back the hands of time, or at least halt them for a while, many ladies would paint their faces with enamel, thereby “preserving” their beauty beneath a layer of white paint–and it was rumored Queen Alexandra retained her youthful beauty long past the age of sixty with assistance by this process.

A dangerous trend during this period however, was the use of belladonna drops in the eyes. For some reason, it was determined that dilated pupils were attractive to the opposite sex. Interestingly enough, to be beautiful in the Edwardian era was to be brunette–blondes were decidedly out of favor–and cosmetics were created specifically for the brunette, rosy-cheeked woman in mind.

Discreet beauty salons, such as the House of Cyclax, or the more sinister salon run by Madame Rachel (who, despite her infamy, lives on in the eponymous mixture of face power she created for brunettes), lined Bond Street, or near it, where veiled ladies could enter side doors to obtain their face powders and creams, enamels, lip tinctures, and rouges.

But Selfridge’s threw open the doors when it debuted a make-up counter with its opening in 1910, where women could openly purchase cosmetics and even try them on at the counter! This shocked the older generations who stared in disbelief when young women–perhaps even acquaintances–blithely walked up to the counter and professed knowledge of the different cosmetics they wouldn’t have dreamed of admitting they knew. But times were a-changing. By the 1920s, no longer was lily white-skin a sign of breeding: a healthy glowing suntan now professed the wealth and leisure that allowed one to vacation at the beach, and rouging ones knees and powdering ones face, in public naturally, became a common occurrence. The pursuit of beauty was legitimized.

Further Reading:
Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume by Mandy Aftel
1900s Lady by Kate Caffrey
War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden, Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry by Lindy Woodhead
Art of Perfume: Discovering and Collecting Perfume Bottles by Christie Mayer Lefkowith
Masterpieces of the Perfume Industry by Christie Mayer Lefkowith
Perfume: Joy, Scandal, Sin – A Cultural History of Fragrance from 1750 to the Present by Richard Stamelman