For Grand Evening Parties

The elaborate hair styles that we are looking at today are from an 1867 handbook entitled Self-instructor in the art of hair work. It was written by Mark Campbell of 737 Broadway, New York (he also had a store in Chicago) - a manufacturer of wigs, hair-pieces,  and preparations for preventing balding, and for restoring color to the hair that you still had. He was also a noted hair-jewelry designer. Mr. Campbell had a special facility for making gold hair jewelry. Hair jewelry was very popular in the mid-Victorian period - they were literally rings, necklaces, bracelets and pins which incorporated the hair of a loved one (living or deceased). Campbell was noted for his beautiful and creative pieces. In the 1875 edition of Self-instructor, there is a design for these inventive acorn earrings, from Morning Glory Jewelry (the bottom of the acorn is made of hair).


In theory, you were supposed to be able to fix your hair in these fancy styles all by yourself.  Have a look and see what you think!

The Promenade Head-Dress (at the right) "is worn frequently in the drawing-room, and even at public and private assemblies - in fact, a common and very pretty style." You were permitted to use false hair to make the bread roll at the back.

The Empress Head-Dress is on the left, and it is "charming...and entirely new, suiting a fair complexion." If you were a brunette, you needed to powder it. Mr. Campbell sold many hair powders for this very purpose, including diamond, gold and silver powders. But he does not say which kind would best suit a brunette.

For a special occasion, you would probably like the Grand Evening Party Head-Dress on the right, which was both "graceful" and "bold" as well as being suited to brunettes (blonde women were not advised to dress their hair this way - even if they used powder). You were supposed to set your hair in multiple puffs front and back, and then drape "loose curls" over the back puff. I think you would need at least three people working on this one, plus someone to hold the mirror - can you imagine fixing your hair like this on your own?

If you were working solo, it would have been a good idea to stick to the style on the left, the Soiree or Evening Head Dress. It won't do for a Grand Evening Party, but with a false braid, a bunch of false curls, a "fancy comb" and a snappy hair ornament or two, it ought to be fairly straightforward.

If you did end up needing professional help, you could go to Mr. Campbell's emporium, where men just like the fellow on the right were hard at work making false braids and switches. I like the little braid-holder he is sitting at - it looks like a lampshade, doesn't it?

Source: Mark Campbell, Self-instructor in the Art of Hair Work, Dressing Hair, Making Curls, Switches, Braids, and Hair Jewelry of Every Description (New York: Mark Campbell, 1867).