Makeup, Clothes & the Economy in A RIVER IN TIME Maquillage as a Status Symbol

Makeup, Clothes & the Economy in A RIVER IN TIME

Maquillage as a Status Symbol

Graduate students have long studied the effects of the U.S. and now the World Economy on fashion. It has been established that during times of depression, recession or just general economic downturns and instability, women’s makeup, particularly lipstick, got bolder. It might even be said that extremes in makeup and possibly also adornment could be one signal of a crumbling economy and a society on its way out.

Makeup has always been a class identifier. Even in today’s society, very poor women generally do not use makeup because they do not have the money to buy it. Similarly, in 18th century France especially, the amount of makeup signified your social status and economic class. It wasn’t called ‘paint’ for a reason: it really was.

But no matter how poor you were or how undistinguished according to the aristocratic scale, everyone tried to look as though they were from a higher station on special occasions. (Maybe that’s why it’s called ‘make UP’ because it elevates your social status?)

I remember my mother telling me that her mother used to put beet juice on her cheeks and lips to make them red before a date or a social event; my maternal grandmother had an impoverished start in life, and beet juice was the only cosmetic she could think of or easily obtain.

In A RIVER IN TIME, I make a reference to this when Izzy and Elizabeth are discussing cosmetics. Set in 1795, the characters in A RIVER IN TIME are not slaves to fashion, as the elaborate clothes and makeup of the mid 18th century have relaxed in the wake of the Revolutions. They will soon take a brief journey, in fact, into neo-Classicism with the arrival of the two decade Empire style in clothing and makeup which idealized the nude look--on many levels.

But more about that another time.

The way makeup was regarded, the reasons it was worn, and therefore its style have also changed throughout history. When makeup was viewed, as it was in the mid 18th century, as an adornment in and of itself, the styles were very bold: both genders wore wide swaths of rouge in heavily whitened faces, and sported false beauty marks as well. In some cases this might have been not only to show off how much effort went into the preparation but also to disguise the disfiguring effects of disease.

 As the 18th century progressed, and then in the 19th century, a more natural look became favored, and although makeup was still used, the intent was that it not be seen.

From an 18th century perspective, the hypothetical connection between a society’s economic well being and their use of cosmetics leads down many paths. 

Certainly in 18th century France--even then, as now, the Fashion Mecca--women’s and even men’s makeup, hair/wigs and clothing became more and more extreme throughout the century until by 1780 it could be said to have been almost bizarre. 

Clothing

In mid 18th century France, women wore wire cages under their voluminous skirts to create a silhouette so wide they couldn’t fit through doorways straight on. Their gowns were low cut as well, and embellished with bows, overskirts, panniers and other adornments. The fancier the clothing, the less likely it was that the woman could dress herself so again, elaborate clothes signified the upper classes. 

Dressing became quite an event in and of itself: it would take a long time, for one thing. Also, it was yet another way the nobility called attention to themselves. In France, it was an honor to be invited to the ‘lever’ of the King or Queen and soon lower levels of Dukes, Barons, Counts, etc. copied this. Even very well to do merchants might invite friends over to watch him dress, and do business during this time. Women did the same thing and being present while a fashionable lady got dressed with the help of her maids was a big thing.

Although women in England and the New World copied French style, they didn’t go quite to the extremes of the French, although ‘hip rolls’ were popular to achieve a sort of ‘wide angle’ look. Prior to this, in the earlier 18th century, clothing had conformed more to the natural shape, and had overall been more modest.

In A RIVER IN TIME, much comment is made on Izzy’s ‘old blue gown’ because it is wide skirted. She wears a double crinoline under it, which made it very full. The book is set in 1795, and by that date, the wide skirts like Izzy’s were going out of fashion. The new ‘Empire’ high waisted gown and dress were coming in. Although some older women preferred and stayed with the natural waist gowns, most women changed over and this is one reason that Elizabeth is so very determined that Izzy should have a new gown “in the latest style.”

Since  A RIVER IN TIME is set in Pennsylvania in the very late 18th century, the characters are not nobility or aristocracy although they are tradespeople and merchants. However, theirs is still a largely agricultural society and as such the fashions necessarily would have reflected the needs and activities of the people of the time.

Elizabeth still has some natural waist gowns as well as some newer ‘empire’ style gowns and dresses. Realistically, even a new bride with a relatively wealthy father would have only had four or so dresses and gowns, so she surely would have kept her older and slightly outmoded natural waist gowns. She probably would have worn them, too, although perhaps not for going out to Church, or to the Dance, or in Society. And she and her all around Maid and Cook, Martha, may very well have altered a natural waist gown if they could have, once the ‘empire’ waist fashion was firmly established.

Undergarments are intriguing enough to warrant their own blog entry, so we shall get to that soon. However, in A RIVER IN TIME I make mention of the fact that Izzy wore no corset but did wear pantaloons. Historically, this is not quite correct, and I note that although Izzy knew she should have been corseted with her full skirted crinolined gown, she didn’t bother. Additionally, women in the 18th century did not usually wear pantaloons, something I just learned recently. The advent of the semi sheer fabrics popular in the big cities and on the Continent during the ‘Empire Style’ movement made flesh toned leggings popular. Following this once skirts became fuller again and the waistline dropped back to the natural one, pantaloons came into favor, until by the Civil War they were more ruffled than the petticoats!

Hair

In the mid 18th century, air was hidden under elaborately curled and powdered wigs, and in the cases of some aristocratic women, hair was piled more than a foot high on their heads, complete with miniature sailing ships, beads, feathers, bird nests, and other fanciful additions. They used conical pieces to achieve the height required, as well as false hair pieces, or entire wigs. Again: more elaboration that required more attendants to dress the person and achieve the correct ‘look.’

Following the French Revolution when styles changed to more natural looks, women returned to wearing a cap of some kind if they were married. This was an outgrowth of a misinterpretation of St. Paul’s letters that the Catholic Church used for centuries before the 18th and up until Vatican II in the 1960’s to encourage women to cover their hair, as it was thought to be a tool of seduction. Note when you read novels set in the 18th or early 19th century that men adore watching their wives ‘take down’ their hair and brush it at night. The reason is that it signals, at least to them, a willingness on the part of the woman to engage in romantic activity. 

In the mid 18th and early 19th century, single women didn’t necessarily wear caps, although bonnets were much in favor for travel or outdoor activities. However, their hair was never worn loose: it was up in braids (‘plaits’), or a bun, or some other type of topknot or ponytail, and often adorned with ribbons or bows.

It may have been easier to manage than the elaborate coiffures of the mid 18th century, but later 18th century and early 19th century heads were still fashioned and restrained to some degree.

In A RIVER IN TIME I refer to this when Elizabeth assumes Izzy is married, because she is wearing a ‘mob cap’ made popular by the French Revolutionaries. Izzy, who is single, corrects her, and allows her to believe that the cap was part of Izzy’s disguise when fleeing France.

Men rarely wore wigs by the close of the 18th century, although some older men and professionals still did until the turn of the century. Younger men by 1790 had reverted to a neat ponytail, and the styles reflected a less aristocratically driven society.

It’s worthwhile noting that because personal hygiene was not up to modern standards, lice infestations were common. People did shave their heads to keep the lice at bay, and treated their wigs with powder which, while giving the fashionable white look, also was supposed to kill or at least disillusion the lice.

Skin

Pale skin was desirable in the 18th century because it signified that the person did not have to work out of doors. In other words, the paler the skin, the more likely that the person was either noble and didn’t work, or at least worked indoors as a professional of some sort. 

For women, pale skin was particularly important, and noble women carried parasols--whose name means ‘against the sun’--to keep from getting burned, or tanned. If a woman had a sunburn, or freckles, or a tan of any darkness at all, she was considered hoydenish at best and disgustingly low class at worst.

In A RIVER IN TIME, Izzy no doubt had a tan of some kind but because her cover story was that she was in disguise and fleeing France, she would probably have been given an exception by her 18th century friends. I do not discuss skin tone much in the book.

The pale skin look continued to be popular, although not to the degree it was in the mid 18th century, right through the 19th century and into the early 20th century.  In India, even today, a ‘fair’ complexion is the ideal, and some facial creams for both genders even contain bleaching agents to aid in the achievement of this. 

However, it’s interesting that since the Second World War, this ideal has done a 180 degree flip in the West. The wealthy, who may work but who have more leisure than the poor at any rate, sport tanned skin from pale golden to deep bronze to show that they have idle hours to spend basking in the sun. Poor people have no time to sit around ‘working on a tan’ as they are laboring at one or more jobs, usually inside: thus, they are pale.

With medical advice weighing in against sun exposure in the past two decades, the wealthy have stopped ‘sun bathing’ or using tanning beds, but now invest in expensive spray on tans or tanning creams that moisturize and color the skin without being harmful. A spray on tan has become almost as de rigueur for a bridal party as matching jewelry, and those from lower economic strata often feel that achieving some kind of tanned look elevates their social status. Again, poor people have no time or money to spend on any of the products and practices associated with looking tanned, just as in the 18th century they could not afford the powders, paints, parasols and other lifestyle accoutrements that fostered pale skin.

In an effort to have pale skin nobility in the 18th century applied white paint containing lead to their faces, necks and shoulders. They also used bismuth or vinegar and some even traced ‘veins’ on their bosoms with blue pencil to accentuate the whiteness of their skin.

Rouge was used, as was the ‘blanc’ or white makeup (maquillage) by both genders in the mid 18th century. Rouges were made of ground cinnabar with mercury, which is toxic. 

Later in the 18th and early 19th century rouge was still used, but less obviously, and a pale complexion was still something that was completely acceptable.

Lips

In 1770 the British Parliament (all men, by the way) passed a law condemning lipstick, and any woman using it could be tried for witchcraft. This went along with the shift from an admittedly more colorful Catholicism and even Anglican world view to the more sedate Puritan perspective. 

In the mid 18th century in France, however, lips were reddened with a semi solid substance that was made from vinegar and wood resins and varied from pink to burgundy. Perhaps the English dislike of all things French also added to the Parliamentary move.

The ideal mouth was rose bud shaped and the mid 18th century was the era when the ‘bee stung’ look was very popular. 

In the later 1800’s natural looking red lips as well as natural looking pink cheeks were acceptable because they gave the appearance of health. 

In A RIVER IN TIME Izzy has a lipstick in her reticule, but she doesn’t use it very much because Elizabeth probably doesn’t wear any lipstick.

Eyes

Eyes were not usually made up during the 18th century, but it was purely a fashion statement: eye makeup in the form of kohl has been available since Egyptian times and very finely crushed rocks mixed with a paste of some kind had also been used as a colored eyeshadow from ancient days. Egyptians even believed that eye makeup enhanced sight so everyone tried to use it.

However, in the early 19th century, women used belladonna drops to make their eyes look bright and luminous, even though they knew belladonna was poisonous. I would much rather enhance my eyes with kohl than a poison. In A RIVER IN TIME, Sam remarks on Elizabeth’s beautiful eyes after she and Izzy apply ‘mascara’ to her lashes with a mixture of ashes and beeswax. The ashes and beeswax combo isn’t actually documented in history, although kohl of course had been used for millennia. Because makeup had a chequered reputation, mascara as a lash enhancer specifically didn’t develop until the later part of the 19th century. Then it was ashes and elderberry juice which was mixed and heated and stroked on the lashes. Izzy’s use of ash and melted wax was probably a breakthrough; had she patented it and gone into commercial production she could have been a millionaire!

Eye shadow, too, while it had been used in Egyptian times, was eschewed until the Victorian Era. In A RIVER IN TIME when Izzy tells Elizabeth she has put blackberry juice on her lids to highlight them, Izzy finds it a peculiar notion. This is because not only was it a strange application of a fruit juice, but also because using makeup was something modest women didn’t do much, and if they did, the effects were not meant to be noticeable. You’ll note that while Elizabeth likes the idea of mascara, which is probably less obvious, she never mentions wanting to use eye shadow.

Eyebrows are another story. Ideal eyebrows in the mid 18th century were half moon shaped, tapered, and darkened; people used kohl, burnt cork or soot from oil lamps to achieve this look. At the French Court, sometimes people would pluck their natural eyebrows and wear false ones made of mouse fur.

YECH!

Jonathan Swift even says: “Her eyebrows from a mouse’s hide, stuck on with art on either side.”

Following the French Revolution and the American Revolution as well, the trend reverted to more natural looks. Mice everywhere rejoiced that their hides would no longer be sought out for false eyebrows.

Shapes of the eyebrows were still half moons although natural ‘wings’ or arches were acceptable in the late 18th and early 19th century’s naturalistic fashions.