Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> Wigs have been worn at one time or another by both men and women throughout the whole history of costume. In primitive societies they were worn for ritual ceremonies and they often possessed religious significance or symbolised power; later they denoted rank and authority enhancing the dignity of their wearers as can be seen in the paintings and sculpture of the Egyptians. Wigs were also worn as an accessory of fashionable dress. The paintings in the National Portrait Gallery reveal the extent to which the wig became an integral part of the Englishman’s daily wear in all walks of life from c1660 until almost the end of the eighteenth century. This survey outlines the changing shape for the first part of this period until about 1740. The more exaggerated forms of the wig may now seem very affected and unnatural but the fashion became popular in the seventeenth century for the same reasons that women’s hair-pieces were worn in the early 1900’s and are popular today. Extra hair had to be provided for those who did not have enough of their own to arrange in the fashionable styles of the moment. Wigs were also more easy to manage than an abundance of greasy hair particularly in the days before regular washing. John Evelyn wrote in 1668; “Indeede in the sum’er-time I have found wonderfull benefit in bathing my head with a decoction of some not and aromaticall herbs in a lixivium made of the ashes of vine-branches and when my head is well washed with this I im’ediately cause aboundance of could fountain-water to be poured upon me stillatim for a good halfe-hour together. (LL)