Georgie Kennett
Major Project
Hairpiece History
Egypt
The use of human hair in wigs dates back to 2700 B.C.E in the Egyptian wigs. These were rare, however, and subsitiutes using palm leaf fibers and wool were much more commonly used. Wigs in ancient Egypt were worn by both males and females. They were used to protect their heads from the sun, and from vermin. The styles of wigs, and materials they were made of, were used to denote rank, social status, and religious piety. Womens wigs were adorned with braids and gold, hair rings and ivory ornaments to make them more stylish then mens wigs. The Egyptians who had wigs that were more elaborate and involved had the highest social status.
Typically egyptian wigs were divided into three parts, one flowing down the centre of the back and one each side reaching the breasts. The wig usually had a briw band like the brim of a cap running around the head. It was an essential part of the wigs construction since it was also a way to secure any hair they had already. The wig was in effect like a hat or a crown and its length and style had some bearing upon the wearer's status.
First picture: Could be a girl, she wears a wig of human or horse hair bearing uncanny similarity to Mona Lisa despite the ceturies and civilisations which seperate them. It is a bust of an Egyptian princess.
Second Picture: Shows the length and shape of the wigs worn by a husband and wife, similar to what some judges may wear today and just as artificial. A man and his wife, Thebes, Egyptian, Late Eighteenth Dynasty, c.1350bc British Museum.
Both pictures from: Bryer, R. (2000). The history of hair: Fashion and fantasy down the ages. London: Distributed in the USA and Canada by Antique Collectors’ Club.
1200-1600
After the Roman Empire fell, the use of wigs was diminished. When the Christian influences emerged during the mideval era, fashion became more plain. By the Middle Ages (1200-1400 C.E.), the difficult times said goodbye to the use of wigs. Women were required to have their heads covered, and beauty became irrelavent. The feminine hair style once again regained importance as women again started showing their heads at the start of the Renaissance period. (1400-1600) Instead of covering their heads, women took pride in their appearance, and adorned their hairstyles and coiffures (wig fixtures on the tops of their heads) with lustrous veils and sparking jewels. Once again, society saw the importance in womens wigs and fashion. In the 16th Century, wigs were brought back into use, and were used to compensate for hair loss, or to improve personal appearance. The biggest reason, however, for bringing wigs back, was because people were very unhygenic, and they had a problem with head lice. They would shave their heads to keep lice away, and wear wigs which were much more easily de-loused.
The picture shows the trends that were to include sparkling jewels and wig fixtures on the top of their hair. It shows the art of complexity with what is her own hair and what is not. It is Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1485, (Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt).
Image Reference: Bryer, R. (2000). The history of hair: Fashion and fantasy down the ages. London: Distributed in the USA and Canada by Antique Collectors’ Club.
1600-1700
Amongst the reasons of the common people, the revival of the wig was largely influenced by Royalty. Queen Elizabeth I of England wore a red wig, which was worn in a "Roman" Style of tight elaborate curls. King Louis XIII of France who reigned from 1601 - 1643, started wearing wigs in 1624 when he began to prematurely bald. Thus was the start of wearing wigs for hair loss. His son and successor, Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) largely promoted his fathers wig wearing, which contributed to its spread in European and European-influenced countries.
In 1660, periwigs for men were introduced into the English-speaking world. These wigs were shoulder length or longer, and imitated the long hair that had become fashionable among men since the 1620s. The English court quickly picked up the use of periwigs and it became increasingly popular.
The picture above shows the Queen Elizabeth I wearing her hair loose, as traditionally a queen would at her coronation, much like a bride at her wedding. This is by an unknown artist, Elizabeth I, (National Portrait Gallery, London).
Image Reference: Bryer, R. (2000). The history of hair: Fashion and fantasy down the ages. London: Distributed in the USA and Canada by Antique Collectors’ Club.
1700-1800
The eighteenth century brought wigs to a whole new level. Wigs were once again viewed as a symbol of class. Those who had high finances would purchase large wigs for formal occasions. The larger or more "full bottomed" the wig was, the more expensive. This was a mark of class and income. If someone could not afford a wig, they would make their own natural hair look as "wig-like" as possible.
The mid-eighteenth century brought the term "hair dressing" into terminology. White was the favored color for wigs at this point. Trades were constructed around the care and maintenance of wigs, called hair dressing. The trade was so named, because the hair was dressed instead of being cut. The wigs were greased and then powdered with flour, or a special mixture of starch and plaster. Women did not wear wigs, but wore coiffures which were piled high with artificial hair, powdered and placed with jewels. Women mainly powdered their hair grey or blue-ish grey. From the 1770s onward, womens hair was never found bright white like men. At this point, wig powder was made from finely ground starch that was scented wit horange flower, lavender, or orris root. Wig powder was most often used as off-white, but it was occasionally colored violet, blue, pink or yellow.
Mens powdered wigs, and womens powdered coiffures eventually became essential for formal wear occasions. This continued until almost the end of the 18th century.
At the end of the 18th century, the development of the naturally white or off-white powderless wig for men, which was made from horsehair, became the new fashion, as powdering wigs was messy and inconvenient.
By the 1780s, young men started lightly powdering their natural hair just as women had been doing since the 1770s. After 1790, both wigs and powder were used only for older and more conservative men, and ladies being presented in court. At this point, english women seldom powdered their hair anymore. In 1795, the fashion for wigs and powder disappeared when the British government levied a tax on hair powder.
1st picture above shows a lady with shoulders covered from the powder by a 'peignoir' while her hairdresser made with finishing touches, 1778 engraving by Dupin after Pierre Thomas Le Clerc.
2nd image shows the hedgehog hairstyle, bouffant on top and trailing locks behind. In the image is The Duchess of Devonshire and Lady G. Cavendish, authors collection S.W Reynolds after Sir Joshua Reynolds.
3rd image shows the long but false wig worn by Charles II following the newly established French fashion. The engraving is by George Vertue.
All images from: Bryer, R. (2000). The history of hair: Fashion and fantasy down the ages. London: Distributed in the USA and Canada by Antique Collectors’ Club.
1800-1900
By the start of the 19th century, the wearing of wigs as a symbol of social status was largely abandoned. In the United States, only the first five presidents, from George Washington to James Monroe wore powdered wigs. In the 19th century, women hardly wore wigs anymore. Full wigs were only worn by older women who had lost their hair.
The first picture to the left shows the first president with a powdered wig. George Washington 1732-99 first president of the US 1789-97.
The second image is Duke of York's mistress in 1803 wearing long curled hair proving the change in the 19th century of women no longer wearing wigs.
The third image is interesting since it shows long haired Emma Hamilton in 1803 as she posed for the artist two years before the battle of trafalgar. She has such long hair despite reports in 1800 that her hair had been cut extremely short. This could be some type of hair piece to make the hair longer. This would be one of the first obvious records of hair extensions for the purpose of making the hair much longer.
1920s- 1990s
With the introduction of the new bobbed hairstyle in the 1920s, wigs fell out of favor and were worn by older women who were not interested in the newly shorn look. Their use returned in the 1950s, but only as a way of having temporary fantasy hairstyles. The most renowned wigmakers and hairdressers in Europe were Maria and Rosy Carita. In black hairdressing, though, the wig was of supreme importance allowing for fashionable styles without undergoing the time-consuming, and in some instances painful, process of straightening. Black stars such as Diana Ross were known for their stylish wig collections in the mid-1960s. It was not really until the late 1960s that wigs underwent a massive renaissance in white hairdressing practices. Rapidly changing fashion, a space-age chic and the vogue for drip-dry clothes in new man-made fabrics led to a vogue for the artificial over the natural. By 1968 there was a wig boom and it is estimated that one-third of all European women wore what hair-dressers called a "wig of convenience." Men still tended to wear wigs differently moving further toward the naturalism that many women were rejecting. Until the early 1950s, all wigs were made by hand. However, the invention of the machine-made, washable, nylon and acrylic wig in Hong Kong led to cheap, mass-produced wigs flooding the market. The novelty fashion wig or hair-piece became one of Hong Kong's fastest growing exports and by 1970 the industry employed 24,000 workers. In 1963 British imports of wigs and hairpieces from Hong Kong was worth £200,000 ($350,000); by 1968 it was almost £5 million ($8.78 million). By 1969 around forty percent of wigs were synthetic and the leading companies in wig development were the American firm Dynel and the Japanese Kanekalon, who both used modacrylics to create wigs that were easy to care for and held curl well. In the late twentieth century, many false forms of hair are used and the change from a long to a short hair-style can be completed at a whim with extensions that have moved from black hairdressing to white hairdressing. Singers such as Beyoncé and Britney Spears use weaves of all styles and colors openly.The history of human hair extensions is much shorter. Hair extensions were developed in the 1990s as they exist today. They are tied or sewn onto regular human hair to make it look longer or to create a new look. You can make hair extensions look like a wig but they are more natural and make use of your own hair. In the 1990s, celebrities such as Victoria Beckham made hair extensions popular and even more celebrities made use of them. Human hair extensions were very expensive in the beginning so only the rich or celebrities used them.
21st Century
The fantasy wig is bursting out of its Halloween store confines into the forefront of pop culture. 21st century divas such as Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry, who perform and pose for paparazzi donning far-out wigs as if they were interchangeable Easter bonnets in an array of fluffed-up cotton candy colors: yellows, blues, pinks.
Many celebrities seem to have lots of hair. And it's very likely that some, if not all, of that hair was added on with a lace-front wig or a weave.
Lace-front wigs are full wigs made of either natural or synthetic hair sewn onto a delicate mesh lace base. The wigs are glued or taped along the hairline, clipped on or sewn onto braided natural hair. They are ready-made or custom-sewn strand by strand, measured, dyed, fitted to your hairline, cut and styled.
Twists, Braids, Cornrows, Bangs and Ponytails are very popular with hair pieces added to create the styles.
Wig History
Based on an ivory carving of a woman's head found in southwestern France, anthropologists speculate that wigs may have been used as long as 100,000 years ago. Wigs were quite popular among ancient Egyptians, who cut their hair short or shaved their heads in the interests of cleanliness and comfort (i.e., relief from the desert heat). While the poor wore felt caps to protect their heads from the sun, those who could afford them wore wigs of human hair, sheep's wool, or palm-leaf fiber mounted on a porous fabric. An Egyptian clay figure that dates to about 2500 B.C. wears a removable wig of black clay. The British Museum holds a beautifully made wig at least 3,000 years old that was found in the Temple of Isis at Thebes; its hundreds of tiny curls still retain their carefully arranged shape.
Wigs were popular in ancient Greece, both for personal use and in the theater (the color and style of wigs disclosed the nature of individual characters). In Imperial Rome, fashionable women wore blond or red-haired wigs made from the heads of Germanic captives, and Caesar used a wig and a laurel wreath to hide his baldness. Both Hannibal and Nero wore wigs as disguises. A portrait bust of Plautilla (ca. 210 A.D. ) was made without hair so wigs of current fashion could always adorn this image of Emperor Caracalla's wife.
During the reign of Stephen in the middle third of the twelfth century, wigs were introduced in England; they became increasingly common, and women began to wear them in the late sixteenth century. Italian wigs of that time were made of either human hair or silk thread. In 1630, embarrassed by his baldness, Louis XIII began wearing a wig made of hair sewn onto a linen foundation. Wigs became fashionable, increasing in popularity during the reign of Louis XIV, who not only wore them to hide his baldness but also to make himself seem taller by means of towering hair. During the Plague of 1665, hair was in such short supply that there were persistent rumors of the hair of disease victims being used to manufacture wigs. This shortage of hair was partially remedied by using wool or the hair of goats or horses to make lower grades of wigs (in fact, horsehair proved useful since it retained curls effectively). For several decades around 1700, men were warned to be watchful as they walked the streets of London, lest their wigs be snatched right off their heads by daring thieves.
The enormous popularity of wigs in England declined markedly during the reign of George III, except for individuals who continued to wear them as a symbols of their professions (e.g., judges, doctors, and clergymen). In fact, so many wigmakers were facing financial ruin that they marched through London in February 1765 to present George III with a petition for relief. Bystanders were infuriated, noticing that few of the wigmakers were wearing wigs although they wanted to protect their jobs by forcing others to wear them. A riot ensued, during which the wigmakers were forcibly shorn.
During the late eighteenth century, Louis XVI wore wigs to hide his baldness, and wigs were very fashionable throughout France. The modern technique of ventilating (attaching hairs to a net foundation) was invented in this environment. By 1784, springs were being sewn into French wigs to make them fit securely. In 1805, aFrenchman invented the flesh-colored hair net for use in wigmaking. A series of other improvements followed rapidly, including knotting techniques, fitting methods, and the use of silk net foundations. These matters were so important that a major lawsuit arose, and one inventor committed suicide after selling his patent cheaply and watching others become rich using his technique. One of the manufacturing processes that was tried at this time was based on the use of pig or sheep bladders to simulate bald heads on actors.
In the mid 1800s, some wigs and toupees were made by implanting hairs in such bladders using an embroidery needle. In the late nineteenth century, children and apprentices of wigmakers amused themselves by playing the "wig game," in which each participant accumulated points by throwing an old wig up to touch the ceiling and catching it on the head as it fell.
Advameg (no date) How wig is made - material, manufacture, making, history, used, parts, procedure, machine, history. Available at: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Wig.html#ixzz475TtWZ7A (Accessed: 20 February 2016).
Wigs Now
From ice blue to lime green, it's clear Kylie Jenner is a fan of experimenting with her hairstyle. So it comes as little surprise that the reality star made sure to lavish plenty of attention to her prized collection of wigs during a video tour of her glam room, posted on thekyliejenner.com. Standing in front of her collection, the E! star explained to her fans when she wore the wig on the red carpet.
Tokyo was the man behind her latest big color change — a long, straight, mint green look which she wore for the Sugar Factory restaurant opening in N.Y.C. during Fashion Week.
One of the most sought-after celebrity hairstylists, Tokyo Stylez He started getting noticed, especially for his wide variety of custom-made wigs, and has since become well-known within the industry. Through his friend, Yusef Williams, who also works as Rihanna’s hairstylist, he was tapped to make the silver gray hairpiece for her Tush Magazine spread last year. Despite a tight deadline to come up with the style and then create the entire wig, he delivered a key piece to one of Rihanna’s most memorable editorial looks.
References:
Rendon, C. (2015) Kylie Jenner unveils wig collection. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3314480/Kylie-Jenner-unveils-wig-collection-ranging-light-green-ice-blue-video-tour-glam-room.html (Accessed: 28 February 2016).
Harwood, E. (2015) Meet the man making wigs for Kylie Jenner and Rihanna. Available at: http://www.mtv.com/news/2224607/tokyo-stylez-wigs-kylie-jenner-rihanna/ (Accessed: 15 February 2016).