Book Review: The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty

For the first time, a timely review!
[Translation: my pre-ordered copy arrived today.]

The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty by Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox (with Cheney McKnight).

I've been excited for this book since I heard about it last January.  First, because I like historic hair-dressing, and second because I have a lot of faith in the authors' work. Their previous book on 18th Century Dress-Making presented well-cited research in a straightforward conversational manner, lavishly illustrated with color photographs. The projects were all based on specific paintings, period publications and surviving artifacts; the techniques were from the period with some reconstruction (not make-dos for hiding modern methods).

Suffice to say, I had moderately high expectations coming in.

Those expectations were met. One of the first projects in this book is a hand-sewn sheer peignoir to wear while dressing one's hair. From that point, it's safe to say they owned my soul.*

This book matches its predecessor in size and heft; it's 215 pages from Introduction to Epilogue, exclusive of notes and bibliography. There are eight general hairstyles covering the years 1750 to 1795, each with its own cushion project (to support the hair in the desired shape) and a suitable cap. Five pieces of outerwear (2 hats, 2 bonnets and a hood), the peignoir, a few ornamental bows, and three hair pieces round out the sewn projects.  There are also cosmetic recipes: 3 pomatums, 2 hair powders, 1 rouge, and 1 lip salve.  All have step-by-step illustrated instructions. Some of the project instructions will refer to other ones (particularly to the pomading and powdering section), but I didn't find this distracting or hard to follow.

As with the dress book, the projects are clustered chronologically: each hairstyle is preceded by the relevant cushion project and any specific texturing techniques (curl, crape) and is followed by the appropriate cap as well as any bonnets/lappets/plumes. Four models appear in the eight tutorials, and there is discussion about adapting the techniques for different hair textures. Ms. McKnight contributed a two-page summary on how women of African descent living in Europe and North America in the 18th century dressed their hair.

Stars: 5

Accuracy: High. The models look like they stepped out of mid/late 18th century portraits, and sources are cited.

Difficulty: All levels. The hairstyles are labelled easy to difficult. Four pages of stitch tutorials are included for the less-experienced sewist (many projects, including all of the shaped hair-pads and accessories, require some sewing). I've not yet tried the hairstyles, as I need to make the pads and hairpieces.

Strongest Impression: This is a very useful resource for anyone trying to understand how late 18th century hairstyles actually work. I think it's invaluable for living historians interpreting c.1750-1795, but also for costume designers, artists, authors, and other people depicting women's life/behavior/material culture.

*The casual humor also won me over.  I will happily pledge fealty to anyone who writes a serious book about historic hair-dressing methods while making their hard pomade in Darth Vader molds.