Women’s Edwardian Hairstyles: An Overview

Here we look at the fashionable hairstyles of Edwardian women, from the fictional beauty of the Gibson Girl to the huge pompadours worn to support the enormous hats of the decade.

The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 and the succession of her son Edward marked the end of the Victorian era and the start of the Edwardian. King Edward VII, an affable, good mannered and diplomatic man, reigned with Queen Alexander by his side until his death in 1910.

Influences on Fashion

Paris was the dictator of the Edwardian women’s fashion in Britain and America, while London influenced men’s apparel. Women in Britain and America, being influenced by Paris, had very similar hairstyles.

The Edwardian love of large hats affected hair fashions and how the hair was dressed, as the hairstyles had to be able to support them.

Music Hall was tremendously popular in Edwardian days and the operetta “The Merry Widow” by Viennese composer Franz Lahar gave rise to the style of feathered hats worn in the production to be known as Merry Widows.

The Charles Dana Gibson illustrations and actress Billie Burke (who later played Glinda in The Wizard Of Oz) looking every inch the real life Gibson Girl.

Ah, the Gibson Girl. Portrayed in the satirical pen-and-ink-illustrated stories created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson in America, the perky Gibson Girl was the epitome of the feminine ideal from the late Victorian era to the early 1910s.

Tall and slender, yet curvy, with her hair piled high on top of her head in the contemporary style of the day, the hourglass-figured, swan-necked Gibson Girl was seen as representing the beauty ideal in America for nearly 20 years until WWI and changing fashions resigned the Gibson Girl to history.

Edwardian women wore hats outside of the home and for social occasions. Straw hats were popular, as was using ribbons and feathers as decoration. Hats sat on the top of the head.

Edwardian Hairstyles and Elements

Overall, women’s Edwardian hairstyles had a soft, fluffy and loose fluidity about them. The hair could even be quite fuzzy, especially if Marcel tongs were used regularly. Hair was dressed off the face, with the exception of a fringe, and hairstyles rarely had a parting.

The Pompadour

Two women working in a laundry, showing the pompadour silhouette of this Edwardian hairstyle. Silhouettes are critical for crowd work on film and TV productions.

The defining Edwardian hairstyle for women was the pompadour.

Named after the Marquise de Pompadour (Louis XV’s chief mistress in the mid-1700s), the Edwardian version is fuller than the Madame’s.

The shape of a pompadour is high, rounded and curved away from the head.

A pompadour could be dressed in all manner of styles. Hair could be either straight or have a wave/curl to it. The style could be simply swept up with a bun, or feature soft coils and fuzzy curled fringes.

To shape and support the hair, it was often drawn over a “rat” (a matted pad or roll of hair) and backcombing was used to form a matted foundation on which to smooth the outer layer of hair over.

Early Edwardian pomps are bigger than those seen as the era comes to a close.

Chignons, Buns and Knots

A pompadour could be decorated with a bun, chignon or knot, depending on what was in vogue at the time and the occasion.

Chignons tend to sit low on the nape, or at the back of the head. A bun could also be situated on the crown, creating a “cottage loaf” look.

A knot is hair that is twisted to form a rope, and then coiled to form a shape. The different shapes had names, for example the Apollo Knot and the Grecian Knot. A topknot sits high on the head.

Teenage Girls

Teenage girls wore their long tresses down – either held at the nape of the neck in a simple bow or worn in a single plait. The end of a plait could also be tucked under and secured at the nape with a ribbon.

Their “crowning glory” would be put up into the familiar pompadour once they reached 17 years of age and entered the world of adulthood. It was then considered inappropriate for hair to be left down.

Lovely examples of Edwardian hairstyles (L to R): a rounded pompadour; a more elaborate hairstyle; a teenager’s “crowning glory” plaited with a bow; a late Edwardian style suitable for the large cartwheel hats.

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Marcel Wave and Waving Irons

The Marcel wave was in vogue and is most likely the inspiration for the invention of the permanent wave in 1906. However, with perms taking twelve or so hours to complete and costing a huge wad of money, understandably not many women took up the new found permanent wave during this decade.

Hot waving irons were used to create frizz – from soft and fuzzy edges on the fringe or curls along the nape.

Paper could be wrapped around strands of hair to protect it from rough or overheated irons.

Hats

A satirical look at the enormous matinée hats worn by women, where inset binoculars might be just the ticket. (A cartoon from Mr Punch at the Play. London, no date.)

Edwardian hats were big – and got bigger through the decade.

So much so that theatres insisted women remove their enormous hats while attending a performance, allowing the poor suckers behind to actually see the stage. Removal of these large hats was not a minor undertaking!

Hats were worn as part of everyday life, from morning to night, and the hair was styled accordingly to accommodate the hat.

The seasons affect what hats were worn. As a general rule, straw hats were worn during summer, while heavier felt or velvet was favoured for winter. Ladies with their finger on the fashion pulse would wear their new spring hat on Easter Sunday, most likely to church.

Some of the hats seen in Edwardian times include:

• Cartwheel hats with a wide-brim and made from straw;
• Picture hats often heavily decorated with flowers, fruit, feathers and tulle;
• Straw sailor hats with black velvet bands;
• Flat caps which were very large in size;
• When riding in the open motor cars (and without a windscreen) of the day, ladies would use a wide chiffon veil about three to six feet in length to drape around their hat and tie under the chin.
• There were also silk bonnets called “automobile bonnets”, especially designed for ventures in the car (worn with goggles to keep the dust from one’s eyes!).

Edwardian hats: 1) Flower decorated hat; 2) A wide-brimmed straw cartwheel; 3) A large flat cap; 4) A wide hairstyle to support the width and sheer size of this tulle-swathed monster; 5) Hat decorated with ostrich plumes. Photos from www.photodetective.co.uk.

Hair Accessories

Top to bottom: 1) Evening pompadour with comb, 1901; 2) Pomp with braid and rose, 1902; 3) Tea roses and bird-of-paradise plumes, 1907; 4) Marcel waves and puffs, 1907.

• Braids were a popular element for both women and girls. They could be made from a switch.

• Combs were both decorative and functional, with two or three keeping the hair in place for the day. Large ornamental tortoiseshell combs (usually worn at the back of the head) were often highly decorated with coloured stones, baroque pearls and gold filigree.

• Ribbons were often worn, from rosettes to the large black taffeta, tulle or velvet bows tied in the hair or on the end of a teenager’s plait. Black velvet was a popular material for ribbon.

• False hair was used to discretely adorn or bulk out the pompadour hairstyles. Switches and clusters were used to decorate or add details such as a chignon or braid. Wigs (or transformations as they were known) were not uncommon and false fringes were also available.

• Fresh flowers were tucked behind the ear or into the chignon. Blooms such as small pink roses, violets and forget-me-nots were used.

• Hatpins,often set with a jewel or two, wereusedto keep the incredibly large hats secured to the hair.

• Hairpins came in various sizes and materials, including shell, amber, bone and horn.

• Plummage was very popular and the feathers of many feathered friends became the fashionable hair and hat adornment. This particularly gained momentum in the second half of the decade, taking over from the ribbons and flowers.

Ostrich, bird-of-paradise and the tufted plume of the egret (called an aigrette) were all the rage and often worn in huge and luxurious quantities. Sometimes the whole bird would be strategically placed as a dive-bombing hat decoration.

Edwardians didn’t do small; in fact, the destruction of birds for fashion (along with hunting) was so vast that in 1905, the National Audubon Society was formed in America.

It established the Audubon Plumage Law, which banned the sales of plumes from native birds and the importation of aigrettes and other feathers. Goose and chicken feathers became the substitute material, dyed and fashioned artistically into decorative pieces.

It may have been a brief period in the scheme of things, but the large adorned hats, pompadour hairstyles and corseted figures of the women make the Edwardian era a distinct and memorable one for fashion. As Britain moved into the 1910s and the reign of George V, the continued rise of the Suffragettes and the onset of World War I saw women taking a new direction. Things were about to change.

Find Out More:

• Photographs from Edwardian Britain