‘90s fashion is cool again, right? No, not the 1990s – the 1890s.
Outfit posts and hair tutorials inspired by the late Victorian to early Edwardian “Gibson Girl” archetype have been making the rounds on social media. Personified in a series of popular illustrations by Charles Gibson during the 1890s-1900s, the fictional but influential “Gibson Girl” was effortlessly stylish and confident – and she was almost always portrayed with her long hair piled into a voluminous updo.
Gravity–defying hairstyles such as the bouffant and pompadour were the height of fashion around the turn of the century. In the above photograph by Edward Hart of Southampton, we see four smiling young women sporting trendy updos.
But how did these women achieve such volume? One common method was to wrap hair around a “rat”: a matted bundle of one’s own hair collected from the hairbrush each night. Or, one might try a pompadour comb, advertised as “the latest novelty in hairdressing” by D.J. Sutherland’s drugstore in Chesley (The Chesley Enterprise, June 1, 1899).
The pompadour comb pictured here is made of celluloid, in a tortoiseshell style. The comb is curved and attaches to a rounded hair pad made of fine metal mesh. There is a hinge where the comb meets the pad, so it can be positioned just right. The hair would then be smoothed up and around the pad to create the desired shape.
Sources:
- Library of Congress. “The Gibson Girl’s America: Drawings by Charles Dana Gibson”. Online exhibition: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gibson-girls-america/creating-an-ideal.html
- The Chesley Enterprise, June 1, 1899
- The Bruce Herald, February 6, 1902
- Mabel Powell Hillmer, BCM&CC Archives, A2011.039.S03.F01.003
- “Mountain Sisters”, BCM&CC Archives, A957.026.025a
- Sarah, Miller, & Jennie from Kinloss Township, BCM&CC Archives, AX977.084.001
- Annie (MacAulay) Broad, BCM&CC Archives, A2022.057.002
