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EveryHairstyle

Culture region, France

Versailles

The royal court of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette: the fontange, the periwig and the towering pouf.

The Palace of Versailles, seat of the French court from 1682, set the hairstyles of Europe for a century. Louis XIV's court made the long curled periwig the uniform of men of rank. Women wore the fontange, a tall lace headdress over curls, named after a royal mistress. In the 1770s Marie Antoinette and her hairdresser Léonard made the pouf, a tower of hair, cushions and ornaments, the fashion of the age.

Wigs and the fontange

Louis XIII began wearing a wig in the 1620s, and under Louis XIV the full-bottomed periwig, falling in curls to the chest, became court dress, made by guilds of wigmakers. For women, the fontange appeared around 1680. Legend says the Duchess of Fontanges tied up her hair with a ribbon after it came loose while riding, and the king admired it; the style grew into a tall frame of lace and wire above the forehead, worn until about 1710.

The pouf

In the 1770s, Léonard Autié, hairdresser to Marie Antoinette, built the pouf: hair raised over pads and wire, powdered and decorated with feathers, flowers and even model ships and scenes, some to celebrate events of the day. Poufs could make the wearer's head far taller. They drew satire for their cost and height, and fell from fashion with the Revolution of 1789, after which short, natural styles such as the Titus cut came in.

Hairstyles of Versailles

FontangeThe tall headdress of Louis XIV's courtPoufMarie Antoinette's towering styleTitus cutThe short style that followed the Revolution

Still to be written: High roll, Wig.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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