There are lots of movies that aim for a historical aesthetic when it comes to hairstyles and others where it’s a mishmash. But it seems to me that when historical costume movie/TV series hairstyles vary from what WOULD be historically accurate, it’s due to current-to-filming perceptions about hair. So, working decade-by-decade, let’s look at some of these not-so-accurate films/TV series and compare the hair to what’s going on at the time of filming, and see if I’m right! See my posts about the 1910s and 1920s to find out about historical hairstyles in the movie industry’s first decades.
I was literally writing part 1 of this post — about how 1930s hairstyles affected historical styles seen on screen — on the day I was prepping for the Fêtes Galantes, a faaaabulous over-the-top costume event at Versailles. And I was on the world’s crappiest wifi! So I had to give up after covering films from the ancient period through the 18th century. Take a look at that first post for a bit about the trends seen in contemporary 1930s hairstyles, then join me as we look at hairstyles supposedly set in the 19th century:
Historical Movie Hairstyles of the 1930s
Early 19th Century Films of the 1930s
Mid-19th Century Films of the 1930s
Late 19th Century Films of the 1930s
Which other 1930s films have hairstyles that need discussing?
If there’s ever historical inacuracy in period films, it’s always with the hair!! This is something that bugs me a lot so I really appreciated your post! 😃
Hair and eyebrows (which, I guess, are also hair). One could write a scholarly thesis about the history of fashionable eyebrows.
The eyebrows always bother me, too– especially ’20s- and ’30s-set movies with contemporary eyebrows. Totally ruins it for me.
I can’t WAIT to get to the 1960s!!
Green Dolphin Street cones to mind. And of course Norma Shearer’s Marie Antoinette and Leslie Howard’s Scarlet Pimpernel. And would Maureen OHara’s Hunchback of Notre Dame count too?
But why do they try to get a somewhat correct clothing look and foul up the hair?
There are references for the 1860s on up in Godeys, portraits and photos.
Ahhh the 90s – when the great hairpin shortage began…
I love this post and the previous entry, and I’m looking forward to future installments!
You definitely know more about this subject than I do, but one part of this kind of surprised me:
“Oh, Little Women (1933). […] Jo’s short, curly bangs just did not exist in the 19th century, which was all about loooong hair (see the real Louisa May Alcott, center bottom). […] Amy — yes, young girls did go for hanging ringlets in the period. But that forehead fringe is totally modern.”
I may be misinterpreting what Alcott was trying to describe, but there’s a scene in chapter 3 where Meg and Jo are getting done up for a New Year’s Eve dance, and Jo curls Meg’s hair with a heated curling iron to give her a “cloud of little ringlets” over her forehead.
Unfortunately, Jo did it wrong, and the little paper-wrapped curls come off, and leave Meg with an “uneven frizzle on her forehead”, which Amy (who has naturally curly hair) tells her can be fixed: “Just frizzle it, and tie your ribbon so the ends come on your forehead a bit, and it will look like the last fashion. I’ve seen many girls do it so.”
I always envisioned the “cloud of little ringlets” Jo was trying to achieve as pretty much the same as what Hepburn has over the forehead. I’m not sure what Amy was proposing as a remedy, but it seems to imply that the “last” (latest?) fashion involved short frizzled bangs. (Of course, Amy was an “affected, niminy-piminy chit”.)
I was about to say something about how GWTW moved partings to the middle and that was because of the fashion going into the 40s but do we think it fair to suggest that the movie had a big influence on hair styles as much as the time influenced the movie?
Do the forties?
Will you do the 50’s?
I love this article. TV shows make me crazy using contemporary hairstyles in westerns! I really enjoy the comparison illustrations. Thank you for your work.