Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AXIONOVI (Fashioning Heads: Valorising Novelty in Eighteenth-Century France)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-10-01 do 2022-09-30
• What was the problem/issue being addressed?
By considering the specific case of women’s hairstyle fashion, the project ‘Fashioning Heads: Valorising Novelty in eighteenth-century France’ sought to deepen our knowledge of a trade which until now has been of little interest to historians, despite its significance and complexity: that of women’s coiffures. This trade crystallises and problematises the major issues raised by the emergence of the value of novelty in the material culture and the history of ideas at the end of the ancien régime. It also reflects the struggles for recognition that shaped the artisanal work environment during that period. The transformation of early modern society which led to the advent of a culture of innovation radically changed the value of novelty, a highly ambiguous notion during the period under consideration: on the one hand, it was a synonym of progress, and on the other, of decadence. However, at the dawn of modernity, the notion of novelty was increasingly appreciated, especially in the arts, scientific innovations and commerce, where it became a value in itself. This major axiological shift, which transformed the relation of modernity to tradition and posterity, and established new criteria for evaluating goods, practices and behaviours, was particularly embedded in the expansion of the trade fashion throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Women’s hairstyles, whose variation increased throughout the second half of the 18th century, are the area of fashion that best embodies these paradigm shifts.
• Why is it important for society?
This research contributed to the history of fashion, the history of labour, the history of the press, the history of women, and the history of guilds during the ancien régime. This historical perspective is also in dialogue with contemporary issues related to mass consumption, the rhetorical and media mechanisms of creating the value of novelty, and the human and environmental consequences of the constant race for the new that fuels the global economic system. The research highlights the establishment of these mechanisms and allows for a critical look at contemporary realities.
• What were the overall objectives?
At the crossroads of cultural and material history, the research aimed to study the practices of innovation and the promotion of novelty in the context of women’s hairstyle fashions in France during the second half of the eighteenth century. It investigated how
novelty governed the hairdressing trade and how these commercial practices in turn contributed to shape the concept of novelty at a crucial moment when it became a core value for modernity in economic, moral, and symbolic terms. The research project aimed to contribute to the history of fashion, innovation and coiffure by focussing on producers and distributers of fashion (merchants, milliners, craftsmen and women, pedlars, new fashion professionals like coiffeurs, journalists, etc.), and the way their innovation strategies interacted with other actors, guilds, states and governments on the one hand, and customers on the other. The research aimed to provide an overall mapping of the early modern hairdressing fashion system, by bridging research carried out in different disciplines, in order to analyse the issues related to the value of novelty, and to deepen the knowledge of a neglected element of fashion history: French eighteenth-century coiffure.
By considering the specific case of women’s hairstyle fashion, the project ‘Fashioning Heads: Valorising Novelty in eighteenth-century France’ sought to deepen our knowledge of a trade which until now has been of little interest to historians, despite its significance and complexity: that of women’s coiffures. This trade crystallises and problematises the major issues raised by the emergence of the value of novelty in the material culture and the history of ideas at the end of the ancien régime. It also reflects the struggles for recognition that shaped the artisanal work environment during that period. The transformation of early modern society which led to the advent of a culture of innovation radically changed the value of novelty, a highly ambiguous notion during the period under consideration: on the one hand, it was a synonym of progress, and on the other, of decadence. However, at the dawn of modernity, the notion of novelty was increasingly appreciated, especially in the arts, scientific innovations and commerce, where it became a value in itself. This major axiological shift, which transformed the relation of modernity to tradition and posterity, and established new criteria for evaluating goods, practices and behaviours, was particularly embedded in the expansion of the trade fashion throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Women’s hairstyles, whose variation increased throughout the second half of the 18th century, are the area of fashion that best embodies these paradigm shifts.
• Why is it important for society?
This research contributed to the history of fashion, the history of labour, the history of the press, the history of women, and the history of guilds during the ancien régime. This historical perspective is also in dialogue with contemporary issues related to mass consumption, the rhetorical and media mechanisms of creating the value of novelty, and the human and environmental consequences of the constant race for the new that fuels the global economic system. The research highlights the establishment of these mechanisms and allows for a critical look at contemporary realities.
• What were the overall objectives?
At the crossroads of cultural and material history, the research aimed to study the practices of innovation and the promotion of novelty in the context of women’s hairstyle fashions in France during the second half of the eighteenth century. It investigated how
novelty governed the hairdressing trade and how these commercial practices in turn contributed to shape the concept of novelty at a crucial moment when it became a core value for modernity in economic, moral, and symbolic terms. The research project aimed to contribute to the history of fashion, innovation and coiffure by focussing on producers and distributers of fashion (merchants, milliners, craftsmen and women, pedlars, new fashion professionals like coiffeurs, journalists, etc.), and the way their innovation strategies interacted with other actors, guilds, states and governments on the one hand, and customers on the other. The research aimed to provide an overall mapping of the early modern hairdressing fashion system, by bridging research carried out in different disciplines, in order to analyse the issues related to the value of novelty, and to deepen the knowledge of a neglected element of fashion history: French eighteenth-century coiffure.
The research was conducted in several French libraries and archives, mainly the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the archives de la Ville de Paris, the Archives Nationales, and the Archives départementales de la Seine maritime. This research was carried out with the aim of collating documentary resources concerning the practices and representations of women’s hairstyles in eighteenth century France. The documents studied were very diverse: fashion journals, technical treatises, individual archives concerning the actors of the hairdressing trade, archives of the various guilds involved in the manufacture and trade of hairdressing accessories (wigmakers, hairdressers, hosiery workers, glove makers, perfumers, etc.), royal edicts, lawsuits, novels, plays, fashion engravings, etc. Furthermore, the study of the secondary literature of the multiple fields concerned by this research enabled to dialogue with the most contemporary questionings in these fields.
Also, steps were taken with professional hairdressers and wigmakers working in Florence and Rome to create historical hairstyles using the techniques of the period under study. This methodological approach allows a better understanding of the nature of the objects studied, and to put ancient and contemporary techniques into perspective. Thus, the research carried out during the fellowship will lead to a historical reconstruction of several women's hairdos using ancient techniques and materials, in collaboration with a museum curator and an anthropologist. This methodological approach allows a better understanding of the nature of the objects studied, and to put ancient and contemporary techniques into perspective.
Also, steps were taken with professional hairdressers and wigmakers working in Florence and Rome to create historical hairstyles using the techniques of the period under study. This methodological approach allows a better understanding of the nature of the objects studied, and to put ancient and contemporary techniques into perspective. Thus, the research carried out during the fellowship will lead to a historical reconstruction of several women's hairdos using ancient techniques and materials, in collaboration with a museum curator and an anthropologist. This methodological approach allows a better understanding of the nature of the objects studied, and to put ancient and contemporary techniques into perspective.
One of the main achievements of this research is the discovery of an important documentation concerning women’s hairdressing in the Archives de la Seine maritime. This important collection will be described and analysed in two journal articles:
1) “The Embellishment Dispute: Guild conflicts over women’s headgear in 18th-century Rouen.”
2) “Dealing with novelty: The emergence of women’s hairdressers in Rouen’s guild system”
Further articles will be devoted to other aspects of the project:
3) “Linguet et la querelle entre les perruquiers et les coiffeurs de dames (1776)”.
4) “Presse périodique et coiffures de mode en France au XVIIIe siècle”.
5) “Writing Hairdressing Technique in 18th-Century France: Between vulgarisation and ‘artification’”.
The publication of the outcomes of this research has been delayed by the pandemic, which prevented access to libraries and archives during the first year of the fellowship.
No website has yet been developed for this project, but one of the outcomes of this project, the creation of historical hairstyles with a professional hairdresser, will be documented in a blog. Again, this aspect of the project has been delayed due to the pandemic.
The impact of the project will be multi-folded:
- It will lead to five academic publications;
- It will lead to the realisation of a historical reconstruction of hairdos, which will be publicised through social media and a documentary; the results will also be published in academic journals;
- It will lead to the submission of an ERC consolidator grand.
1) “The Embellishment Dispute: Guild conflicts over women’s headgear in 18th-century Rouen.”
2) “Dealing with novelty: The emergence of women’s hairdressers in Rouen’s guild system”
Further articles will be devoted to other aspects of the project:
3) “Linguet et la querelle entre les perruquiers et les coiffeurs de dames (1776)”.
4) “Presse périodique et coiffures de mode en France au XVIIIe siècle”.
5) “Writing Hairdressing Technique in 18th-Century France: Between vulgarisation and ‘artification’”.
The publication of the outcomes of this research has been delayed by the pandemic, which prevented access to libraries and archives during the first year of the fellowship.
No website has yet been developed for this project, but one of the outcomes of this project, the creation of historical hairstyles with a professional hairdresser, will be documented in a blog. Again, this aspect of the project has been delayed due to the pandemic.
The impact of the project will be multi-folded:
- It will lead to five academic publications;
- It will lead to the realisation of a historical reconstruction of hairdos, which will be publicised through social media and a documentary; the results will also be published in academic journals;
- It will lead to the submission of an ERC consolidator grand.