(no subject)

[rivka]

My local English Country Dance group sponsors a Playford Ball every year. This year's ball has sort of snuck up on me - it's coming up in less than a month. I need to start getting to dance practice more regularly.

I have a lovely ball dress that wcg made for me, an approximate copy of a 1770 English dress which is very comfortable to dance in. The problem is that my hair is resoundingly un-period. I'm not going to buy a period-style wig, so the alternative is some sort of hat or cap. It's hard to find something that will go with my ball dress, but will cover all of my hair - the classic mob cap was, I think, more lower-class than would ordinarily be worn at a ball.

I'm thinking of buying something like this pleated cap. Honestly, this is the only time all year that I wish I had long hair.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I actually quite like that cap. :)

[ailbhe]

Something about a cap at a ball feels inauthentic to me (Georgette Heyer reader), though if it's a country ball (a la Tess / Hardy) rather than a semi-aristocratic ball it might be ok. Have you considered short curls with ribbon threaded through? I don't know whether the hair at the nape of your neck is long enough, from the photo.

[okoshun.livejournal.com]

There are those fake hair extensions that you can buy that take the form of a banana clip - it might be an interesting option to consider.

[melebeth]

Actually falls (fake hair bits) I'm relatively certain were period, and they're pretty easy to come by in the Baltimore Area (although I can't for the life of me remember where I got mine), relatively inexpensive, and fun to play with. A lot of girls up at faire with short hair use them to get "period" hair. Some of us, with period hair, use them because they stay styled longer and we can just hide our own hair easily under them.

[ex-helygen254.livejournal.com]

Hrmph. It would be the weekend after I'm there.

Hey, will there be a dance practice on the 13th? I was thinking of using a vacation day to drive down on the Friday, but I could use it or an additional one to drive back on Tuesday instead.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Yes, there will be dancing on the 13th. We have live music at all our practices, even.

Are you sure you don't want to delay your trip a week, and be here for the ball?

[ex-helygen254.livejournal.com]

I'll check with my manager about getting the time off. I don't think I can delay it. Eric is with me that weekend and I'm doing quite a bit of switching already. Besides, I don't have the time any more to make a dress. If only I had known last week! ;)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

You don't have to wear a period dress - lots of people just wear something long and pretty.

[ex-helygen254.livejournal.com]

Well, I certainly have long and pretty dresses. Temptress! ;)

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Spinsters wore caps, but I don't think that was the sort of cap that spinsters wore to balls. According to what I've read in Georgette Heyer, though, short hair was in fashion off & on in that period. If yours looks like it does in your picture, that might be a bit short, but maybe you could not cut it for the next month?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I think Georgette Heyer is too late-period - this is American Colonial, not Regency. I'm just not sure about what to do. My husband thinks I should go bare-headed and the hell with the non-period nature of my hair.

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

Hmm, could you wear a snood? I don't know if they are historiacally correct for the time you're looking at. It seems like a full cap would make your head hot while dancing.

Fake hair = yay! There's a place at the corner of Taylor Ave and Loch Raven Blvd. that has a wall of hair. You could get a couple of packs (there's a decent lower end live that's about $4 a bag) and attach them to a ribbon to tie (and bobby pin all to hell) in your hair. Or you could attach it to a big clip that is decorated with ribbon or flowers or whatever women wore in their hair then. Take someone with you to help you match the color to your real hair. I have some burgundy and black fake stuff I am making dreads out of, to attach to a ribbon to tie around my growing out nubby ponytails - fun with no commitment!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I think a headful of fake hair would probably be just as hot as a cap, actually. Although probably a headful of hair would look better than a cap. If I had any idea of how to fix long hair into an appropriate period style, that is. :-)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say, thanks for the advice and the specific place recommendation. That'll be very helpful, if I go that route.

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, you can attach it under whatever head piece for a bit of fullness. When I was thinking of a snood, in my head I saw some fake hair attached inside the top edge, so it was in and filled out the body of the lace, so that it looks like you have long hair.

I think if you had it attached to a clip that was in your hair, it wouldn't be too hot, since it's not covering your while head. I have short hair, too, so I understand the styling dilemma!

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait more! (I love google)
http://www.history.org/history/clothing/intro/clothing.cfm (check out the banner pic at the top of the article)
http://www.uconect.net/~center/kc1.html

and an interesting site, that may have some ideas:
www.headcoverings.com/

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Great dress! I have a dress sort of like that from an 1860s or 1870s evening. (I'll try to find a picture.) It wasn't as flattering as the one I made the year before for 1801, but I'm not as accomplished a seamster as Bill either. I have similar challenges with hats and short hair. US Civil War re-enactors here (the ones in women's roles) wear mobcaps - they look easy to make but don't feel dressy enough for a ball, to me.

My hairdresser does wonders on my short curly hair with a lot of hairspray and bobby pins, to make it look like an upswept do. And this year we did 1920s, which was easy

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd love to see a picture of your dress!

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Here are the tuppence of an ex-SCAdian and stickler for accuracy, who is vain as a peacock to boot. I'd say, skip the cap and go as your elegant, if short-haired, self. Really, dahling, a cap would be _too_ jarring with a gown like that! Besides, caps were for spinsters[1] who were resigned to their fate; neither "spinster" nor "resigned" seems particularly apt in this case...
[1]in the pejorative period sense, not the modern Jez sense.