I've decided to let fashion go to my head again this week, with a look back to a time when respectable women (and not-so respectable women) felt obliged to wear some kind of head covering on nearly every occasion.
The bonnet called in Paris the chapeau-capuchon is popular for the winter season. It encases the hair at the back instead of leaving it uncovered. The front of the bonnet is a fanchon¹ of colored velvet; the capuchon² is of tulle, and is tied below the chignon with a satin bow which matches the fanchon..
Charming bonnets are now made entirely of velvet flowers and velvet foliage. A bonnet composed of small vine leaves, in either green or violet velvet, is very ladylike and distinguished.
Velvet bonnets of any color to correspond with the toilet, are trimmed with a gold or silver aigrette laid upon the edge of the border.
For dinner coiffures, lace lappets are added to the flowers and fruit, but these lappets do not form a cap; sometimes they fall over the chignon, sometimes they they are crossed and fastened there by a spray of flowers...
Young ladies almost uniformly wear the flat toquet.³ This somewhat singular headgear, placed on the top of a high chignon, comes sloping over the forehead, and to it is attached a masque voilette⁴ of black lace, coming down just to the lips, and tied in lappets at the back.
This last appears to be illustrated by the figure at the bottom left of the plate, and the dinner coiffure with its lace lappets, appears to be depicted at the top right. These black and white drawings hardly seem to do the subject justice when you consider how rich and vibrant the bonnets must have been in real life!
(1. Kerchief
2. Hood
3. The writer probably meant a "toque"
4. Literally "mask veil")
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