NEWS FOR WOMEN “LIONESS” HAIR STYLE REPLACES “GAMIN” CUT

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28233, 22 March 1957, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN “LIONESS” HAIR STYLE REPLACES “GAMIN” CUT

For several years, many a female hair-do has looked as though it was achieved with a pair of dull manicure scissors and an unsteady hand. Now the “lioness” coiffure has chased the “gamin” cut right off the fashion map. says the Toronto “Telegram.”

Short and shaggy locks became popular when Italian movies were widely distributed in the late 1940’s and continued as actresses like Audrey Hepburn followed Italian stars’ hair styles. The

“lioness” or “bouffant” look, the first really important trend since then, is wider and smoother, puffed out at the sides, but still fairly short. According to hairdressers it makes the features appear more fragile. How long will the new trend last? Will it grow more elaborate until it resembles some of the ornate coiffures of the past? Those of Queen Anne's time, for instance, ■were so elaborate for both men and women that hats were carried under the arm, not worn on the head.

Coiffures of the late eighteenth century were sometimes three feet high, built with foundations of wire, wool, horsehair, grease, bran and flour. Into this complicated work of art went every sort of decoration from glass fruits and flowers to models of ships, buildings, and military engagements. Doors Raised These monumental creations changed the period’s architecture: doors and ceilings had to be raised and the roofs of sedan chairs were hinged. They also made women as uncomfortable as has any hair style in history. The coiffure remained untouched for at least three weeks and the wearer slept with her neck on a wooden rest to keep it undisturbed.

Vermin and even mice were attracted by the “stuffing” of grease, flour and bran, and the long-handled jewelled “head scratchers” of the period were useful as well as ornamental. At the close of the last century the fashionable bird’s-nest coiffure took hours and hours to arrange as a base for the enermous hats of the era. Ornate in 1908

In 1908, hair styles were so ornate and required so much hair that a commentator of the time wrote: “If you abhor false hair you must do the best you can, but you will hardly be able to appear quite fashionable, save in the

rare cases of possessing the combination of exceptional quantity of natural locks and the services of a very clever maid.”

Today’s hair stylists assure us we will not go to such extremes again. Already they are “taming” the lioness 100k —modifying and simplifying it. They realise that the modern woman has not the time to spend on over-elaborate coiffures, no matter how assiduously she may follow any new trend. And modern man would not take kindly to changing headroom in the cars or being pushed out of buses by even the most beautiful lioness.