The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-11-02
lib BEAUTIFIES WOMEN.
A London Court Hairdresser Chats
About His Patrons.
A woman's "Greatsst GTory' is Her
"Weakest Point"-- Bsrnhardt's
ssu-- and Langtry's Curious
"s.is Coiffures.
COPYRIGHT. 1892. BY JAMES W. JoHssosJ

COPYRIGHT. 1892. BY JAMES W. JoHNsoNJ
Mr.. Walter Trueffit's hair establish
ment is in the fashionable quarter OF
Bond street and by virtue of his situation
and renown Processes, Duchesses and
lesser women of English nobility bow
down to his taste and submit to his dicta-
ton.
He can thus afford to be frank and dis
cuss with me the fearful and wonderful
processes of a fashionable couture.
"Some poet said," he remarked, shat a
woman's greatest glory is her hair. 1t
isn't SO. A woman's most uncertain
beauty and her most deceitful charm is
her hair.
sWhy, you would scarcely recognize
some of these Court ladies whom you see
at functions if you saw them as do with
locks au naturel.
ga woman's whole manner and appear
ance is at stake when she places herself
in my hands. can make her or | can
mar her," said the tyrant of the Court.
But Mr.. Trueffit is clever artisan and
he has had twenty years experience to
back his statements, so / listened while
he reviewed the subject from his trade
standpoint.
''How long does it take you to dress
head of hairf' stOh, it takes the average
hair surgeon an hour aud a half; but l
once operated ON five cases between the
hours of 10 and 1. It was a great rush,
I tell you, to get the women ready for
the drawing room at Buckingham. That
performance beat any record in my line
of business" l asked him why he didn't
write a book on his varied experiences,
and he replied that he couldn't afford to
ruin his trade by destroying charm in
women that most men believe to be nat
ural Better fool 'em as long as you
can" he said very sensibly. and l agreed
with him He was something of a his
torian, this hairdresser. for he told me
that the Greek warriors were the first to
discover that woman's hair was her
first assailable feature, and he referred
to stone frieze from the Temple of
Apollo exhibited among the antiquities of
the A thenian sculpture in the British
Museum, and representing battle scene
between the Greeks and the Amazons in
which the Athenian heroes drag the
Amazons to earth by twisting their long
hair about their muscular arms.
1t was this knowledge which produced
the Grecian style of headgear, for then,
as now, it was species of coiff ure built
in curling parapets, spiked to the top
most curl with various descriptive wea-
pons in the form of Greek ornaments that
no man could seize with impunity.
Fashion, which in many ways is leading
society back into the pretty galleries of
past styles, has taken stride from the
present century into the age of early
Athens and in London, as i'll Paris, the
prevailing fashion of dressing the hair
for ladies is. Grecian, said my instructor.
s'What is the style of hair dressing
used by the Court DANES in Englande' I
asked.
1.-THE Grecian couture, of course, is the
most POPULAR" he replied, "althoughsit
is not becoming to all faces. The best
reason / can assume for the prevalence of
of this style is the fact that it shows the
shape of the head and poise of the neck
better than any other fashion. With
some ladies have found it necessary to
dress the hair higher or lower in sRGlst