Now here is a question for the erudite Upstager and my other 'learned friends.'
I was doing the ironing the other night and, as one does, half watching Cranford at the same time when I found myself asking a Deep and Philosophical Question. This was not, why is it that carriages in costume dramas (or vintage cars for that matter) are never defaced, whatever the weather or however far they have come, by as much of a single speck of mud. Nor was it that other question I always feel prompted to ask when a film script calls for wet weather - which is why is it that film makers have yet to invent a machine that produces drizzle? For whoever it is that plays 'rain' in films is always prone to gross overacting. Have you noticed? Rain comes in one strength - deluge - and that's it. No subtlety about rain even in the most expensive shows.
So it wasn't these questions I pondered as I beavered away at the collars and cuffs; it was this: why do women in eighteenth and nineteenth century costume dramas wear those silly little cowl things over their hair (and under their hats) when they are not wearing mob caps? What was the purpose of them? Was it hygiene - to keep the nits at bay? Was it modesty (the same function as the Muslim headscarf)? Was it fashion? Or was it that shampoo (an Indian word, surely?) hadn't yet made it's appearance and that if you had to wash your hair in carbolic soap, you, too, might have wanted to keep it under wraps while half of it fell out and we all waited not so much for the coming of the railway but the arrival of Messrs Proctor and Gamble. Any ideas?
6 comments:
I think that regards the carriages etc, in real life they are someones pride and joy ie collectors or museum items and as such are kept in good nick. The BBC or whoever probably have to sign papers to the effect that they won't get them dirty.
The caps worm by the good ladies usually signified that they were married ladies and their bonnets went over the top. I think that older unmarried women wore them also when they had given up all hope - if only they knew......
I would have thought that having to wear such a garment would deter one from wanting to get married in the first place.
This is becoming curiouser and curiouser - nobody seems to know? Some say modesty, others, hygiene - you say they were a badge of status. We must get to the bottom of this.
A mob cap or mob-cap is a round, gathered or pleated cloth (usually linen) cap consisting of a caul to cover the hair, a frilled or ruffled brim, and (often) a ribbon band, worn by women in the Georgian period. Originally a lower-class style, the mob cap became a high-fashion item as part of the adoption of simple "country" clothing in the later 18th century. It was an indoor fashion, and was worn under a hat for outdoor wear.
By the Victorian period, mob caps lingered as the headcovering of servants and nurses, and small mob caps remained part of these uniforms into the early 20th century.
Mob caps continue to be worn in the medical industry, in cleanrooms, and in other sectors where the hair has to be contained. Modern mob caps are usually a simple circle shape with an elastic band and may be made of disposable materials such as Spunbound polypropylene or of nylon net.
"Watch out, ladies. There is a new bonnet in town, and it's around to stay. The mob cap is what's hot today and women of all classes can take advantage of this simpler style. The mob cap is a bonnet which fits the back of your head, carrying elegant frills around your face. We recommend showing off that feminine forehead with your curls neatly tucked behind (Brooke 102). The country-squires's wife can also add a little flair to this style by covering her mob cap with a Leghorn straw-hat. Ladies of higher society are advised to keep their mob caps small and go for the sweet and dainty look of the demi-bonnet, or the Close Joan; ladies of the less privileged classes can keep up to style with a simpler, larger version of the mob cap (Barfoot 57-8). Trust us editors at Enlightened Elegance - the mob cap is going to be a must-have for all you girls for the entire century. (September 27, 1735)
Articles gleaned from 'the web'
Is a mob-cap, that is to say a cap worn by mobsters, the same as a hoodie?
No
We are still no nearer the answer - we just have one more alternative. Now all the possibilities that I identified have been advanced as plausible reasons. Besides the mob cap is just a version of the headgear, the more common one being the cowl of the sort Toinette wore in the Imaginary Invalid.
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