Tea at Trianon: Vintage Beauty Advice

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Vintage Beauty Advice

Tips from The Lady magazine from days of yore. To quote:

"NOTHING adds so much to personal attractions, as a bright, clear complexion and a soft skin. Without them the handsomest and most regular features are but coldly impressive, whilst with them the plainest becomes attractive."

The Lady. Good Complexion and Nice Hands. 16th January, 1890

"THERE is no dull-season in the world-wide desire to be attractive. The style of living to-day, the high pressure at which work and play, together with late hours and rich living all tend to work havoc health and digestion."

The Lady. How to Preserve Beauty and to Improve the Appearance. 18th January, 1900

"FASCINATION springs from the hidden depths of character. It will never be gained by face-posturing before the looking-glass."

The Lady. Gargoyling: A new Art. 10th January, 1907

"BEAUTY herself must have a care with perfume, which to be perfect should be subtle as a charm and clean as lavender."

The Lady. Perfume. 28th January, 1904