The pouf is a hairstyle deriving from 18th-century France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It was made popular by the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....

 (1755-1793) in 1774, first sporting it when she attended her husband Louis XVI's coronation, triggering a wave of young french woman to wear their hair in the same manner. Marie Antoinette acquired the hair style which was a creation from the famed hairdresser of the day Leonard Autie. From then on it quickly became widespread amongst noble and upper-class women in France during the time. It was highly creative and artistic and women could literally wear their moods through strategically placed decorations and ornaments. Ships, animals and hundreds of other novelty items could be seen on these poufs. Other decorations included pearls, headdresses/hats, hair jewellery, and plumage, such as ostrich feathers. It also became popular in other countries throughout Europe and the United Kingdom during the same era, with the Georgina Dutchess of Devonshire the most notably famous, for her hair in Great Britain. From 1789, upon the outbreak of the french revolution, the pouf became more of a political weapon for women who supported the revolution in turning against their former Queen's most popular fashion statement. As the 18th century came to an end, and the beginning of the 19th century, new fashions came along for hair and the pouf, after the execution of Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....

, became history. The pouf returned in both the 20th and 21st century's with the more modern name "beehive", revived by stars such as Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...

, Cilla Black

Cilla Black

Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...

, Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse

Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...

 and Adele

Adele (singer)

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...

Care

The pouf was a very delicate hairstyle and hours were needed to create it. To create the base, a very thin metal frame was used to structure the shape. It was then padded and intertwined with pomaded false hair, and one's own hair would be taken in. The pomaded hair would then be curled in various sections (varying on the specific style), with heated clay curlers. The lovelocks would be curled in a similar fashion. Once the shaping and styling was done, it would be finished off with white or grey powder, and decoration proceeded. The height varied, generally from very subtle to as much as three feet, with Marie Antoinette reportedly having worn her hair 6ft high.

The hairstyle would remain in the wearer's hair for about a week, until it was no longer hygienic (due to the pomade) or it could no longer keep its shape, and it was then simply washed and redone. Wealthier women may have had their hair done more often than this due to the cost of the technique and materials; Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....

 at one time was inventing a different hairstyle every day. Women at court found it hard to keep up with the ever changing fashion of hair. In order to keep these hairstyles from ruin, women would wear 'calashes', a type of bonnet which protected it from wind, dirt and rain. When sleeping they would add two or three pillows to keep their head upright and protect the hair. Great care was taken to duck when entering doorways and carriages, for the same reason. Candle lighting posed the additional risk of fire for tall poufs.

Popular culture

There was a brief revival of the pouf in the form of the 1960s Beehive

Beehive (hairstyle)

The Beehive is a woman's hairstyle that resembles a beehive; it is elegant and it is also known as the B-52, for its similarity to the bulbous nose of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber. It originated as one of a variety of elaborately teased and lacquered versions of "big hair" that developed from...

 hairstyle.
Today we can see the influence of the pouf in wedding, prom, formal and commercial hairstyles where larger, teased hair has come into vogue. A recent product on the market called Bumpits has been seen, which is meant to partially shape the hair and give it lift by means of a plastic base. Television personality Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi sported a pouf in the first season of Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore (TV series)

Jersey Shore is an American reality television series that premiered on MTV on December 3, 2009 in the United States. The series follows the lives of eight housemates spending their summer at the Jersey Shore in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Season 2 followed the cast escaping the cold northeast...

. The film "Marie Antoinette" also saw a modern adaption to the pouf hairstyle as well as in "The Dutchess", both movies portrayed a 7ft Pouf decorated with plumes of feathers. Amy Winehouse was famed for her "Beehive" pouf hairstyle, with other singers such as british artist Adele also following the trend.