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21 Sept 2020

Looking good

Written by Emma Inglis, Curator (South & West)
Black and white caricature of a man in a large white wig seated at a table, being attended to by a servant.
‘The OLD BEAU in an EXTASY’ – detail from an 18th-century cartoon from Brodick Castle satirising extremes of fashion
As we gradually emerge from our houses and return to workplaces, beauty regimes may be reasserting themselves. Here, we take a look at our collections to see how it was done in the past.
A small rectangular table with thin, elegantly curved legs and three small drawers at the front with looped metal handles. The top of the table is made up of different types of wood placed in a herringbone pattern. The middle third lifts up to reveal an internal mirror. A small round white ceramic pot with closely fitted lid, with gold rims. The side of the pot is decorated with a big yellow Iris flower with a green spiked leaf on either side. The lid is also painted with an Iris flower and leaves. A white painted background against which are hung on nails three rectangular black metal name plates and in the gap between them two brass bells. The name on the centre plate reads in white on black WR Dressing Room. A pair of large hair brushes with broad, oval shaped backs in silver and thick cream coloured bristles. The brushes are lying side by side and face down. The inside of a dressing case that is lined with dark blue velvet and opened out to show the larger centre portion and a wing at each side. At the top and back there are three sections each with a mirror. The side sections each have a clock set in the centre of the mirror. At the bottom and front the centre is filled with bottles made of cream coloured onyx, each with a silver cap or stopper. Some bottles are round and some square. There are four gold coloured candle sticks standing among the bottles and, in front, smaller boxes with silver lids and two cream backed hairbrushes. The side wings form trays to hold small implements such as nail file and tweezers. To the right hand side of the case are two long handled hairbrushes with cream coloured backs and a handheld mirror with gold coloured frame. A small box made or white porcelain and edged with gold metal. The lid is opening revealing inside on the bottom the words in black Secret en Amour. On the inside of the lid is black line drawing of a lady standing with one foot on a small stool and her long skirt pulled up to show her lower leg and stocking. She is tying a garter above her knee and looking off to her right. In the background is the sketchy outline of a door and a long cased clock. A bright red lipstick in a white plastic holder and a separate white plastic lid to one side with lipstick smudges around the edge. A small light brown leather case opened up to show its contents. Inside the lid from left to right are a cream coloured plastic shoe horn, small metal pair of scissors and a small leather backed mirror with metal stand. Each item is held in place with a leather strap or pocket. Beneath these in the bottom of the case are two small leather boxes at the back, five clear ribbed glass bottles with cream coloured plastic lids and two oval shaped brushes with cream coloured backs and bristles. All items are tightly packed in and held in place with leather straps. A small cut glass bottle that is wide at the bottom, with a long narrow neck and a stopper in the top. The bottle is formed of red and clear glass, the red glass creating frames for the many small clear glass areas that encircle the bottle, each one in an oval shape.

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