The State of the Book (2) Address

Abby works on Cynthia's (Redthreaded) hair while I photographs each step for "The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty," coming July 2019.

Hi! I've been a pretty terrible blogger again this year, but I have a good excuse this time. We've been working on our second book, "The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty," for the entire year thus far.

Behind the scenes with Nicole (Diary of a Mantua Maker) for the 1781-83 hairstyle and accessories photos.

While we've been sharing parts of our journey on Instagram stories, I realize we haven't really shared much about our explorations and projects on our regular IG and FB feeds or here on the blog. So...without further ado...


A quick description of what you can expect in the new book...

We're including original 18th century recipes and how-to's in the book, so you can make your own natural beauty products.

...original recipes for pomatum, powder, rouge, and lip salve, and the tools of your toilette...

...various methods of curling and for various types of hair, including Asian and African hair...

We've worked with as many hair types as possible in the book - here Jasmine is being coiffed a la 1780.

...full how-to's of hair styles from the 1750s to the 1790s and all the cushions and stuff you need to create them...

We're including patterns and tutorials for making the necessary hair cushions to get those great heights in the 1770s - here Laurie Tavan reveals the secret, a giant "donut" hair cushion.

...patterns and tutorials for accessories for every hairstyle, including caps, hats, a calash bonnet, lappets, and a pouf...

...plus lots of meaty essays about hygiene, styling, trends, and myths. Woo!

The infamous calash bonnet in progress - we give the pattern and a step-by-step guide for this tricky yet epic piece of head gear.

We're finishing up the manuscript now to meet our September 30th deadline, followed by all the photography, illustrations, and patterning a couple weeks later. Then the book will go into editing and layout, ready for release in July 2019. That seems like a long time from now but a lot of work goes in even after the manuscript is written. There will be a pre-order opening sometime in the next 6 months, darlings - we'll let you know!

We're very very excited for the second book. It's meant as a companion to our first book, "The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking," and we hope you find it useful and fun. <3