Portrait of Henriette Victoire Elisabeth d’Avrange (circa 1810)
A Titus cut or coiffure à la Titus was a hairstyle for men and women popular at the end of the 18th century in France and England. The style consisted of a short layered cut, typically with curls.[1] It was supposedly popularized in 1791 by the French actor François-Joseph Talma who played Titus in a Parisian production of Voltaire's Brutus.[1][2][3]
The Titus cut was considered a radical departure from the large elaborate hairstyles and wigs that were popular during the last quarter of the 18th century.[1] As a simple "classical" style, free from aristocratic excess, it was associated with the French Revolution and popular among those who supported it.[2][4] Although initially a men's style, it was soon adopted by women as well. The Journal de Paris reported in 1802 that "more than half of elegant women were wearing their hair or wig à la Titus."[1] The style spread to England as well, where it was often called coiffure à la guillotine in reference to the beheadings of the French Revolution.[5][6] Although the style remained popular into the 19th century, by the 1810s it had fallen out of fashion.[1][4]
^ abcdeRifelj, Carol (2010). Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-century French Literature and Culture. Newark: University of Delaware Press. pp. 34–40. ISBN0874130999.
^ abRibeiro, Aileen (1988). Fashion in the French Revolution. London: Batsford. p. 68. ISBN0713453524.
