(no subject)

[oulfis]

I picked up Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England and encountered an anecdote that fascinated me:

One of adolescent Emily Shore's several intimates, Elizabeth, gave her a "chain made of her beautiful rich brown hair" before leaving England, which Shore considered a token of her friend's affection and looked forward to displaying as a sign of social distinction: "I have generally worn a pretty little chain of bought hair, and when people have asked me 'whose hair is that?' have have been mortified at being obliged to answer 'Nobody's.' Now, when asked the same question, I shall be able to say it is the hair of my best and dearest friend." (Marcus 57)

It didn't surprise me that friends might exchange hair jewelry (and Marcus has firmly established that these girls were "just" friends; this section is about the actual friendships that get overlooked when scholars are too eager to dwell on the "friends" who were lovers or partners) -- but it does surprise me somewhat that "bought hair" was a phenomenon!

I suppose, when hair jewelry is a common sentimental accessory, someone might wish to look like the other fashionable, interesting girls regardless of whether one has a beloved to memorialize. I would have thought that one might ask for hair from a less-interesting relative -- maybe a mother, if she doesn't have (or care much for) a sister? But it seems not!