Gender, Class, and the Social Function of Victorian Hairwork Flowers and Wreaths
Gender, Class, and the Social Function of Victorian Hairwork Flowers and Wreaths
by Diane Irby
Victorian wirework hair flowers and wreaths were more than mere expressions of sentiment; they were deeply embedded in the cultural frameworks of class and gender that shaped 19th-century domestic life, artistic production, and emotional expression. The practice of hairwork, especially as it manifested in intricate wirework floral designs, reveals much about the gendered expectations of artistic labor, the materials deemed appropriate, and the intertwining of emotional labor with the feminine sphere.
“The Sphere of a Woman,” Illustration in Godey’s Lady’s Book, March 1850
A Gendered Craft of Devotion
Wirework hair flowers and wreaths were closely tied to women’s domestic labor and emotional responsibility. Creating wirework hair flowers aligned with the Victorian ideology of ‘separate spheres,’ which assigned public life to men and private, domestic duties to women. Women were expected not only to beautify and maintain the home but also to imbue it with moral and emotional significance. Transforming strands of hair - whether from a living family member or a deceased loved one - into decorative wreaths or sculptures was a way of visually enacting these values.
Crafting memory from hair was no frivolous pastime; it was a deeply expressive form of unpaid, often unacknowledged labor. In a culture that assigned women the role of emotional guardians, the production of sentimental objects like wirework hair flowers became an extension of their care work. These objects were often made without formal instruction or commercial ambition; techniques were passed on from woman to woman, like an intimate language of remembrance.
Class and Access to Sentiment
Unlike hairwork jewelry, which was often produced commercially and required tools, training, or access to professional studios, wirework hair flowers were primarily handmade at home. This accessibility made them more common in middle- and working-class households, where women often had limited material luxuries but ample expectation to uphold familial values. Their materials - wire, beads, hair, sometimes paper or fabrics - were inexpensive and often recycled from household goods or saved over time. Tools, too, were often improvised or adapted from other household crafts.
Performing Sentiment
These objects communicated meaning not only through symbolic language but also through their very visibility. Prominently displayed in parlors, hair wreaths stood as tangible testaments to domestic virtue, familial devotion, and emotional resilience. Their presence revealed the maker’s patience, morality, skill, and refinement. They were deeply personal and deliberately performative.
Wirework hair flowers and wreaths thus served both private and public roles within the home. While honoring the dead or celebrating milestones, they also reinforced the notion that a well-kept household embodied sentiment and virtue. In this way, they became part of the broader visual and material vocabulary expressing gendered ideals of respectability in Victorian culture.
© Diane Irby. All rights reserved.
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Citation:
Diane Irby, “Gender, Class, and the Social Function of Victorian Hairwork Flowers and Wreaths,” Victorian Hairwork by dirby.art (victorianhairwork.art), last modified July 11, 2025, https://www.victorianhairwork.art/journal-research/gender-class-and-the-social-function-of-victorian-hairwork-flowers-and-wreaths.