Hairwork Flowers and Wreaths, and the Material Culture of Gender Ideology

Hairwork Flowers and Wreaths, and the Material Culture of Gender Ideology
by Diane Irby

Victorian hairwork flowers and wreaths stand today as compelling artifacts of gender ideology, embodying the four cardinal virtues promoted by the Cult of Domesticity: piety, purity, submission, and domesticity. As Barbara Welter illustrated in her seminal essay, The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860, these virtues defined the ideal nineteenth-century woman as the moral and spiritual center of the home, charged with preserving social order amid the upheavals of industrial capitalism and social mobility. Hairwork flowers and wreaths created by women within the domestic sphere materialized these ideals through their intimate connection to memory, mourning, and sentimentality.

The Life and age of woman, stages of woman's life from the cradle to the grave. New York : James Baillie, c.1848.
https://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.12817/

Piety was considered a woman’s unique spiritual gift, granting her the power to guide not only her family but society toward moral improvement. Hairwork flowers and wreaths, frequently fashioned as memorial keepsakes, reinforced this sacred responsibility by physically embodying the ties between the living and the dead. Purity, especially sexual virtue, was essential to a woman’s social identity and value, reflected in the careful preservation and presentation of hair as a symbol of chastity and fidelity. In Victorian culture, a woman’s hair symbolized more than beauty; it was closely linked to her moral virtue and sexual innocence. By preserving hair in delicate, intricate forms, these keepsakes honored and safeguarded a woman’s chastity. Hairwork often served as a visible, intimate token of purity, especially in mourning or sentimental objects crafted from the hair of loved ones. Displaying such hairwork reinforced cultural ideals about the sanctity of female chastity and its central role in “True Womanhood.”

Submission and domesticity framed the context in which hairwork flowers and wreaths were made and appreciated. Women’s creative expression was expected to remain within the home and reinforce their roles as obedient wives and mothers. Hairwork flowers and wreaths thus represent both the limitations placed on female agency and the subtle ways women exerted influence and identity through craft. Welter emphasizes that these virtues were not merely personal traits but social imperatives that shaped and controlled women’s lives, prescribing their place and behavior as “hostages” of moral order in a rapidly changing world.

By examining hairwork flowers and wreaths within the framework of the Cult of Domesticity, we gain a richer understanding of how material culture served as a medium through which gender ideologies were constructed, performed, and perpetuated. These delicate objects are not only artistic achievements but also tangible reminders of the power structures and cultural norms that shaped Victorian womanhood.



Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820–1860.” American Quarterly 18, no. 2 (1966): 151–174. https://doi.org/10.2307/2711179.

© 2025 Diane Irby. All rights reserved. This content may not be copied or distributed without written permission from the author.

Citation:
Irby, Diane. “Hairwork and the Material Culture of Gender Ideology.” Victorian Hairwork by dirby.art (victorianhairwork.art), July 2025. https://www.victorianhairwork.art/journal-research/hairwork-flowers-and-wreaths-and-the-material-culture-of-gender-ideology.