BookWenches

Men and Makeup

My historical novels are set in the mid-Georgian era, a time when men wore silk, satin, lace, makeup on their faces – but had a swords by their sides and would duel to the death at the drop of a handkerchief.

I find this very exciting, but I wasn’t sure that my books would find an audience because I chose to make the series as historically accurate as I could. To take the reader on a journey to an age that was very different to the one we live in. Editors are all about making a connection, making sure that today’s reader can understand and enjoy novels set in the past. I wanted to show the differences as well, and make them part of the story.

Two of my heroes, Richard, Viscount Strang (Richard and Rose series), and Charles, the Marquess of Petherbridge (Met By Chance) are heavy users of makeup, or, as it was known in the 18^th century, maquillage. Dead white, with patches of red on each cheek and rouged lips, the makeup was anything but natural. But I used it to show how someone could live in the public eye and yet keep some privacy. Richard uses his mask to intimidate people, to present an image. At one point he tells Rose, who at this time is a shy provincial, that they would buy her some magnificent clothes and she could inhabit them—they’d do all the talking she’d need.

Charles is hiding behind his mask at the start of his story. He has a lot of trauma in his past—a wife who took him as a pretty boy toy and then abandoned him, a daughter he loves but he doesn’t know how to care for. After spending all his adult years in France, he adopts the French fashions, always more extreme than the British, and returns to his native land in full court rig.

I adored them both, even more when they removed their masks and had the courage to show themselves to their ladies, unadorned and naked, figuratively and literally.

I love a man who has the courage to dress as he pleases, and to make a statement. Armani and Calvin Klein and Saville Row are the same, but more drab, uniforms, however impeccably put together. So why not make a statement in scarlet (Richard’s favourite colour) or royal blue?

Another eighteenth century convention was wigs. Men wore elaborately powdered and curled wigs over a shaved head or their natural hair, cut short. More like the wigs barristers still wear today than any attempt to create a natural look. In the country and at home men usually discarded the wigs and went with short hair or embroidered caps and hats. The best of both worlds, formal and informal.

Because for all the silks and satins, I write about real men, who aren’t afraid to wear what they want to and fight to the death at a moment’s notice. They ride, they gamble their fortunes away, they live on the edge. While it might not be comfortable, it would certainly be exciting to live with someone like that.

It goes forward to the contemporary, for me. I love a man in pink, because of the delicious contrast between his masculinity and the pretty color, and I admire a man who has the nerve to do it. Mickey Rourke, for all his dreadful surgery, still struts out. Mick Jagger has always made a statement, and David Bowie, especially as Ziggy, stole my heart. While it’s not always a success, it’s far more memorable than a man in a suit. Don’t get me wrong, I like a man in a well-tailored suit, (Daniel Craig as Bond does it so well) but I like some variety as well.

But they’re my interests, and I never thought anyone would share them. I decided to take a chance and write about them, and try and make the world of the Georgian nobleman come alive for the reader, so instead of taking modern concerns and trying to fit them into past times, I took issues that were real then. Sometimes they happen to be the same as the ones that concern us today. After all, love is universal and transcends time.

To my surprise, I found people enjoyed the extremes, and my powdered and painted heroes actually appealed to more people than me. So thank you for that, gentle reader, and thank you for making it possible for me to carry on writing in this fascinating era.

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Lynne Connolly is the author of many historical novels, all set in the Georgian era, published by Samhain Publishers. She also has penned quite a few paranormal novels, such as the Dept. 57 stories available from Loose Id LLC and the Pure Wildfire series available from Ellora's Cave. You can purchase her novels through the publishers or at etailers such as Omnilit, Fictionwise, and Amazon.com.

For more information about Lynne and her work, please visit her website at www.lynneconnolly.com.