Pretty Hurts— The Extreme Beauty Routine of Empress Elisabeth of Austria
The Empress in 1864; images not mine
“Titania shall not go where people walk
This world, where no one understands her,
Where hundred thousand gazers her beleaguer,
Whispering and prying,
Look, the fool, look there!
Where jealousy and envy sneak her out,
To distort her every action,
She returns homebound to those regions,
Where allied, kinder souls abide.”
–Empress Elisabeth’s poem, referring to herself as Titania, the fairy queen
This post was a long time coming. I have long been fascinated by the unusual routines of past kings and queens (such as Louis XIV’s levee or “rising ceremony” when he woke up every day), and the former Empress of Austria had her own eccentric and intricate rituals. Since she was praised for her looks, her routines revolved around beauty.
Empress Elisabeth or “Sisi” (1837-1898, Capricorn) was the empress consort of Austria from 1854 until 1898, when she was assassinated by an Italian anarchist. She married her first cousin, Emperor Franz Joseph I. They had four children, Sophie (who died age 2), Gisela (who enjoyed painting), Rudolf (who killed his mistress and then himself), and her “favorite” child, Marie Valerie. Raised informally, she didn’t like the strict, straitlaced life at court and was often at odds with her mother-in-law (and aunt) Sophie of Bavaria. To escape, she visited Hungary and helped form the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867. In her spare time, she wrote poetry, went horseback riding, and even smoked cigarettes. (At the time, smoking was seen as unladylike.) She was well-known for her beauty– in the 19th century, she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world.
The Shah of Persia was so overwhelmed by her beauty that when he met her in 1873, he shouted, “How beautiful she is!” She also compared herself to Titania, Shakespeare’s fairy queen, and used it as her pen name in writings.
However, constantly being told her was beautiful didn’t always pan out well for Elisabeth’s personality. She was vain and looked down on women she considered unattractive. She disliked being around fat women. (I know this was due to insecurities about her weight, but it’s still no excuse to be rude.) She also disliked her daughter-in-law, Princess Stephanie of Belgium, writing that she was an “ugly elephant” and an “ugly clumsy oaf”. She even wrote poems about Stephanie, calling her a “bumpkin”. (I feel bad for Stephanie– her mother-in-law bullied her, her husband was cheating on her, and then killed himself. But her life is another story for another time.)
Princess Stephanie of Belgium (1864-1945) in her wedding dress, 1881
On the other hand, she sought better treatment for mentally ill people. She struggled with depression herself, and her favorite cousin was Ludwig II of Bavaria (“The Mad King”), who possibly had schizophrenia. In 1871, when her husband asked her what she would like as a gift for her Saint’s Day, she said a medallion and a tiger cub, but: “…a fully equipped lunatic asylum would please me most”.
The Empress took painful efforts in order to maintain her beauty– several of which are unusual (like veal face masks), while others were ahead of their time. So grab your face masks and olive oil and get ready for a beauty routine like no other!
Olive Oil baths and cold showers– The Empress took a warm bath in olive oil every night to keep her skin soft and smooth. It sounds like a sentient noodle being marinated, but to each their own. Olive oil contains vitamins A and E to nourish skin, and it also reduces aging signs and sun damage. It also contains squalene, which retains the skin’s moisture.
In the morning, she showered in cold water. This is also good for your skin, as it reduces inflammation and improves blood circulation, thus moisturizing the body.
Sleeping upright and with soaked rags– The Empress slept without a pillow on a metal bedstead, which she believed would help her posture. She slept with violet or cider vinegar-soaked cloths near her hips to preserve her slim waist. To prevent aging, she wrapped her neck in cloths soaked in Kummerfeld-toned water.
However, she didn’t sleep much, as she usually stayed up late reading and writing.
Face mists and masks– The Empress rarely wore makeup or perfume, as she wished to emphasize her natural beauty, but she was interested in skincare. In this way, she was ahead of her time. Her favorite face mist was violet vinegar, made from fresh violet blossoms, cider vinegar and distilled water.
She wore overnight face masks, such as ones made of egg whites, honey and strawberry, and Creme Celeste. (Sweet almond oil, white wax, spermaceti (whale sperm, yuck!), and rosewater.) She also used slug cream– which is popular nowadays. I’ll get into a more surprising face mask later.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s portrait of Empress Elisabeth with her hair down, 1864
Hair care– The Empress’ hair was so long that it reached her ankles! She even said, “I am a slave to my hair.” Daily care took up to three hours. She often complained that the weight of the elaborate updos and braids gave her headaches.
Her hairdresser, Franziska Feifalik, once worked for the theater. Miss Feifalik wasn’t allowed to wear rings and required to wear white gloves; after hours of braiding and styling the Empress’ hair, the hairs that fell out were presented in a silver bowl to Empress Elisabeth for inspection. When her hair was washed with a mixture of eggs and cognac every two weeks, all activities and obligations were cancelled for the day.
Elisabeth used her hairdressing hours to learn foreign languages; she spoke fluent English and French, as well as Greek and Hungarian. Her Greek tutor described the routine:
” ‘Hairdressing takes almost two hours,’ she said, ‘and while my hair is busy, my mind stays idle. I am afraid that my mind escapes through the hair and onto the fingers of my hairdresser. Hence my headache afterwards.’ The Empress sat at a table which was moved to the middle of the room and covered with a white cloth. She was shrouded in a white, laced peignoir her hair, unfastened and reaching to the floor, enfolded her entire body.”
Veal face masks– The Empress applied slices of raw veal to her face at night. (Ew!) She bound the slices to her face with a leather mask. She wore this overnight, and honestly, I’m not sure how she slept like this.
Strangely enough, this practice is nutritious. The high vitamin C content produces an anti-inflammatory effect, while the protein (keratin) acts against skin aging.
Exercise, Diet, and Fashion– Empress Elisabeth was 5’8″, 110 pounds, and had a tiny 19-inch waist. This extreme slenderness was maintained with intense exercise, tight-lacing corsets, and a restrictive diet. She was obsessed with gymnastics, fencing, and horseback riding. She was rumored to be Austria’s best horsewoman at the time.
She also had a gymnastics room installed at the Hofburg Palace and was often found dangling from the rings. Mats and balance beams were installed in her bedroom so she could practice on them each morning, and the Imperial Villa at Bad Ischl was fitted with large mirrors so that she could watch her movements and positions.
The Empress was ahead of her time in that she lifted dumbbells. I haven’t heard of any Victorian women lifting weights before, unless they were in a circus, so it’s interesting that she did that. She’s probably the second most famous Austrian weightlifter, after Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Elisabeth often wore simple, single-color riding habit attire. She never wore petticoats or any other as they added bulk to her figure and was often sewn into her clothes. This further emphasized her wasp waist. Most corsets of the time fastened to the front with hooks and eyes, but Elisabeth had more rigid, solid-front ones made in Paris out of leather, “like those of Parisian courtesans,” to endure the lacing, “a proceeding which sometimes took quite an hour”. At one point, due to tight-lacing, her waist measured at 16 inches. (Violet Chachki has entered the chat.)
She was also afraid of fat women (or, rather, becoming fat) and this attitude rubbed off on her daughter Marie Valerie, who was “terrified” when she met Queen Victoria.
As she grew older, Empress Elisabeth weighed herself three times a day and recorded each weight in a notebook. She subsisted on raw milk, steak juice, egg whites, and fruit sorbet. Yet she binge-ate on some occasions. Once, in 1878, the Empress dined at a restaurant with some friends, where she drank champagne, ate a broiled chicken with salad, and a large amount of cake. She might have also binged alone; in 1881, she purchased a country house with a spiral staircase that led from her sitting-room into the kitchen, so it could be entered in secret.
Some historians and psychologists suggested she had an eating disorder, and that was my first thought as well. Psychology professor Walter Vandereycken concluded that: “numerous documents repeatedly describe her considerable fear of weight gain and the psychopathological changes specific for anorexia nervosa.”
Fear of aging and blue anchor tattoo– After turning 40 in 1877, the Empress no longer wanted to be photographed or have her portrait painted. Whenever she saw a camera, she hid her face behind a fan or parasol. However, she wasn’t recluse, as she traveled widely. She also was an early connoisseur of tattoos. While in Greece at age of 51 (1888), she got an anchor tattoo on her shoulder to express her love of the sea. (This must have been scandalous at the time– especially a tattooed woman.)
On a side note, the Empress enjoyed Greece so much that she had a palace built on the island of Corfu– Acheillion. It was decorated with several mythological motifs, and she found it a relief from formalities of the royal court, which she never liked.
Dental hygiene– While this isn’t really a “beauty routine”, I thought it was interesting and semi-related. Empress Elisabeth was rumored to have bad teeth and got dentures at an early age. However, she and her family saw dentists regularly. Some of these dentists were from the United States. Even in her autopsy report, her teeth are described as “good dentition.”
Long after her death, the Austrian Empress’ beauty and exercise regimen continues to fascinate history buffs. While her diet and exercise are unhealthy to emulate (as is calling people ugly oafs), she was ahead of her time in that she was into skincare. She lifted weights and participated in sports long before it was acceptable for women to do so. Having a tattoo was also taboo in 19th-century Europe. Her routine shows us her obsession with ritual, but also what pressure societies have put on women. But in later life, she defied these conventions with a tattoo and learning fencing. If nothing else, Empress Elisabeth paved her own path in beauty– one olive-oil bath at a time.
Curious History Girl 