The Wig and the Shoe

Getting one's hair presentable was a time-consuming daily ritual in late 18th-century France; it could take hours. There was the dressing of the wig and the powdering of it. And everyone had a grey wig so that the elderly would not feel conspicuous.

Inscription on back of card:

Women's shoes were interchangeable between left and right foot, and the ball of the foot was in a permanent tiptoe, a very tedious position for practical purposes, which is why dinners were preferred to balls. In society, it was customary for men and women to wear a powdered wig. Those for women could reach as high as four feet.