I Hate Seeing Side Partings in Period Dramas - Here’s Why!

Side parted hair, it’s been a common hairstyle for centuries, right? Wrong! If you watch a lot of period dramas then you can be forgiven for thinking so, for it is these ever-popular films and tv shows that have a nasty habit of getting their historical hairstyles just so wrong. In actuality, side-parted hair only started being popular during the latter decades of the 19th century, and even then it wasn’t tremendously popular. So, let’s take a look at where period dramas have got this oh so wrong and some where they’ve actually got it spot on!

For as long as humans have been around, hair has been a way to show your status and your worth. In many cultures around the world hair is even seen as sacred, so keeping up with the trends has always been important. In many periods of history, covering your hair once you were married was considered the norm and if you did not you were viewed as immoral, and in the Tudor era, this was paricularly expected. Many hair covering styles came in and out of fashion, gable hoods, french hoods etc. But one thing always stayed the same. Hair was always parted in the centre. When we look at painting and sketches contemporary to the time, this is very clear. Take this sketch of Lady Grace Parker done by the incredibly talented Hans Holbein the Younger, done around 1540-43. We can clearly see that Lady Parker is covering her hair, as well as wearing her hair in a middle parting. 

Lady Grace Parker, Hans Holbein the Younger (1540–43). Photo credit: Royal Collections Trust.

Let’s also take a look at this famous portrait of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry V111 painted in the late 16th century, based on a now-lost contemporary version. We see Anne wearing a french hood, a style she was known to favour, and guess what? Her hair is parted in the middle! 

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Ok, so, where have period dramas got this Tudor style particularly wrong? In no surprise to anyone, Reign and The Tudors did! Both are pretty notorious for getting their historical fashions just oh so wrong. 

Here is Natalie Dormer as Queen Anne Boleyn in The Tudors. There is so much to nitpick here. Firstly, her hair is down. As a married woman and a woman married to the King, there is no way that Anne would have ever been seen dead with her hair down. She is not wearing any form of head covering like a french hood, instead, she’s wearing some weird tiara. And, what’s that I see...a side parting. To give credit where credit is due, The Tudors do show their ladies wearing middle partings relatively often, but considering that their hair is often down and even when up, there is no head covering, I’m still a tad annoyed. 

Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn, The Tudors.

If you have ever looked at fashion plates or portraits contemporary to the late 18th century and Regency era, then you will know that hairstyles of the period were...interesting to say the least. Curly side pieces were de rigueur, a style that would be popular in some Victorian decades too, and like years before a centre parting was simply expected. I am yet to come upon a portrait of a regency lady of adulthood whose hair is not parted in the centre, and while some may hate the popular curly face-framing pieces, I quite like the whole look!

BBC series of Pride and Prejudice.

The BBC series version of Pride and Prejudice does an excellent job of showing both centre partings as well as the eccentric and over the top curly side pieces, and it really aids in bringing the story to life. The recent television adaptation of the Austen novel Sanditon, however, was not as good in this regard. Firstly, there is far too much hair being worn down for my liking. Secondly, where are the curly side pieces? Although, it isn’t overly common for films and tv to show this because they are considered ugly. Thirdly and finally, there are so many side partings. If you showed me certain screenshots from the show I’m not sure I would be able to tell you that the show is set in the Regency period. 

Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood in ITV’s Sanditon.

I could sit here and write about many more examples from many more time periods, but I’m sure you’ve got the gist from my ranting by now! Of course, if a television show chooses to show their medieval married lead wearing her hair down with no head covering and in a side parting, that is their prerogative. And, unlike shows that show corsets being worn dangerously incorrectly, showing someone with their hair in a side parting isn’t the end of the world. However, I do believe that if you are trying to create a show that is visibly of one specific time period, then you need to research your hairstyles and use them to your advantage, as a good hairstyle can work wonders in bringing a story to life. Rant over!