October 12, 1776

In 1776, actor Samuel Foote surprised the Ton in London by appearing “in the character of Lady Pentweazel, with a head dress in the utmost extravagance of the fashion.” As Lady Pentwezel, a character from his 1752 work, Taste, Foote had hair measuring “a yard wide” and “stuck full of ostrich feathers.” It was a “satire on the monstrously absurd mode of decorating the head” that had become “prevalent among the Ladies of Ton.” According to this report printed months later in Philadelphia, Queen Charlotte “laughed exceedingly when Mr. Foote came on so ornamented.” The audience was clearly delighted by Foote’s stunt, especially when “the whole fabric of feathers, wool, and hair, dropped off Mr. Foote’s head, and remained on the stage as he went off.”

The Pennsylvania Ledger: Or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New-Jersey Weekly Advertiser
Printed by James Humphreys, Jr.

LONDON.
[...]
Mr. Foote, on Wednesday night, appeared in the character of Lady Pentweazle, with a head dress in the utmost extravagance of the fashion. The breadth of the tete, which was a yard wide, was stuck full of ostrich feathers, and even if the tout ensemble had not been of itself a sufficient satire on the monstrously absurd mode of decorating the head now prevalent among the Ladies of Ton, the modest and decent stile of the Queens head dress would have served to have rendered ft [sic] so. Her Majesty laughed exceedingly when Mr. Foote came on so ornamented, and as it was designed to continue the roar of the house, the whole fabric of feathers, wool, and hair, dropped off Mr. Foote’s head, and remained on the stage as he went off.