Lucinda

The great Victorian beard craze

Crimean War 1854-56

In the mid-19th Century, men throughout North America and Europe began doing something most had never done before. They abandoned their barbers, left patented safety razors rusting on bathroom shelves and began growing facial hair. They were not merely growing the well-coiffed whiskers and neat moustaches hitherto deemed acceptable, but cultivating enormous whiskers that connected … Read more

My first beard interview

Moustaches, Whiskers and Beards by Lucinda Hawksley (book jacket)

My first interview since the publication of Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards: http://www.beardrevered.com/interviews/what-the-dickens-moustaches-whiskers-beards/

The moustache: A hairy history

Throughout history facial hair has fallen in and out of fashion. Hairy faces have been lauded, derided, immortalised in art and even legislated against. The rise and curl of the moustache has never been straightforward.  Since the first caveman picked up a hinged shell and tweezered whiskers from his face, men have shaped their facial … Read more

1922: The year that changed Brazilian art

Semana de Arte Moderna, 1922 (Emiliano di Cavalcanti)

For the people of Brazil, 1922 was a landmark year. It marked a full century of independence from Portugal – and it was also the year that put Brazilian art on the international map. An idea grew up from the artists’ studios of São Paolo: to dedicate a week to modern art, to run alongside … Read more

Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards

Moustaches, Whiskers and Beards by Lucinda Hawksley (book jacket)

My upcoming book is my first title for National Portrait Gallery publications. It looks at the history of facial hair from cave men to Conchita Wurst and uses some of the gallery’s best, worst and most hilarious examples of facial hair in portraits (not only of men, there are also a couple of women within … Read more

Secrets from the Clink

My episode of Secrets From The Clink is on ITV Player (I’m in the later sections of Michelle Collins’ story about debtors’ prisons): https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/secrets-from-the-clink/series-1/episode-2

The Mystery of Princess Louise in paperback

The beautiful paperback edition of The Mystery of Princess Louise is now available to pre-order. http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/lucinda+hawksley/the+mystery+of+princess+louise/10427142/

Princess Louise talk in aid of Parkinson’s UK

On the morning of 22 October 2014, I’ll be doing a fundraising talk about The Mystery of Princess Louise, in aid of Parkinson’s UK at the Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, London.