Lola Montez: The Arts of Beauty; or, Secrets of a Lady’s Toilet
The piece that we have chosen is The Arts of Beauty; or, Secrets of a Lady’s Toilet by Madame Lola Montez. This piece reads like an instructional guide for women on how to fit Western standards of beauty. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of female beauty like hair, blemishes, and eyes with a chapter at the end dedicated to the “Fifty Rules in the Art of Fascinating”. It also offers commentary directed to both men and women, seemingly in a parody style, yet supporting gender-normative standards of the time period. This text is intriguing to work with because of its seemingly anti-feminist viewpoint, yet Montez was known for being provocative and unconventional in a way that has led our group to believe there might be more to this text than what meets the eye.