Regency Haircuts and Disguises in Lady Wynwood’s Spies
In this excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor, Phoebe prepares for a dangerous mission—one that requires her to disguise herself as a young man. The hairstyle she receives, called a Brutus cut, was actually quite fashionable during the Regency. Read on to find out more about this curious trend and why it suited her new identity so well.
Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor:
By far, the absolute worst part of Uncle Sol’s plan was that Phoebe had to cut her hair.
Of the four agents, Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones would be the least likely to be recognized when they entered the Ramparts building—Mr. Coulton-Jones, because of his skill in altering his facial features and his posture, and Phoebe, because she could play a convincing young man, which no one would expect.
A disreputable hat would hide her long hair to an extent, but it would not fool anyone who looked closely. Also, because she would look like a junior agent, she would be expected to remove her hat if addressed by a senior officer in a corridor. It would be far too easy for a wig to slip in such circumstances.
She gazed mournfully at the locks carpeting the floor underneath her chair as Aya removed them and gave her a fair approximation of a Brutus cut. Phoebe’s skin hadn’t the roughened texture of a common working man, and so it had been decided that she would pose as a young man from a more wealthy background. Aunt Laura had managed to collect several sets of male clothing for her, including an outfit appropriate for the son of a wealthy merchant.
Phoebe used cloth to pad her waist and groin areas, and she looked like a slightly portly young man with spindly arms and legs.
She pictured gentlemen of her age, especially those younger than herself, and recalled the way they stood, the way they walked and carried themselves. She made an effort to alter her gait and posture.
And suddenly, looking back at her from the full-length mirror in Aunt Laura’s bedroom stood an arrogant young stripling just down from university.
But what exactly is a Brutus cut?
The Brutus cut was all the rage in the early 1800s, especially in the years following the French Revolution and into the Regency era.
From Roman hero to fashionable haircut
The Brutus cut (sometimes called the Titus cut in French fashion plates) was inspired by ancient Roman statuary, particularly busts of figures like Lucius Junius Brutus, the legendary founder of the Roman Republic. In an era newly obsessed with classical antiquity, it was the ideal hairstyle to show off your noble ideals—short, tousled curls, brushed forward, and decidedly free of powder or wigs.
This was a radical change from earlier Georgian fashion, where men often wore powdered wigs, queues (a braid or ponytail down the back), and elaborately styled hair. The Brutus cut rejected all of that in favor of a more “natural,” even slightly rebellious look.
Think: “I’m a modern Roman senator who just rolled out of bed and crushed a Republic before breakfast.”
What did it look like?
Fashion plates from the time show men with short, curly hair that’s been cropped close around the ears and neck, often with the front brushed slightly forward or left tousled. Some plates even show sideburns or a bit of fringe over the forehead.
Here are some examples from fashion plates of the time. This first plate is of Lord Cochrane, published in Ackermann’s Repository in 1809:
Here is a fashion plate of a young man from Ackermann’s Repository published in 1810:
Here are two fashion plates published in 1804 from Journal des Dames et des Modes:
Lastly, here are three fashion plates published in 1810 from Journal des Dames et des Modes:
This haircut was practical, expressive, and—importantly for Phoebe—easy to mimic when disguising oneself as a young man. For a woman cutting off long hair, the Brutus cut offered a believable shape that didn’t require extensive barbering.
Why does my heroine wear it?
In Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor, a quick haircut helps Phoebe pass as a male junior agent in a world that doesn’t expect a woman to walk confidently into the heart of a clandestine spy operation.
Because the Brutus cut was popular with young, fashionable men—particularly university students or sons of wealthy merchants—it was the perfect choice for Phoebe’s persona. It allowed her to look like a well-bred (if slightly foppish) young man.
Want to see more Regency-era disguises and espionage?
If you enjoyed this peek into Regency fashion and covert hairstyling, you’ll love the full story in Lady Wynwood’s Spies. Start the series in Volume 1, where a misfired arrow reunites Phoebe with a young gentleman who happens to be a spy, and a memory from her past propels her into a mission that could change the fate of England.
📚 Volume 1: Archer is available now, with more volumes in the series unfolding secrets, slow-burn romance, and dangerous plots—all in Regency London.
👉 Read the first few chapters of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 1: Archer
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