It's Mock Cover Monday again! This week: The Wrong Mistress.Our beloved mythical author Alisse Davy has graciously agreed to do a Regency story, thus giving me opportunity to re-make Ruby With Chocolates (I'm still thinking of delicious stories to go with that one.)
Although a Regency heroine would never actually wear her hair down for a formal occasion, I didn't change it. That would involve re-painting her back as well as her hair, and although I could do that, I just didn't want to.
It got me to thinking, what woman would be wearing her hair down while in a formal evening dress, and still have a shawl draped over her shoulders? Perhaps a mistress? Have the pins just been pulled from her hair? There is no setting, so it could be in a house, an inn, even a private room of a ballroom. Perhaps on the terrace. How did she get there? What is going on between her and the unseen man?
I loved the authentic shawl which I stole from an 1815 fashion plate, by the way.
You might not like my title and have a better one you'd use. I see this as a Regency, but maybe you have other ideas. Play off what others have said, or write your own idea from scratch. Just invent a plot idea to go with this cover.
Red carpet ladies at award shows often wear their hair down, although up is preferable. In a Regency story, why not have a heroine wearing her hair down in formal attire? Perhaps she's at Covent Garden where all sorts of risky things take place? Or, perhaps she's running from a pursuer? Or perhaps she's the one pursuing? Or, maybe even more delightful, she's running after her runaway dog and bumps into the hero who mistakes her as his mistress because it's dark outside. Hence the title, "The Wrong Mistress."
ReplyDeleteIt would have been a huge faux pas for any Regency lady. We do see them all the time on Historical covers but it simply wasn't done then. It was considered deshabille. Risque. Casual, slovenly, even. And every young girl looked forward to the day she could put her hair up because it was symbolic of being finally grown up.
ReplyDeleteI do like your idea of how hero comes to think of her as his mistress. He could meet her in a dark room at a ball. But I think if somehow he sees of feels her hair down, he believes she is someone other than the creme de la creme of society.
Of course, it would have been a faux paux for the Regency heroine to wear her hair down. What I meant is to have the Regency heroine wear her hair up but have it come down when she's at Covent Garden. Perhaps an unsavory character pulls on it. Or else the heroine is running from a pursuer or in pursuit when her hair comes undone.
ReplyDeleteIf she's running after her dog, perhaps it escaped into the night at the ball with her after it. Her hair comes undone and she bumps into the hero or falls into his arms. Perhaps he thinks that she must be his mistress because his mistress has just fled the house.
Or else, like you said, the hero believes the heroine is someone disreputable and thus not the creme de la creme of society. That would make for a very entertaining read.