Page "Elizabeth of Russia" Paragraph 37

Elizabeth ’ s vanity and the attention paid to her personal appearance also had indelible ramifications on Court life.

Elizabeth was an incredibly attractive woman and in turn, she desired to be the most attractive amongst any company at all times.

In order to insure this was the case, Elizabeth passed various decrees outlining what was acceptable of her courtiers in regards to appearance in relation to the Empress.

These edicts included a law against wearing the same hairstyle, dress, or accessory as the Empress.

One woman, Natalya Lopukhina, accidentally wore the same item as the Empress and was lashed across the face for her offense.

Another law created by Elizabeth was that any French fabric salesman had to first sell to her before attempting to sell anyone else, those who disregarded this law were arrested.

One famous story exemplifying the Empress ’ s vanity is that once the Elizabeth got a bit of powder in her hair and was unable to remove it.

She was therefore obligated to cut her hair to rid herself of the splotch and in turn she made all of the ladies at Court do the same, which they did “ with tears in their eyes .” This aggressive vanity became a tenet of Elizabeth ’ s Court throughout the entirety of her reign, particularly as she grew older.

As said by historian Tamara Talbot Rice, “ Later in life her outbursts of anger were directed either against people who were thought to have endangered Russia ’ s security or against women whose beauty rivaled her own .”