
Ah, the horror of growing old, to feel the hand of Time laid upon one's body, to watch the skin wrinkling, to awake and fear the morning light and to know that one is no longer desirable! Life without beauty would be worthless to me.
--Elisabeth of Wittelsbach, Kaiserin von Österreich

What lengths did some women go to in the 19th century to maintain their beauty? Many, as seen in this blog this month. What was beauty's standard? In the Victorian era one woman stood out. She was admired by women, desired by men, the envy of many, but alone in her fame...

Following her hair, Elisabeth prided herself on her figure and followed extreme diets. Often an entire day's nourishment would be six glasses of milk, nothing else. Not any milk, however! It had to come from special cows--which had their own traveling expense accounts. (They went everywhere with her.) Elisabeth had a sweet tooth though one could not tell from her slender waist. Who could not adore sweets, living in Vienna, home of the finest yeast cake in the world? The Kaiserin, however, would not touch anything sweeter than water seasoned with violets.
Even her walks were extreme, lasting sometimes to ten hours (to the exhaustion of her attendants). If her feet became swollen and doctors insisted she rest, Elisabeth would ignore the medical advice and move on until she received a treatment that suited her obsessions. This pattern continued throughout her life: pushing herself to extremes until physical pain or illness stopped her only to revive herself in the way suited to her and no other.
Occasionally at night, she would wear a mask stuffed with raw meat. When strawberries were in season a paste would be made and massaged into her neck and face (a beauty regime from the Balkans.) Baths were in warm olive oil. Often she wrapped her hips in wet rags before bed thinking that would preserve her slim figure. She slept with no pillows on a hard mattress, used no perfume and forbid those around her to wear it. All her rings were worn on a chain around her neck so not to mar her hands.

Vanity? Insanity? Loneliness? Many things can drive a person to obsessions. Who is to judge the woman who also did wondrous things for her people and Hungary? The woman who gradually became a ghost in her own lifetime, but whose heart to this day is still the pride of Austria.
The ordinary mind will deem her a vain and shallow woman, and reflect that true happiness can be found in one's children's children, but such people have not the artistic temperament which the Empress possessed
--Marie Larisch