Beauty and self-confidence
In her time away from the Viennese court, Elisabeth realized that she was a beautiful woman and that her beauty gave her power. Her relationship with her husband Franz Joseph changed entirely. Overwhelmed by her beauty, he was simply devoted to her, lost in humble adoration.
Elisabeth was now in her mid-twenties, and although she had borne three children she was still very slight. Although quite tall, at nearly five feet eight inches, she weighed under eight stone as a result of constant dieting and excessive amounts of exercise. Her nineteen inch waist, further enhanced by tight lacing, she kept throughout her life; her hip measurement was an incredible twenty-six inches ( although perhaps the hips were not measured in exactly the same place as today ).
The Empress did not set out to achieve beauty by means of thick make-up and strong perfume, as women commonly id in the nineteenth century. Instead, she deliberately cultivated her own image as a charming, natural work of art.
She was especially proud of the long chestnut hair, tinted to a slightly darker shade, that hung down to her heels. The braiding, arrangement and care of these flowing locks took at least three hours daily, and their washing with mysterious essences occupied a whole day. Her hairdresser, Fanny Feifalik, was an indispensable companion wherever she went.
The fairy-like beauty of an Empress of Austria was proclaimed all over the world, her reputation nurtured by reports form foreign diplomats and the effusive accounts of international journalists. Manu of the curious visited Vienna mainly in the hope of setting eyes on the fabulously beautiful Empress.
Later, however, her extraordinary beauty gave rise to neuroses and anxieties, and many hours were wasted every day that could have been put to better use. Her dogged battle to preserve her looks over the decades drover her into an almost exclusive concern with herself, and reinforced her narcissism.
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