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A snippet from The Duchess (which releases today)
Marjorie came back with a light blue dress that was not at all fashionable. Its value was that it was comfortable and, in this case, quick to put on. She gathered it up, and Ilene held up her arms, and she slid it down, pausing as Ilene stuck her arms in the sleeves. Then a quick buttoning up the front, and the dress was on. Ilene started to the door. “Wait, Your Grace. Shoes.” Marjorie held out a pair of indoor slippers, and Ilene put them on.
“You can’t go out there with your hair down. What would Lord Whitman think?” Glennis said.
“Why should he think anything about my hair?” Ilene asked. She thought it was a reasonable question until she saw the way both Marjorie and Glennis reacted.
“My dear, your husband is the only man who can see you with your hair down.”
“Why? He said it was an emergency. It takes forever to do my hair.”
“It’s…” Glennis tried to speak, but couldn't bring herself to say the words.
She looked helplessly at Marjorie, who rose to the occasion. “Hair down is considered to be sexual, Your Grace.”
Ilene had thought that her staff had done a good job of teaching her Albi ways, but it apparently never occurred to them that this one was not universal. She wondered what other traps for the unwary she might run into. “It’s what? How bizarre.”
“Women go around with their hair down in Edoran?” Glennis asked.
“We pull it out of the way when we are working, but sure. Anyway, it takes hours to put up my hair since it doesn't want to stay up. And Lord Whitman said it was urgent. He will just have to cope.”
“Perhaps I should go explain to him first why your hair is down, so he doesn’t take it the wrong way,” Marjorie said.
“For goodness sakes, Marjorie, the man must be seventy years old. He isn't going to seduce me or go into a faint because I’m not the picture of an Albi lady. And I am fairly sure I can trust his discretion on the matter.” With that, she swept out of the room before they could stop her again.