Thank you for the kind compliments, everyone.
As for the hair, seperate it from ear to ear, put a part into the front section and clip it. Brush the rest of the hair directly back, then pick it up in thin, rectangular sections. Spray with hairspray, then backcomb hard to create solid matting. On the first row do one section of hair. On the second row do two sections of hair, third row one section, etc etc etc. That gives you a nice rounded teased section, as opposed to a big rectangle. Work back over the crown and halfway down the back of the head.
When it's teased enough, gently pull your hair back into an approximation of a ponytail and reshape the teasing with a tailcomb until it's even. Touch over with a paddle brush until the surface is smooth.
Unclip the front section, smooth it out with a comb and gather the sides into the untied pony. Don't pull it too tight, you want a nicely rounded fringe. When that's smooth and even, tie your ponytail with an elastic. My pony looks a little scruffy in the picture, but I tonged it with a curling iron to get it nice and kicky. Set it with hair spray.
Then I just wound a length of ribbon around a couple of times to mask the split between the two sections and pinned it into place with bobby pins, neatly hidden under the pony.