The Elizabethans- some history of beauty...

The Elizabethan woman much like us were constantly aware of an idealistic view of true beauty. In there case this consisted of extremely pale complexion, large foreheads, rouged lips, thin eyebrows, coppery red hair  and lots of jewels. However unlink us nowadays they had to create there own lotions and potions to create this idealistic view they had to face, and also unlike today they had no idea what exactly it was they were putting on there hair and skin.

An Elizabethans guide to achieve bleached, coppery red hair:

Create a large head visor to put around the head

Make a mixture of saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil

Smother it all over your hair and sit in the sun for hours on end until your hair burns and all the colour strips

Classes in hair:

Young women would wear their hair down and once they married would then sweep it. Usually into buns to make it easier to add hair pieces and wigs.

Those of a higher class would then adorn wigs or their own hair with expensive jewels and beads to show wealth

Those women who are considered to be peasants would often wear their hair in plaits as it was practical whilst they worked and laboured in the fields all day.

               

Photo found: http://www.verymerryseamstress.com/merchant.htm

 Viewed on: Sunday 10th November 2013

  

Photo found:http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-hair.htm

Viewed on: Sunday 10th November 2013                                                   

Information sources:

 http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-hair.htm

http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2010/05/20/beauty-history-the-elizabethan-era/

The Elizabethans- Who they were?...

When someone mentions the Elizabethans you are automatically transported to all thoughts of what has been dubbed 'the golden age' in Britain. This ran through the entire duration of queen Elizabeth I's 45 year reign, that began in November 1558 and ended on the 24th March 1603. During this time Elizabeth was seen to grow from a girl into a woman and overcome so many challenges and much diversity about the sheer fact that she was a woman in charge of such a powerful country from such a young age. However despite this she over come it all and became one of the most powerful and influential women to date. 

This age was known also as one of the richest Britain has seen and many things were being discovered from the new world in terms of food, fabrics, lotions and potions.
Although considered to live extremely 'rich' lives, the average life span of an individual was around 40 to 50 years of age, and by this point you were considered to be old. Things such as medicine were not as they  are today and many people ended up killing themselves due to conditions of living or things woman might use on their skin i.e. lead would result in lead poisoning. 

Those who lived in the time of the Elizabethan era lived in a time of experimentation and many a things were being introduced and imported, it was known as a time of revolution and changes to life as they knew it. There was many movements in regards to religion connected to the monarchy and the way in which the whole country looked at religion as well as many victories that added to the wealth and power that Britain had in those years such as the gain over the Spanish Armada.

The elizabethans lived in a dangerous yet exciting time which in the modern day some may consider to be fortunate or unfortunate.






Information source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/elizabeth_I

The Elizabethans- a collection of portraiture...

Photo found: http://corsetsandcutlasses.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/fun-footnotes-to-elizabethan-england/

Viewed on: Sunday 10th November 2013

Photo found: http://www.elizabethan-portraits.com/Drake_and_Raleigh.htm

Viewed on: Sunday 10th November 2013

Photo found: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elisabeth_de_Valois7.jpeg

Viewed on: Sunday 10th November 2013

Photo found: http://treasurehouses.blogspot.co.uk/p/treasures.html

Viewed on: Sunday 10th November 2013

These are a collection of a few classic Elizabethan portraits that really give you an insight into the way in which the Elizabethans looked and the trends of the time. These images allow me to a historical reference to refer to and really allow me to understand them as people and the way they worked.

Elizabethan journey- Inspirational Elizabethan patterns...

Photo found: http://medieval.webcon.net.au/loc_england_elizabethan.html

Photo viewed: Friday 8th November 2013

Photo found: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=2043503

Photo viewed: Friday 8th November 2013

Photo found: http://fac-web.spsu.edu/math/tile/grammar/eliz/eliz1.htm

Photo viewed: Friday 8th November 2013

Photo found: http://www.craftsmanspace.com/free-patterns/ornamental-elizabethan-perforated-rail-patterns.html

Photo found: Friday 8th November 2013

Photo found: http://wkneedle.bayrose.org/Articles/Surface.html

Photo viewed: Friday 8th November 2013

Experimental work- Sketches into practise- the bun...

I design a hair chart using a bun inspired by our practical lessons. This is a very modern hair style and so i wanted to use this as a basis for a design. I decided to add my contemporary elements by adding in accessories that were inspired by the 'golden age' and so i thought i would do this by adding feathers in the form of a head piece and pearls in which i could entwine into the bun using the same principle we used when entwining ribbon into plaits. After creating a low bun as the basis to my idea i decided that maybe adding texture to the top part of the hair may add more of an Elizabethan influence. I decided that i would use something different because i felt that this hair design wasn't manipulating my hair as best it could have, and so i went on to develop my designs.





The sketch:

The application:

Experimental work- Sketches into practise- pin curls...

During a practical lesson i had i decided after curling my models hair to play around with hair styles that could potentially influence my final hair design. I created pin curls along the hair line and then decided to go ahead and create a second layer of pin curls.

I really liked the one large pin curl at the back however i felt it was far more 40's/50's and so didn't really suit my design. But i believe it was a learning curve and part of my journey to create my final design.

The sketch:

The application:

The taming of the shrew...

The taming of the shrew (2005) is a story retold based up Shakespeare's 1590 tale. Originally this was based upon a money grabbing man, typical of the time period. The 2005 version see's rolls reversed and presents us with a money grabbing woman who is career driven. The woman figured is named Katherine the same as she was in the original tale. In the up to date version we see Katherine on a hunt to marry due to pressures from society as it would be better for her image much to her dismay. She is seen as a very bad tempered woman who will find it hard to find any sort of love interest. Being as she is so high strung, however a goldigging man is willing to over look such traits for the thought of the money that may come with an MP wife. This shows us roles reversed from the stereotypical expectations. Throughout this film you can see many references to queen Elizabeth herself for example the fact that marriage would improve her image to the general public, something that Elizabeth herself was not best pleased about and actually refused to give in to expectations of society and just stuck to what she believed. Elizabeth herself was also extremely career driven this being the reason she was names 'the virgin queen' because she believed she was married to her country and people and that was her one and only priority.

photo found:http://shakespearethisyear.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/day-182-what-i-learned-so-far-from.html

viewed on: Saturday 2nd November 2013