Final Image: My design as created by my partner

This is my final design, as created by Nini on me in the timed assessment. The overall look is inspired by the facets of Elizabeth's character; she is portrayed as having a dark and passionate private life, whilst showing herself publicly to be a woman of great poise and purity.

For this reason, the colours I have used in both makeup and hair vary from light to dark. The hairpiece itself was inspired when the task of gathering images for a mood board led me to a picture of frayed rope. I was interested that something which seems so strong could be affected by stress in a way that caused it to break, just like the way in which Elizabethans destroyed their hair through over-processing. I felt that the plaiting of the hair reflected the concept of a perfect rope and then the additional layers represent the degeneration of the material over time as it is placed under pressure. copying it and as my make-up look was half and half, it seemed appropriate to do an asymmetrical hair style. 

The shape of the hair piece is designed to reflect half of the traditional heart shaped Elizabethan hair. I wanted to make a nod to the shape without 

I feel I could have chosen better colour for my hair piece but I like the different layers within it and the long hair underneath reflects that of Elizabeth in her early reign. I feel it was a big challenge trying to create such height and shape on myself as I have a cropped hairstyle. I must commend Nini on how well she blended the extension with my natural hair as when I practiced this on myself I found it difficult to hide the join between natural and false.

Final Image: My partner's design, created by me

This is Nini's design, created in assessment on her by me. The orange and red tones are reflective of the rich colours worn by Elizabethan nobility and the hair is a modern take on the frizzed and crisped hair of the people in that era. 

The assessment went well, however, I would like to take more time preparing in future as the crimping process was time consuming as we went over on the hair which affected the makeup. Overall, I enjoyed creating this design as it it simple yet effective.

Studio Practice

In my own time and in the studio, I practiced styling hair on a dolls head. In these images you can see how I have created various looks by using different props in the hair. Ribbon work was created by looping ribbon around a grip and inserting the grip into the base of a plait... the ribbon was then incorporated in the plait by including it in one strand of the hair. I have also experimented with incorporating flowers into the hair as the Elizabethans wore flowers when they married. To work the flower into the hair I sectioned the hair into three and plaited the back section. I then formed the two front sections into ponytails and divided each ponytail into two sections. I plaited each of these sections and curved them over onto the head, pinning them into place to created a structure of rings. Once the structure was complete, I worked flowers into the rings of hair, creating a crown-like effect. In addition to this, you can also see how I used a traditional prop to create and authentic Elizabethan shape. 

Inspired by Elizabeth!

           

     It wasn't until I really started to think about it that I realised the sheer volume of styles and icons of our time which have been heavily influenced by the distinctive style of Elizabeth I. Both hair and make-up in Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' are very reflective of the style of that period, with varying tones of red hair which sits high on the head or wildly springs from beneath a hat and clashes beautifully with the pale, leaden faces. Then there are celebrities such as Paloma Faith, Tilda Swinton, Florence Welch and Christina Hendricks who share this dramatic colouring and can be seen here with hair which, for me, reflects the period in one way or another. For example, I have found this image of Welch which shows her head of flowing copper locks adorned with a wreath of flowers and jewels; something the Elizabethans would do to represent their purity at the time of marriage. For me, Swinton's look is the ultimate contemporary take on the look... Her hair is dyed an extreme shade of orange which draws attention to her pale complexion. The hair is short but styled upwards and back which gives her image a strength that cannot be overlooked. As I have short hair and this is something I will need to consider with my assessment design, I find it interesting how Tilda Swinton has struck the balance of modern and traditional whilst having such short hair. 

Elizabethan Hair: Descriptive Imagery

 

     These are just a small selection of images which I feel are reflective of the textures and colours of Elizabethan hair. I particularly like the tumbleweed idea as this is something which is found in arid environments where the sun has wilted plant life and caused it to die and break from it's roots... I felt this reflected the processes the Elizabethan ladies put their hair through to achieve a fashionably light colour. 

    The frayed rope is again reflective of a material under stress and as we know, the processing of hair in the Elizabethan age was harsh on the hair and would have left many ladies with patchy hair or even bald! I feel the shape of the rope could easily and effectively be incorporated into a hair piece using plaiting techniques.