My Final Design

This is my final hair design which i have developed from my initial design idea. 

Ive added plaits at the side of the head in order to add greater variety to the design and further reference the Elizabethan era when plaits were abundant in portraits I've seen. I've also implement the successful experiment from my last post by including the half crimp, half pin-frizz method which I found to create more volume and texture. 

Of also made the addition of pearls to the design, which are secured using hair gel. The reason I've chosen to introduce pearls is because i think it will add a hie contrast to my natural hair colour which is strawberry blonde and it will also give  sense of nobility and expense as it does in the portrait below.

Portrait of a Lady c.1595
(http://tinyurl.com/pg7hkmf)

Overall Im really pleased with this design. I feel it references the elizabethan era through details including the central parting, symmetrical volume, the use of frizz and the decorative pearls. I reckon I've successfully adapted the look to a contemporary audience by maintaining a very modern messy style which the elizabethan era were certainly not accustomed to as their hairstyles were very neat and perfect. 

Second Design Practice with Partner & Development

In our second studio session together Becky took my instructions and tried my design again, bearing in mind our time constraint. 

In this session Becky managed to complete a lot more frizzing on my hair, however found that again we only managed to get just over half the hair completed. 

I think the reason she managed to complete more of the hair on this occasion is because we began the design straight away and also Becky had become more practised at frizzing the hair in this way. 

The picture below shows half my head again frizzed.

Im pleased with the body and texture created however i feel my design could be further emulated with more backcombing. 

From this practice I have decided to further develop my design to incorporate some more elizabethan references, also to fit within our limited time frame. 
To reduce the amount of time it takes to create the texture of the hair could be to crimp the hair rather than to entirely pin-frizz it. However, I do love the intense frizz the pin-frizz technique gives so it may be a good idea to pin-frizz the top layer of the hair to cover the crimping beneath. 

Whilst in the studio I asked becky to crimp the second half of my hair beneath and to pin-frizz the top section to experiment with how this method would look. 

Above is the result of the experiment. This experiment has proved very helpful as using crimping on the bottom layer and the pin frizz technique on top has actually created greater volume and texture which is what I wanted to achieve in my look. Therefore I have decided to carry this forward in to my final design.

First Design Practice with Partner

I have decided that for my timed assessment I am going to work with my third design idea, which can be seen again below.

So this week during our practical session, Me and my partner discussed the design and talked through how it would be achieved. 

After discussing the design we began putting it in to place.

We began by sectioning the hair using grips to differentiate between the part of the hair that would remain slick the head and the part of the hair that would be frizzed. 

The photo to the left shows how Becky has used her hands and hairspray to slick the hair down.

I feel that the front part of the hair where i have shorter sections for my side fringe could have been pulled taughter in the grip to pull it away from my forehead more.

Becky then continued by using the pin-frizz method on the bottom section of hair. This is the method where hair is wrapped around the a pin in a figure of eight to create intense frizz once it is combed out. 

Myself and Becky soon realised that due to the thickness of my hair this technique took a long time to complete just half my head. In the picture to the right you can see the completed look on the right side of my head. Its good that this issue has been raised as it makes me aware that I need to think about what preparation could be done to the hair prior to the 2 hour assessment period. 

Contemporary Elizabethan Design - 3

My Third and final design proposal is perhaps the most contemporary and avante garde looking. For the designs Ive tried to embody the elizabethan features of a centre parting and the use of frizzing and volume. I've taken the symmetrical shape seen in many elizabethan portraits (as seen below) and relaxed it in to a loose hairstyle through the use of the pin-frizz technique practised in class.

(A History of Women's Hairstyles, Jean Keyes - Page 10) 

What I love about the hairstyle above is the amount the hair comes away from the head and I've tried to emulate this shape and volume in my own design through the use of frizz as well as backbiting to emphasise the shape. 

My concerns for this design are that is is too simplistic and possibly doesn't reference the elizabethan era enough. If I were to carry forward with this design I think i would look at experimenting with the addition of hair adornments or plaits in order to add further elements and dimensions to the style. 

Contemporary Elizabethan Design - 2

My second design idea features the hair entirely piled on top of the hair, in keeping with elizabethan styles which are mostly arranged on top of the head around structures or padding. Ive also incorporated frizzing, achieved through crimping the hair. Ive modernised these elizabethan features by making the design non-symmetrical, something Ive never come across in my research. I have also included the adornment of the hair with roses as seen in the sketch. The rose is traditionally a symbol of the tudor monarchy and is heavily featured in the Pelican portrait of Elizabeth I painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1575.

The Pelican Portrait 1575
http://www.massprolife.org/diary/214/whats-a-rose-got-to-do-with-it-the-art-and-symbolism-of-roses

In the Pelican portrait you can see rose has been featured in the background as well as Elizabeth's costume. This was most likely engineered purposefully to reinforce the idea that Elizabeth had a right to the thrown of England as daughter of King Henry VII, which would have been important at the time as her reign was under threat by anti-protestant britons who supported Mary Stuart's bid for the throne. 

Contemporary Elizabethan Design - 1

Above is a sketch of my first design idea. In this design I have referenced traditional elizabethan hairstyles by featuring two symmetrical padded structures on the top of the head as featured in my of Elizabeth I's styles, for example in the Armada Portrait.

The Armada Portrait c.1588 Unknown artist
http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/armada/

The technique i plan to use to create frizz in the hair is crimping, which will replicate the texture of the hair seen in this portrait also. 
I have also taken inspiration from another portrait of Queen Elizabeth. In the portrait below some of the hair has been left loose around the shoulders, which i find to be a more feminine affect. This feature also suits my hair type which is medium length and will be fairly difficult to include it all in an undo.

(http://www.picpicx.com/elizabeth-i-of-england)

Ive tried to add a modern twist to this hairstyle by exaggerating the padding on the top of the head and also using back bombed hair to cover these features to give a messier and more high fashion edge.

What I like most about this design is the mixture of techniques used which i think makes the design look visually quite intriguing. 

Contemporary Volume and Padding

Having looked at Elizabethan Hairstyles that demonstrate use of volume and padding i decided to do some research in to contemporary looks that use this techniques and also reference the elizabethan era.

The first example seen below is a still from Alexander McQueen's A/W show in 2007. Many of the hairstyles in this catwalk referenced the elizabethan era for example the way the hair has been parted centrally and manipulated in to two domes shapes on the top of the head is very reminiscent of the symmetrical styles seen on Elizabeth I. However, this version is made more contemporary though by being a little less structured and more haphazard looking. the domes, which I image have been backcombed and formed around padding, aren't symmetrical and there are a lot of fly away hairs. I personally really like the overall effect, I think it looks very high fashion and adds intrigue. 

McQueen 2007 A/W Runway
http://tinyurl.com/pyjtmm4

 The next example is an editorial image from Vogue. The Image features Lily Cole was heavily waved hair in two fairly symmetrical looking domes on the side of the head. like elizabethan styles the hair has had texture put in to it most likely through the use of heated tongs and then has been manipulated in to an extravagant shape around the head. This look differs from traditional elizabethan styles as the two domes of hair are actually on the side of the head, covering the ears, so the top of the hairstyle is almost a line. I think this contemporary take on an elizabethan style is really interesting and I particularly love how the model's red hair looks against her porcelain skin, very much how Elizabeth I's looked.

Lily Cole
http://tinyurl.com/lf7x9as

An Eve Kristina wig
http://evekristinamua.wix.com/evekristinamua

This final image is an example of an eve kristina wig. The Reason I think this references the elizabethan era is the colour, the exaggerated volume and shape. the type of hair used is a rich auburn and red tones, typically fashionable throughout the era. Also, the shape of the design is that of a heart, a style often seen throughout elizabethan styles however this contemporary example has taken it to the extreme and made the shape much grander and more prominent than traditional styles. There is no denying that this style much incorporate a vast amount of structuring through the use of padding or possibly a stronger and more rigid method to secure the vast amount of hair in place.