The death of the Virgin Queen

After looking at many images of contemporary Elizabethan inspired make-up looks, researching veins and researching about Elizabeth I was particularly interested in when she had given up on life and almost willed herself to die. Towards the end of her life she began to show a fragile side and was lonely as her friends passed away one by one and fed up despite having a luxurious way of living compared to the poor people living during her reign. She said “To be a king and wear a crown, is a thing more glorious to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear it” 
For years the Queen suffered with mental illnesses that could not be diagnosed or treated during her time, she became paranoid and bitter when previously she had been witty and charming. 
In late 1602 Elizabeth became ill and refused to go to her bed and remained lying on cushions in her private apartments, she also refused medicine and advice from her doctors and it has been said that if she had tried she could have made a recovery. When people spoke about recovery to her she didn't give much response and soon only communicated through gestures, this is when everyone knew she was dying. She was left to the care of her ladies and died in the early hours of 24th March 1603, the eve of the annunciation of the Virgin Mary and on a Thursday which was the death day of her father and sister. It has been said when the death of the Queen was announced after her almost 45 year reign, the streets had an eery silence and a lot of people had been brought up knowing nothing else but the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
After researching the period of time where the Queen became ill and depressed and eventually her death I decided to make my post more dark to represent this time in her life and death. I am thinking of incorporating a smudgy and dramatic smokey eye paired with a dark lip into my design as well as the veins to represent Elizabeth's desire to be beautiful.

Quotes and information sourced from: http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/death/

Contemporary Elizabethan make-up inspiration

During my research I have been sourcing most of my design inspiration by looking online at websites like Pinterest, Tumblr and Google. Here are some of my favourite images I have found.

I really love the make-up and hair in these photographs by photographer BG Pascual and model Jessica Yang. The photographs are so beautiful and elegant and the hair and make-up has an instant feel of Elizabethan beauty because of the height, volume and texture of the hair and the stunning stained lip, both hinting at the heart shape. I think this is a perfect example of contemporary Elizabethan make-up and one of the most mesmerizing shoots I have seen, it really caught my eye. The make-up artist for this shoot was Owen Sarmiento for MAC.

Images sourced from:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/444237950718294148/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/444237950718294147/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/444237950718294127/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/284149057715330209/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/444237950717720845/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/444237950717720857/

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/high-roller-by-pascual 

http://www.fashionising.com/pictures/p--High-Roller-by-BJ-Pascual-8721-127276.html

Illamasqua Once collection

As well as the beautiful MAC Heirloom collection, another favourite brand of mine Illamasqua has an equally beautiful range, the Once collection. This collection to me screams timeless Elizabethan beauty. Like the MAC Heirloom collection the models illuminated, bright skin is one of my favourite things about these make-up looks. The styling in this shoot accentuates the age in which the look is influenced by with the low neck line, neck ruff, ruffles and patterns and textures on the fabric and the dress in the image above reminds me of one worn by Elizabeth in one of her portraits I have already researched during this project, which was one of the first things I noticed when looking at this collection again after my trip to the National Portrait Gallery only because of the silvery-blue tones in it.

The pale skin against the gorgeous red hair always wins, I love the wild, disheveled styling of the hair which is so contemporay, but still maintains the texture and height of the Elizabethan trends. This make-up to me is flawless and so clean, the rouged cheeks and understated brows, eyes and lips are so subtle but so effective. I love the dark contouring of the eye sockets which is a detail I have been looking at whilst designing for my final look. These images give the model/character a persona that appears to be young, innocent and care free. I love that by using styling and make-up you can create not only a look and a final image, but make the model into a story character instead of just the face of an advertisement, in this instance I think it worked beautifully.

Images sourced from the Illamasqua web page http://www.illamasqua.com/explore/collections/once/

MAC Heirloom

Since beginning this project I have found myself noticing Elizabethan influence in a lot of things, whether it be the movies or television I am watching, when looking at fashion I actually think about where the inspiration and ideas came from for the colours, decoration and shape of garments and also make-up trends on the catwalk and even in the collections brought out by make-up companies. When having a little wonder in my lunch break at West Quay, I strolled into the MAC counter in John Lewis to see if they had anything new for me to look at and add to my ever growing make-up wishlist. I couldn't help but stop at the promotion table for the Heirloom collection as the costume, accessories, hair and of course the make-up struck me as a very New Elizabethan fashion look. I noticed the pearls hanging around the models necks in a very structured way that looked like the accessories and garments that could be seen on noble women and royalty like Elizabeth I. The pearls are a very Elizabethan accessory that were to symbolise wealth and status among the high class as they were very expensive and could only be afforded by these kind of people. The pearl necklaces had a scallop shaped edge which reminded me of the edge of the ruff that we see worn by Elizabeth in many of her portraits. In the center of the neck area on these necklaces were adorned with medallions with the profile of a womans face who looked like royalty, this also reminded me of the image of the Queen we see on our coins and pennies. The hair featured a lot of texture, structure and height that looked like it would have been achieved using frizzing techniques, crimping, a lot of backcombing and even more pins! We have been using these techniques in our hair class to create similar Elizabethan inspired looks.
I adored the make-up as it is similar to the kind of designs I have been looking at myself when researching for my final look, the snow white illuminated skin and subtly blushed cheeks, understated eyebrows, a bold dark lip which is always on trend during this time of year and gorgeous smoky, subtle but bold eyes. I love how current this look is but at the same time very clearly references to the Elizabethan eras in the make-up and hair styles, styling and colours and textures used. 

Image sourced from the MAC cosmetics website: http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/whats_new/13506/New-Collections/Heirloom-Mix/index.tmpl

Vivienne Westwood, my New Elizabethan

I chose Dame Vivienne Westwood to be my New Elizabethan as she is appreciated and respected among everyone who works in all the different fields of fashion and her name is known by people who even have nothing to do with fashion and the industry, I have used her as inspiration for my work throughout both Fashion Design which I specialised in during my BTEC level 3 course in Art & Design and still now as a make-up artist. I adore her brand and take a lot of pride in items I have saved up and purchased for myself including my handbag and heels! To me the reason she is so influential is not just her work, but her personality, humour and pride in what she does. Everything she has created for herself has been through hard work and dedication as she started from the bottom and it makes me feel inspired to see how far doing something you love can take you.

With a background in customising her own clothes as a school girl and studying fashion and silversmithing she pursued a career as a primary school teacher and selling her own made jewellery at Portabello market on the side and went on to create her own wedding dress when she married Derek Westwood in 1962. She didn't believe as a normal, working class girl she could make it in the fashion world. This is why I feel a lot of people can relate to her so well as she came from a completely regular background and wasn't thrown into the industry by status and money, it all came to her after hard work and her designs being original and quirky, just like her. She started out in 1971 designing clothes for her lover McLaren (Manager of the Sex Pistols) shop on the Kings Road called Let It Rock, later and more commonly known as Sex. Her clothing was inspired by the punk scene, bikers, fetishists and prostitutes. Some say she was responsible for bringing punk styling into the mainstream during this time. Together her and McLaren dressed the Sex Pistols in their designs. This was the beginning of her huge and amazing career, still and if not more one of the most famously known fashion labels and designers of all time and was named Britains Greatest British Fashion Designer in 2011.

Sex Pistols T-shirt designed by Westwood and Jamie Reid, customised by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols in the late 70's

I find Vivienne Westwood to be a very relevant New Elizabethan due to her love and fascination of The Golden Age and Queen Elizabeth I. A lot of her collections are clearly inspired by the era and the fashions of the time and I think Westwood uses a bit of inspiration from Elizabeth in her own style and the way she likes to look, she see's a bit of herself in her which I wrote a bit about in a post on period hairstyling on my other blog which will be linked at the bottom of the page. In this portrait of Westwood she looks like she is supposed to be Queen Elizabeth I as the whole image is so heavily inspired by her, she is even posing like the Queen did! Her hair and styling looks so similar to the Elizabethan fashion at the time that you couldn't possibly miss the reference, she is wearing pearls around her neck and to adorn her hair which was a sign of wealth and status in the Golden Age and I love that she is wearing her labels orb in the center  of her hairstyle at the top to add a personal touch. The shape and style of the garments look very Elizabethan and her jacket looks velvet in the image which reminds me of luxury fabrics in which rich people would wear at the time. 

When talking about how she thinks this is the worst time for fashion and that people have never dressed as poorly as the present time, Westwood said "in History people dressed much better than we do. If you saw Queen Elizabeth it would be amazing, she came from another planet. She was so attractive in what she was wearing." Quote found from: http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/vivienne-westwood-biography

In many ways Vivienne Westwood reminds me of Queen Elizabeth I. Like the Virgin Queen, Vivienne Westwood is loved and respected and highly influential in her own way and both have the achieved a lot throughout their lives. They are both strong and inspirational characters for women to look up to and will both be remembered for a very long time and remembered for the work they did and what they created and that will live on long past Westwoods time, just like it has with Queen Elizabeth I. That to me is why Dame Vivienne Westwood is a New Elizabethan. 

References: 

http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/vivienne-westwood-biography

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/vivienne-westwood-designs/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivienne_Westwood

Veins

I have been inspired for my final design by the way Queen Elizabeth had veins painted onto her skin to create the illusion of paleness and translucence which was the contouring and Cara Delevigne brows of their time and incorporated this idea into my design with a modern twist. I decided to do some research on veins as after I did my initial design I realised the veins I had tried to paint onto the face chart appeared more like tree's and branches than actual veins, so by looking at pictures of real veins found on Google I will be able to incorporate them into my design as I develop it to make them look more realistic. Here are images I collected as inspiration.

Images sourced from : https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=veins&client=firefox-a&hs=Yzn&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XA5pVNmvMYnuaMDygfAD&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1047&bih=491

I also looked at some make-up looks with veins incorporated and uploaded images of the ones I found most most inspiring and interesting. I am looking at the different ways they used colours and techniques to make a veiny effect and will be practising similar techniques while concentrating on making them look quite realistic.

Images sourced from: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=makeup+painted+on+veins&client=firefox-a&hs=XJT&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=MA5pVLbnO8rWauahgfAK&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1047&bih=491

The Taming of the Shrew - BBC 2005

In Sharons class last week we watch the BBC modern film version of The Taming of the Shrew. The reason for this was so we could see how Elizabethan influence could be noticed throughout this modern production in costume, characters traits, hair, colours, anything! I was pleased we watched this rather than the traditional version as I think I would have found it a bit boring and hard to follow due to not being able to understand what was happening in parts because of the language that would have been used, AKA olde English. As I have never read or seen The Taming of the Shrew watching this new version made it easier to grasp, and as we are doing a project on New Elizabethans it makes sense to watch a more current take on the play!

It is about Katherine Minola played by Shirley Henderson who's shrill voice and ability to portray this single, appallingly bad tempered and ill mannered politician was spot on, clever and very humorous. Katherine Minola is known for all her bad personality traits and shows herself up in a restaurant when meeting with her mum and glamorous, beautiful sister Bianca, by shouting at the waiter and then tipping the table over causing a huge scene where everyone is looking in shock. In the time that this play was written, a position in parliament like the one that Katherine holds would have been laughed at and impossible. When she is told that her reputation and campaign will have a much higher success rate if she marries a man she was at first horrified, playing the independent woman that doesn't need or have time for anything or anyone besides her career. The Taming of the Shrew has a lot of feminist references and is about women and their different roles in society, the less confident woman who relys on a man and the self reliant, stubborn and strong minded woman who knows what she wants and doesn't need anyone else. The name 'The Taming of the Shrew' also implys how men put women in their place. Her will to not be married and the fact that she is a virgin reminded me a lot of Elizabeth's reputation as 'The Virgin Queen'. Queen Elizabeth was pressured at times to be married in order to become more appreciated however never gave in as she wanted to show her country that it was more important to her than any man ever could be, this is how I feel Katherine felt with her career at the beginning of the film.

The first thing I noticed was Katherine Minolas pale appearance and center parted hair which has huge reference to the Elizabethan make-up and hair styles, she also had no shirt on with her smart, square shouldered suit leaving her neck exposed and a sharp silhouette which shows Elizabethan styling inspiration. The colours she wore were very formal and smart, black and white mainly to show her seriousness towards her job and roles in life. All the colours in her office were dark, dark red and dark wood interior which looked quite old and like a room in the Elizabethan era would have been. Katherines sister Bianca is quite the opposite, she is a dark flowing haired beauty with a flirtatious personality, she appears to be the renaissance idea of beauty. There seemed to be sibling rivalry between the siblings and Katherine even faced pressure to marry from her family, and her sister claimed that she wouldn't marry until the day Katherine did in thinking she never would. 
When Katherine finally gave in to the idea of marriage and had a proposal from Petruchio who is an Earl, she turned up to her wedding to be humiliated publicly by the outfit he chose to wear which was inspired by mens attire from the Tudor and Elizabethan era in a quite modern and ridiculous way, and to add insult to injury he was more than a little bit tipsy. The jacket he was wearing was velvet and in a rich, dark shade of turqoise with part of his chest exposed to show reference to an open neck collar, he teamed this with fishnet tights, high heeled boots and a garish shirt. He looked a sight!

 

On poor Katherines disastrous wedding day she wore a dress that didn't look very much like the typical wedding gown you see today, it wasn't very fashionable or on trend but did have an Elizabethan influenced look to it with the low, square neckline, raised collar and angular cut with the cinched in waist. The satin fabric also made it look like it could have been worn in the Elizabethan times. Her hair was neatly styled but her parting was slightly more side parted in this scene. The shade of the satin fabric against her dark eyes and hair made the paleness of her skin stand out particularly in this costume, she almost blended in with the dress! 

 

Their honeymoon began even more terribly than the wedding but after a while and after her little breakdown it appears that Katherine is 'tamed' by her husband Petruchio, she becomes less vicious and stubborn and seems like a much kinder person, which is strange to watch as we have known only one side of Katherine Minola throughout the whole film. At the very end of the film she makes a very memorable speech in front of Petruchio, her mother and her sister about how her husband wouldn't expect her to do anything for him that he wouldn't be willing to do for her, and in that the battle of the sexes are over, Katherine is finally happy and equality is agreed upon. Her mother and sister Bianca looked shocked and confused the whole time as they couldn't believe what she was saying, the change in Katherine was almost unbelievable. At the end of the film she has less of her chest showing to show that she is spoken for, and also is wearing lighter colours such as the grey pictured below and is wearing a flower. The way she dresses shows how much lighter hearted she ends the film with compared to the beginning and the colours also portray this a lot in my opinion.