Designing the Contemporary Elizabethan

This semester at Solent make-up, I have been given the topic 'The New Elizabethans'. It is all about developing research and practical skills whilst creating a modern day Elizabethan character. 

My interpretation of the brief is: 

'To portray a Elizabethan persona in modern day through make-up and styling' 

Whilst researching, designing and creating my New Elizabethan character, I am ultimately achieving these aims: 

1.To have researched and have a good understanding of the appearance of women in the Elizabethan period.

2.Pin point aspects of Elizabethan styling and developing contemporary images and ideas.

3.To successfully create a new Elizabethan character.

4.To develop skills in communication, collaboration and negotiation alongside technical skills. 

I have drawn inspiration from many sources, from historical quotes and paintings, other artists interpretations, celebrity images and objects. 

After collecting and analysing images, I went to put together the main aspects that I found were prominent and repetitive. 

Using these thought bubbles, I went on to create 3 different makeup looks that I thought would portray an Elizabethan persona. I kept trying to refer back to Queen Elizabeth as I feel she is the ultimate Elizabethan woman.

Look 1

This is a monochromatic look. I have chosen to use the colour pink because I feel that it is a very warm colour to represent the love that Queen Elizabeth had for her people, but also her inner weakness and innocence. The eyes and lips are kept very soft, the eyelashes are whitened out to give a delicate and innocent feel. However, the eyebrows are kept strikingly bold and harsh, this is done to represent the power and strength of Queen Elizabeth, I tried to keep an intimidating aspect, however, it also has some geisha feel to them, which I am not too keen on. The cheeks are kept very rosy, rosy cheeks have been a repetitive feature to all the images I have seen as it is contextually accurate. Women would keep their cheeks very rosy during the Elizabethan period because rosy cheeks represented youth and innocence and men were drawn to it. I think the lips requires improvement as it looks like it doesn't belong to the face and its too red, a lighter pinker lip with a feathered out edge might look more appropriate.

Look 2

This is a very different look to the first one. I decided to challenge the traditional light Elizabethan eye. I intended to create dark shadows on the face using contouring to represent the harsh reign of Queen Elizabeth, her power and strength. I chose to use the colour purple because it was a colour limited to the rich and royal. I am not too happy with the final look, I feel that this design is too glam: it doesn't look Elizabethan. I quickly dropped this idea. 

Look 3

This is the third and final look that I experimented with. I created a very soft eye using pastel purple and bright pink. The purple makes the eyes look cold and icy, however, the warm pink bottom liner balances this out and evokes emotions of sadness because it makes the eyes look a little puffy and sore. I also added a little pearl to represent a little tear: as if Queen Elizabeth's inner feelings are leaking out, suggesting weakness and fear. However, I do not like how I executed the eyelashes, I think I could have whitened them out to keep an overall lightness in the eyes. On the other hand, the lips are kept quite dark as a reminder of the strength and power Queen Elizabeth had.I feel it contrasts well and adds a dark twist to the entire look.

I have presented these ideas to my tutor and classmates and this is the critical feedback I have received: 

What has been done well? 

The brief is explained well, showing good understanding and her aims and expectations of the end image and aims are very direct. 

There is good visual research. 

Face charts are presented well. 

Interpretation of the brief is very directive and assuring. 

Why has it been done well? 

Yoiwan has explained throughout the different reasons behind why different features were used or created.

What could be improved? 

Should try not to use all the ideas on one design. 

Maybe try out the look on someone other than herself to see the difference of outcome. 

What has been learnt? 

You do not need to use all the ideas on one design, be selective.

What do you need to do next? 

Explore using different colours and pull elements across by combining the designs.