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In order to gain a better understanding of the hair styles that were in fashion during the Elizabethan era I conducted some research so that I could begin to gather a better idea of what would be best to incorporate into my own designs. I started on the internet and found numerous sites focused on Elizabethan fashion and the styles of the era.
The Elizabethans were very big on symbolism and they were very good at creating powerful messages in their imagery through the use of certain objects, fashion and places. What I found out about the symbolism of hair styling in the Tudors was that young women kept their hair long and practically un-styled displaying their natural beauty. The long flowing hair of a young girl was a sign of a virgin, therefore this was the favoured hairstyle for Elizabethan brides on their wedding days. they would fill their hair with fresh flowers and pearls; two other symbols of purity and virginity. When a woman was wed she wore her hair pinned up with the majority of her hair being covered by some form of hair piece e.g a bonnet or a cap. Long hair was generally dressed in a bun or plaited to which numerous head coverings could be pinned to. The front and sides of the hair were the main focus as these was the area that was most displayed. Having a far back hair line was seen as a symbol of an individuals wisdom, the higher the forehead, the wiser they were. These are all aspects that I should consider applying to my own designs.
I started way back looking at images created in Elizabeth I's era. She had many portraits composed of herself as queen though very few created of her when she was only a princess. The few portraits of Elizabeth as a younger woman show her in gowns of red and gold, wearing pearls and with her red hair parted in the middle and sleeked back into some sort of hair piece. This style is very understated and has very few similarities to the styles that she is shown to have worn in her later life, featured in her more well known portraiture.
I went on to look at portraits of her through her period as queen and found that her hair styles and pieces became more elaborate and lavish. There were a few themes that stayed consistent throughout these portraits though and that was her red hair, pearls and the shapes of her styles. Worked around these constants, elements were changed in the texture, the height, the number of embellishments and the harshness of her hair styles.
I saw a lot of the techniques that we had learnt in practical lessons in these styles and it helped me to understand how they had been created. However, it came to my attention that in the Elizabethan era they wouldn't have had the luxury of using curling tongues or crimping irons to create these textures. So I decided to look into how they created these textures without the use of heat and found that it was through the use of plaiting intricate styles into the hair; another skill we had been taught in our practical lessons. This made me more confident that I would be able to create a style that looked Elizabethan, as well as giving me some ideas as to what I could achieve with these skills.
I continued my research aiming to find out more about the different types of hair pieces commonly worn in the Tudors. There were numerous that I found out about:
The Coif was mostly worn by all children. Made of white linen, a close fitting cap tied under the chin usually used as caps to keep hair in place under more elaborate garments.
The French hood was a garment made popular in the time Anne Boleyn; Queen Elizabeth I's mother. A half moon shaped hair band, often embellished with pearls or jewels, with a veil attached to the back covering the hair.
The Atifet is very similar to the French hood, instead with a heart shaped crescent rather that a half crescent and adorned with lace trimmings instead of pearls.
The Caul was essentially an Elizabethan hair net. Usually worn to cover all of the hair or just buns and plaits on the back of the head. Upper class women often wore them embellished with jewels and pearls.
The Pillbox like a poor mans French hood. It also had a veil on the back but was very basic in shape and style.
In order to gain a better understanding of the hair styles that were in fashion during the Elizabethan era I conducted some research so that I could begin to gather a better idea of what would be best to incorporate into my own designs. I started on the internet and found numerous sites focused on Elizabethan fashion and the styles of the era.
The Elizabethans were very big on symbolism and they were very good at creating powerful messages in their imagery through the use of certain objects, fashion and places. What I found out about the symbolism of hair styling in the Tudors was that young women kept their hair long and practically un-styled displaying their natural beauty. The long flowing hair of a young girl was a sign of a virgin, therefore this was the favoured hairstyle for Elizabethan brides on their wedding days. they would fill their hair with fresh flowers and pearls; two other symbols of purity and virginity. When a woman was wed she wore her hair pinned up with the majority of her hair being covered by some form of hair piece e.g a bonnet or a cap. Long hair was generally dressed in a bun or plaited to which numerous head coverings could be pinned to. The front and sides of the hair were the main focus as these was the area that was most displayed. Having a far back hair line was seen as a symbol of an individuals wisdom, the higher the forehead, the wiser they were. These are all aspects that I should consider applying to my own designs.
I started way back looking at images created in Elizabeth I's era. She had many portraits composed of herself as queen though very few created of her when she was only a princess. The few portraits of Elizabeth as a younger woman show her in gowns of red and gold, wearing pearls and with her red hair parted in the middle and sleeked back into some sort of hair piece. This style is very understated and has very few similarities to the styles that she is shown to have worn in her later life, featured in her more well known portraiture.
I went on to look at portraits of her through her period as queen and found that her hair styles and pieces became more elaborate and lavish. There were a few themes that stayed consistent throughout these portraits though and that was her red hair, pearls and the shapes of her styles. Worked around these constants, elements were changed in the texture, the height, the number of embellishments and the harshness of her hair styles.
I saw a lot of the techniques that we had learnt in practical lessons in these styles and it helped me to understand how they had been created. However, it came to my attention that in the Elizabethan era they wouldn't have had the luxury of using curling tongues or crimping irons to create these textures. So I decided to look into how they created these textures without the use of heat and found that it was through the use of plaiting intricate styles into the hair; another skill we had been taught in our practical lessons. This made me more confident that I would be able to create a style that looked Elizabethan, as well as giving me some ideas as to what I could achieve with these skills.
I continued my research aiming to find out more about the different types of hair pieces commonly worn in the Tudors. There were numerous that I found out about:
The Coif was mostly worn by all children. Made of white linen, a close fitting cap tied under the chin usually used as caps to keep hair in place under more elaborate garments.
The French hood was a garment made popular in the time Anne Boleyn; Queen Elizabeth I's mother. A half moon shaped hair band, often embellished with pearls or jewels, with a veil attached to the back covering the hair.
The Atifet is very similar to the French hood, instead with a heart shaped crescent rather that a half crescent and adorned with lace trimmings instead of pearls.
The Caul was essentially an Elizabethan hair net. Usually worn to cover all of the hair or just buns and plaits on the back of the head. Upper class women often wore them embellished with jewels and pearls.
The Pillbox like a poor mans French hood. It also had a veil on the back but was very basic in shape and style.
None of these head pieces had me inspired, nor did I really like the look of them. If anything I felt that they would restrict my creativity for my designs, I would prefer to see how much I can do with the most amount of hair I could use. The only one that gave me any ideas was the Caul. I like the idea of using gems and pearls in my designs, however I wouldn't want them attached to netting or on a hair garment. Instead I would personally place them in the seams of plaits or on the edges of buns, possibly lining the hair line to create that harsh line shown in portraiture.
This made me think that maybe I was likely to be more inspired by contemporary adaptations of Elizabethan styles. I always thought that this would be the case, I'm most often drawn to up to date styles or the newest thing, rather the styles that these have been originally derived from. I searched 'Contemporary Elizabethan hair styling' and the first few hundred results for this were other peoples blogs on this course! I had a small look on other people blogs from last year and other years and felt like I was cheating, however I was very inspired. I thought it would be best to look at the images that matched my search and find websites this way instead.
Pinterest was the website that I found both of these images from and many more, it is somewhere that I will be using often to find inspiration for my designs. Just looking at both of these images I was able to see how both of them show an Elizabethan style however they are completely different in so many elements. My research has given me a lot to think about as there are many different directions that I could go when designing my contemporary Elizabethan hair style. I could keep the classic Elizabethan shape but using different textures than those that would have been used in the Tudors or vice versa. I could make the design itself quite simple but give it the Elizabethan style by adoring the hair with lots of pearls and jewels. I could create a very tight, intricate and detailed style or I could go big, textured and soft. I will play around with ideas using both Mimi and real people with different hair textures.
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