New Elizabethans

New Elizabethans is the name of my first project at Southampton Solent for the Fundamentals of Make-Up and Hair Design.  The aim of this project is to develop and produce a contemporary Elizabethan hair and make-up look within an allotted time of an hour and a half (45 minutes for hair, and 45 minutes for make-up), taking the Elizabethan era and making it more relatable to people living today in the 21st century.

Throughout the project we will be researching and learning about the Elizabethans, their iconic make-up looks and styling and how they achieved these.  Through our research we will be looking at portraiture from the era, and how they structured their make-up in order to reflect who they were or what they aspired to look like and what their social hierarchy was.  We may also want to consider what different colours represented, and how these may have changed an Elizabethan's make-up to reflect their personality.  We will also be learning how to recreate some of these traditional looks, in order to then take some of these techniques forward to help us when producing our final designs.

We will also be looking at some contemporary versions of Elizabethan make-up and styling that may inspire us for our own work.  Finally we will be creating three contemporary Elizabethan face charts, of which we will choose one for another person to then create upon ourselves in our timed assessments.

My initial reaction to the project brief was to look at portraits of Queen Ellizabeth I, as all Elizabethan women admired their queen and wanted to look like her.  After looking at the brief, I look forward to researching about the different classes of the Elizabethan era, and how their make-up and styling may have adapted, depending on their social hierarchy.

I am excited to begin this project and get stuck into learning.  I am looking forward to developing my ideas through research and developing my techniques to become a better make-up artist.