late victorian hair

In helen's lesson today we were taught how to do some hairstyles from the late victorian period- from around 1860-1870. Hair styles had changed a lot from the beginning of victorias reign. Women still liked to wear their hair off their face, but in a more elaborate design- curled with plaits and buns and softly pulled off the face, very pretty and feminine. Women were a lot more confident and playful with hair now and hair pieces were a lot more common amongst upper class women. Most women had long hair, so these hair pieces were mainly used to create thickness so that they were able to create these more elaborate styles. As well as hair pieces, they would accessorise with feathers, jewels and dried flowers.

Helen did a demo of this late victorian style;

• Brush through the katy doll's hair, getting rid of any knots. Heat rollers.
• Using a pintail comb, create a centre parting and section hair into three sections.
• Place and secure two rollers vertically on the side of the head(repeat on other side).
• Then place two rollers horizontally above the other rollers. (repeat on other side).
• Put the middle section into a ponytail and curl.
• Curl the remaining hair.
• pin the curled ponytail back into a sort of loose flower bun. Remove hair from rollers and add to the other hair that you just pinned back. 

I still feel that hair isnt my strong point and i need a lot more practice, but i am happy with my progress and the look that I created today. I definitely find victorian hair a lot easier to style than elizabethan!

early victorian hair

During victoria's reign, ( almost seven decades) hair trends changed a lot. As make up was very rare at this point, a woman's hair was extremely important and was considered to be the most important asset. Most women had extremely long hair, as haircuts were not popular at this point. Women would trim off split ends, but keep hair long as it was a sign of beauty and femininity. Rather than having their hair cut into a 'hairstyle', they would style their long hair in various ways, depending on what was fashionable at the time.  In this post, I am going to look at early victorian hairstyles.

Long hair styled into an updo was very common during the early 19th century, especially for upper class women. The hairstyle completed the outfit- the whole silhouette was taken in to account. If women couldn't achieve the silhouette they desired, they would often wear hair pieces, made from actual human hair.

Around 1830, it was very common for women to wear their hair in a middle parting with two plaits going underneath the ears and tucked into a neat bun. This is the style that we tried in helens class-

Working on my katy doll, I began by brushing the hair through and getting rid of any tangles. I then sectioned the hair, leaving quite a large section of hair at the front for the plaits, as they were often quite thick. I pinned the front section out of the way and then carried on with the plait bun, making sure that i scrape the hair back neatly into a ponytail ( as updos were always very neat and precise). Once the hair was in a ponytail, i split it into two sections and did two plaits, then twisted them together and created a bun. Once i was happy with the bun, I put the remaining hair into two plaits and placed them so that they were curved underneath the ears. This look was really simple to do but looked really effective.

Products/tools used:

• Brush
• Pintail comb
• hairbands
• grips 

practising designs on model

I asked erin to be my model for the assessment.Although Cathy is usually portrayed with brown hair, There have been incidents where she has been portrayed with red hair. From what i understand, the most important thing is that she is very 'british' and pure looking- with pretty hair and a pale complexion. I thought erin was perfect for this with her ginger hair and pale complexion.

Today I practiced my whole design on her. I decided to begin with hair, as my hair design takes longer than my make up design, and i am less confident with hair.

• I began by sectioning the hair into three sections. I put the first section into rollers and left to set.
• Then i tied the middle section into a ponytail and then put into two plaits. I then twisted them together and created a neat plait bun. 
• For the third section, I put the hair into 4 seperate plaits, which i will then straighten later to create waves. Victorians traditionally had curled hair, but as my character is dead, i want to create a more messy and disheveled look. 
• Once happy with the hair, i move onto the make up. I used a matte primer, as i don't want any visible moisture on the  skin. I then apply a thin layer of skinbase in the shade 001- applied with a foundation brush and blended in with a kabuki brush. 
• I then mixed together a grey and mauve from my mac cool palette and use a contour brush to shape the face. Focusing on the cheek bones and temples.
• Using an eyeshadow brush and the same shade, I hollow out the sockets and make the eyes look sore for a dead effect.
• After this stage, I powder the whole face as i want a very matte look. 
• To finish the make up, I apply a couple of layers of liquid latex to the lips. Once dry, i powder the lips for a crusty/dry effect. 
• Now the make up is finished, I use straighteners to heat the plaits i did earlier. I then take the plaits out and style the hair with hairspray until i have the desired texture and volume.
• The last step is to place five dried roses into the left side of the plait bun. They are quite hard to secure, but it is doable with a lot of grips and slides! 
• To complete the look i will place a piece of cream lace around erin's shoulders. Lace was very popular during the Victorian era and this is the sort of thing that i imagined her to be buried in. 

 Reflction: I was quite worried that my design wouldnt be very effective as it is very simple, but i am so pleased how it turned out on my model! I was espcially pleased with themauve/grey contour and the latex on the lips. The roses that i dried looked really good in erin's hair, too.



Proucts used:

• Cleanser, toner & moisturiser. 
• Illamasqua matte primer
• 001 skin base
• Mauve from mac pallete
• Dark brown from mac pallette
• Translucent powder
• liquid latex
• Hairspray 

Tools used:

• rollers
• hair grips and pins
• pin tail comb
• hairbands
• straighteners
• Foundation brush
• Kabuki brush
• various blending brushes
• flat brush
• lip brush
• fluffy powder brush 

 Health and safety:

• Before I do anything, I make sure that my brushes have been sufficiently cleaned with  Isopropyl alcohol to prevent bacteria spreading.

• I covered my work station with couch roll to ensure that I had a clean space to put all my products and tools onto.
•   I covered my model with a gown so that no product would fall  onto her clothing.
•   Before starting the makeup I asked my model if she had any skin diseases or medical conditions that i should be aware of. I also asked if she was wearing contact lenses, as some products will irritate them.
•  I washed my hands with soap and water to prevent bacteria transferring.
• I decanted any product onto the back of my clean hand, to prevent double dipping and again preventing any bacteria from the models face being transferred into my make up.  

my designs

Here are my final designs for my character, cathy. You cant actually see a lot of these face charts as the look is based around a very pale base, using a grey/mauve shade to contour the face and to make the model look gaunt. I will hopefully have a pale model, as Cathy is known for having a pale complexion and is very 'british' looking. I will apply illamasqua's skin base in 001 to create a ghostly complexion. I will then shape the face using a mixture of a grey and mauve shade from my cool mac pallete. With this shade I will contour the cheekbones and temples for a skeletal look. Using the same shade, I will create dark circles. I will apply this around the inner corner of the eye and the lower park of the socket. Im not going for a full on zombie effect, but this will give a dead/tired effect by hollowing out the sockets slightly. As she has been dead for a while, I will use a lot of translucent powder to get rid of any moisture in the skin and to give a chalky/dusty effect. To finish the look, I applied a couple layers of liquid latex to the lips,once dried, i powdered the lips, i really like the effect this gave, the lips looked really dry and contributed well to the dead effect that i was after.

I am really pleased with this look, as i said, I don't want an over the top zombie, I am after more of a subtle dead effect. I still want my character to be pretty in a way, as I am aiming for a look that depicts a midway point between reality and the way Heathcliff sees his love after her death.

Proucts used:

• Cleanser, toner & moisturiser. 
• Illamasqua matte primer
• 001 skin base
• Mauve from mac pallete
• Dark brown from mac pallette
• Translucent powder
• liquid latex
• Hairspray 

Tools used:

• rollers
• hair grips and pins
• pin tail comb
• hairbands
• straighteners
• Foundation brush
• Kabuki brush
• various blending brushes
• flat brush
• lip brush
• fluffy powder brush

Charlotte riley as Cathy

Charlotte riley as Cathy Earnshaw

I have looked at a long list of actresses that have played Cathy earnshaw, but I have chosen one of the more recent actresses, charlotte riley to research further. She starred as Cathy in the 2009 ITV mini series 'wuthering heights'. Her husband, Tom Hardy, played Heathcliff. I bought this two part drama on DVD to get a good idea of her portrayal of the character. I actually really liked the way she portrayed cathy, she played her as a very strong willed and headstrong young woman. She definitely was in control of heathcliff's feelings and their relationship, however it was also clear that she couldnt control her own. As much as she tried to convince herself that she loved edgar, her feelings for heathcliff were clear. I love the contrast between the strong willed cathy that wanted to marry edgar, and the weak, pleading cathy that cant help but love heathcliff. 

I mentioned in a previous post that the part of the book where heathcliff 'embraces' cathy's body really interested me. I really like the way the producers chose to represent this- they chose to show heathcliff physically digging up her grave. But, as his holds her, it flashes between the way he sees her, which is perfect (as if still alive) and the way anyone else would see her- a rotting skeleton/corpse. this scene helped to inspire my final ideas. I found it really interesting to see a producers/directors take on this section of the book. 

 Source : Wuthering heights mini series, ITV, 2009

picture- http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/tvmagazine/tvmagazinefeatures/4737148/World-Without-End-star-Charlotte-Riley-on-her-engagement-to-Tom-Hardy-and-starring-with-Sex-And-The-Citys-Cynthia-Nixon.html

Inspiration for Cathy- pinterest board.

When reading the novel, I quickly decided that I wanted my chosen chatacter to be cathy earnshaw. However, it did take me a while to decide on which stage of the book i wanted to portray. There was one part of the book that really intrigued me, as it is not quite clear what is going on. After Cathy's death, it is suggested that Heathcliff  'embraces' her body. It is not clear whether he literally digs up her grave and holds her, or whether this embrace is purely his imagination driving him crazy. He gets close to digging up her grave, but claims that he can feel her 'warm breath' on his neck and stops. Cathy's spirit haunts heathcliff as a desperation to be near to him. Although she is dead, Heathcliff still sees her corpse/spirit as though she is still alive. Beautiful, without a scratch. I wanted to create a look that portrayed a midway point between reality, and the way heathcliff saw her. 

Here is the mood board i created- I want to use the word 'decay' as a theme. Im thinking that i would like to use some dead flowers as they represent decaying beauty and can also being a representation of decaying relationships and the deterioration of mental state. Heathcliff's mental state  deteriorates as cathy's spirit torments him. I feel that dead flowers would be a good representation of their relationship. A painful struggle for both, always wanting, but never together. 

I want to create a sad, worn out looking character, like the images of the woman in the collage. For colours, i want to take inspiration from the setting of the novel, and cathy and heathcliff's secret meeting spot- the moors. I love the washes of pink and purple over the green moors. I want to create a dark romantic look. 

intitial ideas: dead roses. pinks and purples. hair half up half down. very pale/dead skin. dark romantic.

 images- pinterest

Why are we so obsessed with horror?

Personally, I have always been terrible with horror films/series. I could never understand why people would want to put themselves through it! The only time I have ever watched them is when I’ve been bullied into it by my friends. Although I am not a huge fan of horror, I do experience this bizarre thrill when watching it. A sort of mini adrenaline rush through scaring yourself. I’ve done a bit of research in the hope to understand why we do it to ourselves.

 I found an interesting article from ‘wisegeek.com’. The main argument here is that the films represent the decay pf society, which viewers find appealing. Another reason they give is that horror films enable viewers to be scared within a controlled environment. We love the thrill of feeling scared. These films get our heart rate going and give us the adrenaline rush without actually putting ourselves in danger.

The theory that I found to be the most interesting was a study done in 2007 by Eduardo Andrade and Joel B. Cohen. They argue that so many people enjoy horror as it allows them to experience negative and positive emotions at the same time. People experience a positive thrill or a rush, but aside from this they may be experiencing other positive emotions, especially if watching these films with friends etc. Some people become obsessed with horror because of the unique feeling of being in two ‘contrary states’.