Winter fashion show design

For today's lesson we had to create a look either for a winter bride of for a winter fashion show. I designed a look for a winter fashion show. I have been loving crimped hair recently and i felt that it was a perfect texture to incorporate into my design as I associate big frizzy hair with winter- I feel it would go a lot better with dark autumn/winter clothes than it would with bright spring/summer clothes. 

I didnt want to crimp all of the hair as I really like mixing different textures. While the hair was straight, I sectioned it into three even sections and put them each into a ponytail. I then crimped each section and made three individual 'flower buns' although, these were very messy and I didn't make the flower out of four pieces of hair like you are supposed to, but I still used the same method. I did this as I wanted a messy effect. I backcombed the hair before shaping it into a bun which helped to  hold the structure and create volume.

I am really pleased with how this look turned out! I think i will use it as the basis for my final design for this project.The way I shaped the first bun actually made it look like a crown, this was unintentional but it worked!

Working on real life people!

In this lesson, we had our first go at styling real hair rather than using our Katy heads. We were told that we had to do an Elizabethan design- I have always loved the classic heart shaped hairstyle so I wanted to try this out. I sectioned the hair an put half of it into a bun, I then crimped the rest of the hair. I left a small amount of hair at the front and did two small french plaits as I wanted to create a harsh hair line. When it came to actually creating the heart shape, I realised that I had too much hair in that section, so I had to take some and add it to the bun underneath. This was not ideal as it wasted time but I did discover that I really like crimped hair mixed in with straight hair, the two textures look so nice together and I think would work really well for a contemporary Elizabethan look. 

  Once I had sorted the sections out, I was able to create the heart shape. I really backcombed the hair and then played around with hair props, but none were the right size or shape- if I had longer I would have made my own. I had backcombed it enough to stay in place, but if it was supposed to stay in that style for a long time I would have definitely used props. As this was my first attempt at styling hair on a real person, I was really pleased with the result. I am aware that the structure could be a bit more symmetrical but that is something I will work on.

Products used: paddle brush, pintail comb, crimpers, hair grips and bands.

Inspiration:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/486639/All-the-Queen-s-men-Was-Elizabeth-I-really-the-virgin-Queen

                                                                         pinterest

Beyonce- Mrs Carter world tour

Beyonce is seen as royalty in the music industry and is often referred to as ‘Queen B’. She obviously wanted to play on this for her tour promo and use regality as the theme. When thinking of clothing and accessories that represent royalty, a crown and a long velvet cloak are perhaps the most cliché and obvious. Beyonce could have just used these to portray royalty, but as well as these, she wore an Elizabethan collar and an Elizabethan hairstyle.

Her hair had been crimped and backcombed to create a huge dome of hair which gave the illusion of a high forehead.  Her hair and some of her accessories were trends set by Elizabeth herself- she is the most influential monarch to date and this is why Beyonce chose her as a muse for this advert.

Even though there are clear Elizabethan influences, it is very contemporary. Her golden corset and the way her crown sits on the side of her head gives the look a modern and urban update. I thought this look was perfect as inspiration for this project as it combines the two eras. This inspired me as it made me realise how easily you can update an Elizabethan hairstyle by adding a contemporary accessory. 

image: pinterest

video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8J3uQpLiUM

Elizabethan on the catwalk

I’ve been doing some research for a bit of inspiration and these are a couple that stood out to me. Doing this actually made me realise that Elizabethan style still has such a huge influence on fashion today. Designers such as Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen have used hair designs inspired by Queen Elizabeth in their fashion shows.

The elements of these hairstyles that make them Elizabethan are frizz, curls, structure and decoration. I found that generally for catwalk shows, the hairstyles didn’t involve a lot of structure. There is often lots of little bits of hair being pulled out to make it look more cool and casual. A lot of the time there will be very little structure at all and the main focus of the design will be the texture. Huge and frizzy yet simple hairstyles are very popular on the catwalk, however the designer will often use a model with fair or red hair. Although the hairstyles are quite simple, the texture combined with the colour makes it clear that there were Elizabethan influences. 

This is taken from Alexander McQueen’s spring/summer show from back in 2007. The classic ‘heart shape’ has been incorporated into this design, but has been given a modern twist. A lot of backcombing has been done to create that frizzy texture, rather than using curls. Back in the Elizabethan era, the heart shaped hair style would be a lot more precise with more structure. The hair line would have been a lot more defined with the hair pulled off the face.  This is a much more relaxed approach on the heart shape, its actually quite uneven with lots of little strands of hair falling down to shape the models face. The designer also chose to use a model with pale skin, fair hair and used very little make up. With all of these extra details combined, it gives an all-round Elizabethan feel.

Here is another catwalk look from Chanel 2010 which has clear Elizabethan influences. Although this is very different to the last picture, they have used the same Elizabethan hairstyle as the basis of their design. Again, this look is heart shaped, but this time it is far neater with a lot more structure. They have made it contemporary by using straight hair and putting in a full fringe. You would never have seen a fringe in the Elizabethan era, foreheads were always on show.

Elizabethan’s loved to decorate their hair, hich is why the designers chose to include this bow. Although bows wouldn’t have been used, the material used for this bow actually makes it look like a ruff, which is what connects it to the Elizabethans.

Here is an image of Elizabeth that may well have inspired the images above- 

contemporary images- http://missrosyrabbit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/big-hair.html

 http://forum.3us.com/thread-11872-1-1.html

elizabeth- http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/ztfxtfr