Bibliography

Sources that I have used throughout this unit:

I have referenced at the end of every blog post, but here is a list of all the sources together:

/http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/queen-elizabeth-i/

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-hair-styles.htm

http://www.extremecostuming.com/articles/twoelizabethanhairstyles.html

http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2010/05/20/beauty-history-the-elizabethan-era/

http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html

http://www.evergreenbeauty.edu/blog/elizabethan-hair-styles-for-women/

http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/events/ies-conferences/NewElizabethans

http://www.thestar.com/life/fashion_style/2013/03/06/paris_fashion_week_mcqueen_embellishes_with_elizabethan_excess.html

 http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2013/ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen-runway

 https://uk.pinterest.com/explore/elizabethan-fashion/

 https://www.pinterest.com/bryant0625/elizabethan-hair-styles/

 https://www.tumblr.com/search/Elizabethan%20Fashion

Books:  Historical Wig Styling: Ancient Egypt to the 1830s by Allison Lowery

Lisa Eldridge 'Facepaint'

Evaluation

This project has been such a good experience for me. I have learnt so much in such a short amount of time. I have added to my skills set and will carry these with me throughout my career. From crimping and padding, to knowing how to persevere and adjust in difficult situations. 

At first, I found it really strange working with someone elses' design and I felt very pressured, which caused me to panic and mess up a few times. But Marianne was extremely patient and had no problem with letting me practice on her outside of lesson time. The thing that I really struggled with initially was the french plait- at one point i tried to simplify it and change it to a regular plait as I got so frustrated with it. But I went home and practiced it over and over again and eventually I was able to do it with confidence. As I spent so long practing the plait, I didnt spend enough time on the bun. Buns are usually really simple, but as Marianne has so much hair it was actually really hard to tuck it under the hair rat neatly. I was generally happy with my execution of her design, but if we were to do this again I would definitely make sure I look at the design as a whole, rather than focus on a tricky part and devote my whole time to it. I feel that I would have been a lot happier with the final outcome if I had done this.

As a designer, I really loved combining my new skill set with Elizabethan and contemporary influences. Taking elements from the two very different influences enabled me to create something quite quirky and unusual. It was definitely a challenge as up until now I had no experience with hair, but I genuinely really enjoyed it. If I was to do this again, I would play around with some decorations- But overall, I am really quite proud of my design. 

Peer review

Marianne was a rally good partner to work with- unlike me, she got the hang of the design really quickly and as a result she didn't feel the need to practice much. She did my design really well the first time she attempted it, and then didn’t have a problem with trying out all he alterations I made along the way. For example, adding plaits, adding extra buns etc.

In my design, I had 3 even buns that sat on top of the head. In the assessment, the first bun was slightly bigger than the middle, and then the middle bun was slightly bigger than the third bun. This wasn’t actually part of my design, but I felt that it didnt effect the overall look too much. It still looked like an Elizabethan mohawk! I actually quite liked the effect it gave as it made the first bun stand out more and looked more like a crown than it had before. In my design i had said that i wanted the buns to look like crowns, so it actually worked out quite well. 

I was so happy with my final design. This project really stretched my creative skill set- I had never worked with hair or designed a hairstyle. I loved taking inspiration from Elizabethan portraits, but also then putting it together with my inspirations from the catwalk and creating something really quirky and unique. If I was to do this again, I would probably play around with different and more advanced plaits. I just stuck with the basic plait as i was worried about it not being done in the time limit. However, my design didn't actually take too long to complete so there was probably some room for some more complicated plaits. Another thing i would have definitely done is add jewels or some kind of decorations. As the buns looked like crowns, it would have been nice to decorate them. I did order some pearls, but when they arrived they weren’t right at all and I didn’t have time to go and buy an alternative. Next time I will not be ordering decorations from China!

Step by step and tools used for my design

My second design was my favourite out of the three, so i chose to use this for my final design. I preferred to my initial design as it included more Elizabethan detail with the plaits. I decided against my third design as I wasn't keen on the four buns- as my hair is quite short these buns would end up being really small which would mean i wouldn't be able to create much height, which i felt would take away the Elizabethan feel. As it was swaying towards more of a contemporary design anyway, I needed to make sure the Elizabethan elements were clear.


Step by step guide for my design:

• gown model.
• brush through hair using paddle brush.
• split the hair into three equal sections using a pintail comb.
• before tying these sections into ponytails, do a small plait up along each section (6 in total).
• Very neatly, tie sections into sleek ponytails.
• Taking small sections at a time, crimp the ponytails.
• Once crimped, backcomb the ponytails using a pintail comb at the base and then an afro comb for the rest of the ponytail. Backcombing makes bending the hair into a bun a lot easier, and also ensures that the structure will hold. 
• Split the ponytail into three sections to create a flower style bun, securing the hair with grips. Ensure that each section stays separate, as i want a crown effect. 
• repeat with remaining ponytails.
• Any tweaking that needs to be done.

Tools used:
 

• Protective gown
• Paddle brush.
• Pintail comb.
•  Plastic hair ties.
• Crimpers.
• Afro comb.
• Hair grips.

The 'bun mohawk'

I hadn't actually seen this until very recently and it is so similar to my design! I'd say its a complete modern version of my contemporary Elizabethan mohawk. These images are from Marc Jacobs spring/summer 15 campaign. The buns all look pretty even, but the sections are quite rough which gives that cool, messy fashion hair look. I love the different textures in this look, and that's something I love about my own design. For my design, I crimped the bun to create contrasting textures. Crimping, creating frizz and adding height is what gave it an Elizabethan feel.  Here, they have really tightly twisted the ponytails. I love the glossy effect that it gave.

reference: http://www.saudifashionmagazine.com/articles/reading/the-bun-mohawk-has-landed

Three final designs

I've known for a while that I wanted to do a mohawk inspired look for my contemporary Elizabethan design. So instead of coming up with three completely different designs, I did three variations of my initial design. I did this as I wanted to go with my gut feeling rather than spend time trying to come up with something different. I loved my initial idea, so I wanted to play around with it so see what else I could add to it and how it could be improved.


The first design is the simplest. It consists of three messy flower buns going down the centre of the head. Although I said 'messy', I do want the sections of the 'flower' to be even. I also want each individual to be even- this is why the initial sectioning is so important. 

Method:

• neatly split the hair into three sections and tie into ponytails. I want this part of the hair to be neat and sleek as i want contrasting textures. 
• Once you have three neat sections, crimp all of the hair in the ponytails.
• The next step is to backcomb all of the crimped hair using an afro comb. This creates volume without completely getting rid of the crimped texture. 
• Split each ponytail into four sections and create a flower bun and secure with grips. Repeat with remaning ponytails. 

The crimped,frizzy texture gives an elizbethan feel while the contrasting sleek hair on the scalp gives a contemporary twist. Placing the bun right on top of the head creates height,which is another Elizabethan feature. Backcombing the hair creates volume and structure, but also can enable you to create quite a messy look which is often found in contemporary fashion hairstyles. 

Design 2:

This design is very similar to the previous one, but this time I have incorporated plaits to give more of an Elizabethan feel. 

So I discovered that I can't draw plaits, but you get the idea!! 

Method: 

• Split the hair into three sections. Before tying up, do a plait along each section of the hair. (six in total). Then like the first design, tie sections into ponytails. 
• Once the ponytails are in, crimp and then backcomb each ponytail.
•  secure each ponytail into the flower bun, this time only split the ponytail into three sections. Normally with the flower bun, you would spread the sections out to create a classic bun, but for my design i like the sections to be separate as i feel that it creates a crown shape.

 Design 3: 

For this design, I kept the plaits from my second design and just wanted to see if four buns would look better than three. The method is exactly the same as before, but just split the hair into 4 sections rather than three, and create four smaller buns. 

Curling

This was done in a lesson a while ago, but I forgot to post it!!

In this lesson, we looked at a couple different methods of curling hair. We looked at pin and spiral curls. Lottie did a demonstration and showed us to to correctly section the hair- which is very important for any style. She then showed us methods that are most commonly used and why they are so important. These methods ensure that that curls cool properly which means that they set nicely and then hold for a lot longer. I have to say they were pretty fiddly, but I could see myself that it's definitely worth the time and effort as you are left with strong, voluminous curls that will last a long time with little product. 

We began by sectioning the hair correctly and then clipping the remaining hair out of the way. We started curling from the bottom, as it is a lot easier to work bottom to top than top to bottom with curls. I took a small bit of hair and placed the curling tong at the end and rotated the hair towards the scalp, making sure that all of the hair was exposed to the heat.i held this for around 10-15 seconds  and then released the curling tongs. I caught the curl and then quickly secured it with a grip- this has to be done quickly as the hair shouldn't be touched to much as any dirt or grease on the hands will affect how the curl sets. It is important to grip the curls as this enables them to cool and set and keep their shape whilst you curl the rest of the hair.

After I had completed the whole head, I let the curls set for a few minutes and then I began to take out the grips starting with the first curls that I did- this gives the more recent curls time to set properly which means all the curls will have equal volume. 

Rather than touching the hair too much, I shook the Katie head to loosen the curls. Here are my during and after photos: 

These techniques will be very handy for this project as the Elizabethans loved curls! Elizabeth herself often incorporated curls into her hairstyles. Here are some examples:

• Tools used:
• Paddle  brush
• pintail comb
• curling tong
• grips

Pictures:  http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/queen-elizabeth-i/

Self assesment

Step by step notes and tools used:

•  Brush through hair with paddle brush to get rid of any knots, especially in the front section.
• split the hair into two sections. Leave three quaters of the hair for the bun and a quater of the hair for the plait. 
• tie the hair that will be used for the plait into the ponytail.
• Start the french plait, making sure that I hold the hair really tight to give the illusion of the front section of hair being scraped underneath the plait.
• once the plait is completed,secure and let it hang whilst doing the bun. 
• For the bun, tie the hair into a relatively high ponytail,making sure that the hair is tightly scraped back and their are no bumps to be seen. 
• Crimp the entire ponytail.
• Backcomb the base of the ponytail with a pintail comb and then backcomb the rest of the ponytail using an afro comb, as this creates texutre and actually creates more of a frizzy affect and makes the hair a lot bigger than normal backcombing. 
• fold a quarter of the ponytail over and then place the rat onto the folded part of the ponytail. Holding it tightly, wrap it until i am left with a bun shape. 
• secure the rat to the scalp using grips.
• use pins to mould and create the bun that i want.
• Once the bun is in place, place the plait on top of the head and swirl it round. use pins to secure.
• With the remaining hair at the bottom of the plait, take a pin and wrap the hair around it in a figure of eight motion. hold in the postion and use straighteners to set the zig-zag shape.

tools used:

• pintail comb.
• paddle brush.
• hair grips, pins and plastic bands.
• crimpers.
• hair rat.
• straighteners.

In the beginning, I really struggled with Marianne’s design. It felt really strange working with someone elses' design and I felt really pressured. Looking back, I feel like it would have been a really good idea for myself and Marianne to have got together and did a demonstration of our own designs, before we handed them over. I just think I would have felt a lot more confident doing it if I had watched Marianne do it first.
   I have never been good at plaits and the plait in her design was pretty complicated. She wanted the front section of the hair to be scraped back and going into a plait that then sort of swirled back over the head in a different direction.  As she has so much hair, the bun wasn’t easy either. Because of the amount of hair, I didn’t know where to put it all! But Marianne was very cooperative and let me practice on her as many times as I needed to. This enabled me to overcome all of these issues and feel confident for the assessment. I feel like Marianne was very patient with me and I know she would have been happy to tweak her design if i was to decide i really couldn't do it. If im honest, I’d say the timed assessment wasn’t the best I had done it, the bun wasn’t as perfect as I would have liked. But overall I’m happy with my first hair assessment. 
 Overall, I did really enjoy this assignment as it was something completely new for me. I had never done any hair, so it was pretty daunting. But it taught me how to adjust and adapt to difficult situations. As well as overcoming my fear of hair, I actually learnt lots of new skills that will come in handy throughout my career. 

What were my strengths?
 Id say my strengths for this unit would have been my perseverance and determination. At one point I honestly thought I was going to have to ask Marianne to alter her design as I just couldnt do the plait. But I practiced until I could do it and so happy that I managed to do it. I now feel a lot more confident with plaits than I did before starting this project. 

What could I improve on? 
I feel that I need to approach tasks with confidence in the future, as i found that they generally go to plan when i do. However, as I spent so long concentrating on  the plait i actually struggled with the bun in the assessment. I need to look at the hairsytyle as a whole, rather than just looking at one tricky section and panicking.