Technical Evaluation

Over the past 10 weeks I have learnt essential skills and techniques to start gaining a knowledge on creating different hairstyles along with working to an industry standard of hygiene and following strict health and safety rules. Although I have studied hair for two years prior to this course I believe that my skills have still improved considerably. The things that I believe have been the most successful during these technical sessions is how I have developed the skill of looking at a hair design, and be able to break the design down into manageable easy sections instead of getting overwhelmed at something that simply looks complex. I have really struggled however getting to grips with braiding as this is something that has always made me panic and I usually avoid them at all costs. After these 10 weeks I am now a lot more confident to try more elaborate hairstyles with braids and buns ect, as I really believe having strong hair skills will benefit my portfolio greatly.

Evaluation

The main way I overcame problems with my design was working with my partner to find ways that I could create the design on my hair, I had to reel back some of my ideas during this assignment as sometimes my ideas were too extravagant and would not work on my hair length and type and also would not be applicable for my current skillset.

The way I developed my research was through looking at portraiture and reading books about Elizabethan hair, this was my main way of getting genuine historical research, then I went on to looking at secondary sources like films.

I really enjoyed working to my partners hair brief, although it was simple It was really effective and she was a fantastic partner to work with in the way of cooperativeness and communication.

Overall I found the project really challenging in the sense that we were not allowed to create our own designs, and also the fact that we had to create something to someone else's standards,  it was hard to break out of my own habits to create someone else's vision, and to in some sense swallow my pride and do some things completely different to how I would do it personally. I really think this was a great learning curve for me because in industry this would be the case, as I will in my career work under a makeup designer or creative director and this will influence how I work.

The thing I enjoyed the most about this brief was finding links between Elizabethan hairstyles and contemporary runway/ fashion editorial, I enjoyed this so much because it was surprising how many things could be referenced as Elizabethan, this unit has given me the confidence to analyse fashion images and speak confidently about how I believe the hairstyle can be linked to the Elizabethans.

Timed Assessment - In the Role of the Designer/ Model

Makeup/ Hair Artist - Jennifer Barry

Model/ Designer - Bronya Leavesley

 

 

 

 

PEER EVALUATION

These are the final images from my partners hair timed assessment, she has executed my design really well and has been fantastic at overcoming problems that we encountered with my design. We had lots of problems trying to get the roses from the design right, my initial idea was too ambitious and could not be created on my hair type or length, so we changed the hair design so the roses were only on the hairline, my partner was fantastic for trying loads of different things to get the roses correct, and she took direction really well, the roses nearest to the ear are fantastic and exactly how I wanted them, you can see the clear difference in textures and this is a really strong aspect of the look. There is a few aspects of this look that I believe could be improved on, I think the roses at the top of the hair could be neater, and also I think the back of the hair could be neater too, with the frizzing brushed out and also the hair slicked down more, however these are really minor things, and overall the look comes together as a whole. Overall my partner has been fantastic, she has shown a lot of patience for my design and has also put in a lot of effort trying to get her interpretation to match my vision, the only thing she would need to improve on is her time management skills, as towards the end we began to get rushed.





Timed Assessment - In the Role of the Makeup/ Hair Artist

Designer/ Model - Jennifer Barry

Makeup Artist - Bronya Leavesley 

SELF EVALUATION

These are my final images of my application of Jennifer's hair design. I am overall really happy with how the look has turned out in the end, I believe that I have effectively worked with the designer to create a look that she is happy with and that reflected her design and idea for the overall look. The two things which were really successful in my assessment were my use of backcombing and also my time management skills, in the practice sessions Jennifer expressed to me that she wanted the hair to be wild and frizzy, to create a clear contrast between the straight part at the top so I took this advice and went with it, and she was really happy with it. I found my time management skills to be good because overall the hair took me 1hour 15mins and i even had time to so a quick 15min makeup to tie the look in. The one thing in the assessment that went wrong was at the back, due to a lack of concentration I crimped the hair too high, I think this was a result of me getting to overconfident with the design and i slipped up, the hair would look a lot more effective if it was all straight at the top. From this I have learnt to always be on the ball when doing hair, because my models hair was so long, I started crimping on autopilot and this is where I slipped up.

Haapers Bazaar: Beauty Queens by Carine Roitfeld

 

 

I have found this editorial beauty shoot that featured in Haapers Bazaar in May 2015 titled Beauty Queens. The makeup was done by Kabuki for Diorshow and the hair was done by Akki. I am really fond of all the regal qualities of all the different make-up and hair looks in this collection but this image is the one that really struck me as having Elizabethan influences. For starters I first looked at the hair, it is styled in a deep clean centre parting that is scraped back to give the illusion of a high hairline and is also plaited into two triangular shapes, this made me think of the round shapes that Elizabethan women tried to achieve, however this is a completely modern interpretation, as it is triangular and is not a solid structure. The part of the makeup that made me think of the Elizabethan period is the light eyebrows as women during this time kept their eyebrows light. The pale base with little eye makeup and heavy blush is also typically Elizabethan to me, but I really like the modern application of blush, it gives a subtle contour to the face and also makes the face look longer, which is common to see Queen Elizabeth with a long face in her portraiture. The final thing that made me think of the Elizabethans is the high collar, this to me symbolises the ruff that the nobility of this time used to wear.
I really like this as a contemporary Elizabethan design, I like how is has a geometric theme and that there is a big focus on shapes, from the triangles in her hair, to the circles on her lips and ears, and to the rectangle shape that the blush makes on the face, there is a clear focus on clean lines and shapes, which could reflect on Queen Elizabeth's need for perfection.

Niedermair B. (Unknown). Carine Rotfield's Beauty Queens. Available: http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/photography/g5511/carine-roitfeld-portfolio-0515/. Last accessed 1st Dec 2015.

Hair Practice 3

To re-familiarise myself with the design that I have to create, I practiced my design once again on my Katie head to get a plan of how to execute my design in the most time effective way. I am confident with what I have done, and I am sure that when I do this on my model that it will look really effective, I just need to spend a lot of my time getting the partitioning right as this makes the look.

 



Instructions

1. Brush through all the hair to make sure there is no knots or tangles then carefully section it into a middle parting, make sure that this is as straight and as clean as possible.
2. Crimp all of this hair in neat sections all the way up, apart from the top few layers where you only crimp the hair up to the ear.
3. Brush through the crimp to make the hair frizzy.
4. Then take two sections from the front to just behind the ear and section this off on both sides.
5. Then take one of these sections and split it in half horizontally, take the top section and pull this back and drop it, with the front section pull this round the other section and start the waterfall braid, continue braiding until you get to the parting at the back and pin.
6. Do the same as this at the other side of the hair.
7. Take both ends of the waterfall braid and twist them together then plait it all the way down to the bottom.
8. Attach any adornments that have been given to you.
9. Using the pin tail comb backcomb the hair to create volume at the bottom.
10. Run some Hairspray over the top of the hair to get rid of any flyways to make the hair look neat.

Hair Practice 2

In todays lesson I actually got the time to practice the full hair design and overall it took me about 1hr 30min

These are the images of my hair practice today, I found that I was a lot more comfortable doing the waterfall braids this time and they turned out much neater and more defined. I started by sectioning the hair, creating the waterfall braids and then tried to crimp the hair after, however this caused a whole load of problems and the hair at the top of the braid started bagging, which ruined the entire look, so I found it was best to take out the braid and start by crimping first, this is how I will do it for my timed assessment as it will save a lot of time, but I only need to crimp up to just below the ear.

I found that doing the waterfall braid after the hair had been crimped made it appear more full and defined which was really good as my model has thin hair, and this made the overall style look a lot more effective. I suggested to my model to plait the hair at the back where the two waterfall braids meet just so it is more secure.

I am really pleased with this practice session, I think that you can see that I have got progressively better when you compare the photographs to those I took last week, however there is still some things that I need to change, the feedback that me and my partner decided on was that my sectioning needed to be better, as you can see from the bottom left photograph my parting is messy and this needs to be crisp to make it look professional. and also I need to section the hair better whilst crimping as it looks messy rather than being in straight lines. We also agreed that the waterfall braids need to be further down. I will have a practice on my Katie head before our assessment to try and get this to a T, and also start using a bit of finishing spray to finish the look. Overall I am much happier with this design and I feel a lot more confident than last week.



Hair Practice 1

 

This is my partners hair design that I have been given to create on her. In todays session she talked me through her ideas for her final hair.

 

My model has really long straight dark brown hair, so there is a lot of hair to play with, the hair feels in good condition, but is a little bit on the thin side, however this will thicken up through the use of crimping.

 

The look that she wants me to achieve is a clean middle parting that is straight down until the ears. There will be two waterfall braids either side of the head that will be fastened at the back with a broach. Then after this the hair will be crimped and backcombed.

 

 

 For my first practice I was just getting to grips with creating a waterfall braid as I have never done one of these before, these pictures show my first, second and third attempt at trying to create these, it was hard but you can see me getting progressively better throughout the photos. I did not have time to practice any of the rest of the hair design because I ran out of time. Next time I do this hair design I need to allocate myself sufficient time to see if I can actually do the hairstyle in the 2 hours that we are given for our timed assessments. Overall this practice hasn't given me much confidence because I really struggled getting the braids right, panicked and ran out of times, however it was good because I am now more familiar with the techniques.

 

Final Desingn Practice & Technique

You will Need...

• Crimpers
• Tail comb
• Pins
• Straighteners
• Adornments

In order to give my partner my design I have tried it out initially myself to be able to talk her through the technique of doing my design, so I have practiced this and photographed it on my Katie head. This is just an initial try to get the technique so I have not used any product.

•  Section off the front of the hair.
• Section this into 8 for the roses.
• Crimp the back section up to the ear.
• Break each section up into 2 and at the front of the section twist this and roll it into a pin curl and secure.

• Spray the other section with hairspray and straighten so the hair is a rigid structure.
• Twist around the bud and pin into place
• Continue this with the other 8 sections until the entire hairline is covered
• Place the necklace against the hairline and pin behind the roses
• Use the pearl necklace to separate the crimped section of the hair and the straight section of the hair (not shown in images)

**HEALTH AND SAFETY**

• Make sure all electrical items are PAT tested.
• Do not put the straighteners right down on the hair sprayed hair or it will stick.

Final Design Inspiration

I have created this mood board as inspiration for my final design, all of these images show what I would like to be included in my hair. The reason I have chosen roses is to symbolise the Tudor rose which Elizabeth herself was very fond of. I have chosen to use crimping as I feel this is the best way to get volume quickly.
I have included images of roses made out of hair, however I don't want mine to be as defined as this I want them to look more like pin curls. And I have also included an image of adornment as I would like something on the forehead as adornments in the hair was very common in Elizabethan times.

Final Hair Design

 

This is the final hair design that I will be giving to my partner, I have created this to be a bit of a mix between my first and second design (see hair designs blog post).

 

This hair design is made up of a strong middle parting, roses round the hairline going all the way round the head in a circle and then coming out into crimping at the bottom.

 

The reason I have chosen this design is because I think it is the one that will work best on my hair, and also because of the symbolism that I have incorporated into the design, the roses that will go around the head are meant to symbolise the tudor rose, which was seen in many of queen Elizabeth's portraits, I will also buy different jewellery to symbolise wealth, which Elizabethans flaunted in their portraits.

 

This design doesn't really need to be adapted to my hair as I designed it for short hair, however I think we will need to only do the roses around the hairline as I will not have enough hair to create this look, so this is a problem that we may need to overcome and if this is a problem then I will use necklaces to partition the hair. Another problem that could arise is how to create the roses, ideally I would like for my roses to be crimped, but I also want them to look as much like roses as possible so this may need to be adapted.

 

To achieve this look the hair will need to be sectioned into 3, into a middle parting, and then section off from the ears the front part of the hair. The back 2 sections will need to be crimped up to the ear and backcombed. Then with the front it will be sectioned into 6 even sections for the roses. Then a necklace will be pinned at the back and at the front of the hair.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Hair Designs Practice & Technique

You will need...

• Sectioning clips
• Hairspray
• Tail Comb
• Water 

1. Crimp or frizz the hair up to ear height
2. Pin the hair down along the crimp line
3. Using water dampen the top of the hair down with a rat tail comb.
4. Spray this with hairspray and set with the hairdryer until the hair is flat.
5. Remove clips and the hair will have formed a kink.
6. Apply adornments

I really enjoyed creating this hair design and I feel that it would have looked really striking with adornments. I experimented with getting the hair as straight and flat to the head as I could and I found the best was to wet the hair, spray it with hairspray and then to set it with a hairdryer, this created a lovely kink that separated the two textures of  the hair which I really liked. I do not want to use this hairstyle as my final design however as I do not think it demonstrates enough techniques.

1. Crimp all of the hair.
2. Section from ear to ear and section this bit off into a middle parting and leave to the side.
3. Take different sections of the hair, backcomb and pin these to the head, these need to be random for an Avant garde effect but it also needs to be symmetrical.
4. Continue down the head creating downwards rolls that are large in shape.
5. Backcomb the front of the hair and pin this at the nape of the neck.
6. Spray to set.

I have tried out this design on my Katie head to see how effective this hairstyle would be, I really like how it has turned out, the first set of three pictures shows how I initially designed and created the hairstyle, however in the second set of pictures I decided to add a French braid to the front of the hair as this makes it more Elizabethan. The reason that I have not chose to create this design is the fact that my hair is too short, this is the highest I could get the volume on my Katie head, and my hair is about the same length. I do not want to use hair rats in my design as I think they are fiddly and time consuming.

**HEALTH AND SAFETY**

• Do not crimp the wet hair.
• Make sure all electrical items are PAT tested.

Hair Designs & Inspiration

 

Elizabethan Hair Designs  & Inspiration

 

Hair Design 1

 My first hair design idea was to create a milk maid braid round the head which would fall into loose waves at the bottom of the hair. The hair would also be adorned with a jewelled coif inside the braid, and the hair would be plaited with ribbons.
I really like this hairstyle, I think it would look like a really pretty modern version of an Elizabethan hairstyle, however the reason that I haven't chose it is because after doing the design I realised that this would not work on my hair as I simply just do not have enough hair to do it with, this style would be better for someone with long thick hair.

For this hair design I have been inspired by the hairstyles that were seen in the 1998 film Elizabeth. I wanted this hair to be quite close to a historical hairstyle, however modern in the fact that it is an interpretation of a historical hairstyle. This screen grab stood out to me in the film because it most accurately portrays what I would like this hairstyle to look like.

 

 

Hair Design 2
 

For this hair design I have been inspired by the hair for Bottega Veneta at Milan fashion week, the hair was styled in a deep side part and was frizzed.

I have adapted this design to my own Elizabethan idea by putting the hair into a middle parting, and by adorning the parting, which would fall down over all sections of the hair. The hair will be flat to the scalp until just before the ears then will frizz out, this frizz will be made by the technique where you wrap the hair round the pin as this creates the most texture.

The reason I did not choose this design is because I believe it is too simple, however it would take a long time to do as I have very thick hair.

 

 

This hair design has been mainly inspired by the frizzed locks seen in Bottega Veneta Fall 2013 as seen on the left. I think the soft frizz of the hair and the deconstructed style is a subtle way to suggest an Elizabethan style. I also like how the hair is flat on the top as this is the reverse on how Elizabethans had their hair, as they often wanted height and roundness.












 

Hair Design 3

For my last design I wanted to create something that was more elaborate and more of an up do. This hairstyle would be fully crimped, and then would be rolled and pinned to the head. For this hairstyle I probably would have to use hair rats to gain the height and shape that I needed.
 












For this final hairstyle I have been inspired by some of the Avant garde crimped hairstyles that I have found on Pintrest. Unfortunately I have not been able to find out who created these, but the reason I have been inspired by them is because it looks like the high structures that Elizabethan women had. I also believe it is a good way to symbolise royalty as only noble women would be able to wear such elaborate hairstyles.




 



Vlada Roslyakova, Vogue China 2007

 

 I have chosen to include this editorial spread from Vogue China in January 2007. I have included these images as she was posing as the 'queen of the renaissance.' I was really inspired by the hair, it reminds me of the coronation portrait of Elizabeth when she was first crowned at 25, I believe these images represent that because of the loose waves that she is wearing and how her hair is down.

I really like the waves how they are frizzy and unkept, this is very Elizabethan to me, however it is a very modern version, I believe this could be re created using curls and frizzing them out.

 Unknown. (2009). Queen of the Renaissance | Vlada Roslyakova by Pierluigi Maco. Available: http://www.fashiongonerogue.com/queen-of-the-renaissance/. Last accessed 1st Dec 2015.