Modern Adornment

 

As a response to my Elizabethan adornment, I have found this image on Pintrest to see how adornments in the hair could be done in a modern image. The reason I was drawn to this image was the red hair and also the shape of the structure of the hair and the frizzing, these are all things that made me think that this image has an Elizabethan reference. The adornments in the hair are fairly modern, although Elizabethans did adorn their hair with feathers and pearls, this is done in a less elegant and pretty way and is a lot more edgy. I really like this form of adornment, but I would like my adornment to be a lot more subtle.

Contempoary Hair Task

Last week in lesson we were given a hair task to complete we were asked to work to either of these briefs:

• You are a bridal hairdresser. You must create a bridal hairstyle for a winter bride. She would like at least some of her hair up and it must incorporate a plait or plaits of some kind. If any hair is down she would like it curled.
• You have been asked to create a hairstyle for a new up and coming designer. This will be worn by the models in the winter catwalk collection catwalk show. The designer has told you that the collection has some bold patterns and colours. They would like the hair to be big and bold to compliment the clothes.

After reading and thinking about the brief thoroughly I decided to go with the catwalk brief because it was more up my street, and I believe it would support my Elizabethan brief more as it is more like my interpretation of contemporary Elizabethan hair.

 

To gain inspiration for my initial design I first looked on pinterest and looked at different images of catwalk hair. Then I quickly sketched out a design as a starting point, this design is completely messy, but served me as a starting point to practice my hair design. 

This is the final front and back view for my hair design. I have chosen to create a fo-hawk with the hair and use frizzing and hair bands to create a long pony tail that will be separated into balls.

 

You will need..

• Crimpers
• Hair pins
• Hair ties
• Hairspray

Finished Hairstyle

 

To create this hairstyle I started by sectioning the hair into 3 ponytails running down the back of the head, making sure that they were as neat as possible and scraping the hair back to give it a really high fashion look, then I started at the top pony tail and completely crimped the whole thing, I continued this with every one then backcombed them, after this I made a roll with the hair and pinned down the sides to create a ball.

 

I decided to do this hairstyle in three sections rather than one large ponytail as the model I was working on had quite short hair, I wanted to make a feature of the hair bands but because of the hair length I had to improvise, If I was to do this again I would have brought in hair pieces or extensions to get a better finish.

 

When I finished the look once, I was not happy with the size of the hair, because the brief asked for the hair to be big, so I went back in and took the bottom two balls out, backcombed them some more and pinned them back, I am really pleased I did this because it makes such a difference to the hair. You can see the difference from the pictures at the top, to the pictures at the bottom, it is a subtle difference but just that little tweak made the hairstyle look so much better.

 

I am really pleased with my overall look, It could be a lot bigger but I had to work with the hair that I was given, I do still believe that it looks high fashion and suitable for the runway. If I was to do this look again I would have used more product in the hair, this would have made it look a lot neater, with the sided I would have used gel to get a really slick look as at the moment the sides are a bit messier than I would like them to be, however because this is only a practice I am really glad that I didn't, because this was my first time doing this hairstyle it was all trial and error, and if I had used product it would have been a lot harder to change the hairstyle once it had been set.

 

 **HEALTH AND SAFETY**

• Make sure the model is covered over with a gown.
• Do not use the crimpers on too high of a setting.
• Make sure the wires aren't a trip hazard.
• Make sure the crimpers are PAT tested.



Elizabethan Adornment

During the Elizabethan times it was very popular to wear adornments in the hair women often wore hair coverings that were very elaborate this started from an early age as during childhood girls would wear white linen caps that tied under the chin called coifs whilst women wore a variety of coverings, a common thing to wear was a French hood and also cauls.

Hair and headdresses Courtais G. p51

"Frizzing and close curls are also common, with the back of the hair enclosed in a cap or caul of reticuated goldsmith's work set with pearls or precious stones lined with coloured silk or cloth of gold or silver." - Courtais G. (1973) p50.

This quote explains the craftmanship that would go into the cauls that elizabethan women would wear, and how it would be adorned with precious jewels. A caul is a small bag that would have been pinned over the bun at the back of her head, and was often seen worn in collaboration with hats. These were often made out of fabric or fabric covered in a netted cord ( for the lower classes) or net of mesh gold, silver or silk thread. There are references that say that queen Elizabeth's Caul was made out of wire or braided hair. Some noble women would have these decorated with pears and gems, this is my favourite adornment for the hair during the Elizabethan era as it is probably the most elaborate. "Two cauls, the one of gold, the other of silver, kyntt." this quote describes the two cauls that were given to the queen in 1561-62 as a new year gift. 

A French hood originated from France, it was adapted in England when Anne Boylen stayed in France, it was closely fitted to the head and covered the ears with a gradual flare towards the back and the usual gold pleated ribbon at the base. They would often include billaments, these were fashionable additions to the French hood and were often pearls or jewels and matched the jewelled edges of the gown. French hoods were worn by the more conservative woman.

Drawings of Coifs. Courtais G. p.54

Coifs were close - fitting caps which was worn at night and for indoor wear or as a foundation for hoods and hats, they were made in one piece and had a seam along the top of the head, the front edge was often straight or more fashionably cut into a point or curve to allow for the hair to be seen, when worn during the night they were just made out of cloth but for wear during the day they were decorated with silks, or gold and silver metal threads and had images of flowers or animal motifs.

"A cawle of three forehead cloths of cameryck netted with gold." 
"A night coy of cameryck cutworm and spangles with a forehead cloth."
"A night coy of white cypress flourished over with silver."

These quotes are all of the coifs that were given to the Queen as presents.

Elizabethans were also known for embellishing their hairlines with precious gems, and pearls, some of the hats they wore separated their hair into a heart shape and looked extravagant at important.

 

Courtais G. (1973). Elizabethan 1558 - 1603. In: Unknown Women's Headdress and Hairstyles in England from AD600 to the Present Day. London: B T Batsford LTD. p48 - 58.

Elizabethan Hairstyle Task

You will need...

• Crimpers
• Hair ties
• Hair pins
• Tail Comb

 

Today in class we had to design and create an Elizabethan hairstyle using padding, frizzing and curling, this needed to be done in under two and was also our first time working on each other rather than working on our Katie heads. This hairstyle needed to be Elizabethan rather than contemporary, the front must be curled or frizzed, and can be heart shaped or round padding could have been used if you wish, and then the back can be a plait, twist or a bun and we were allowed to use any type of adornment to give the hair an Elizabethan feel.

 

This was my original design that I took to the lesson with me, I wanted the hair to be crimped to give the texture, then the hair to be moulded into buns at the top, which would come into a bun at the back, with two tendrils down the sides.

However when creating  my hairstyle I changed a lot of things, this wasn't because of time management or anything I just got different inspirations along the way when creating my work. I really enjoyed working on a person rather than a Katie head, I was really lucky because my partner has really amazing long hair so it was easy to create volume and I didn't even need to use hair padding because she had so much hair.

Timing was not an issue with this task, the whole hair took me about 1 hour 30 minutes when we had minutes and we had an 2 hours to complete it in, so I created some plaits at the front of the hair to make It more elaborate, however if I wanted to make it better I would have brought in some embellishments to put on the front of the hair as you can see in my initial design.

To create this hairstyle I first sectioned it into 3 parts, a small section at the front for the braids, a middle section to create the heart shape and then the back section. After this I divided the middle section into a centre parting, crimped it and thoroughly backcombed it, then I rolled each side into a heart shape and pinned it securely to the head. Then I split the front section into 6 and created 6 little plaits at the front of the hair which I secured under the hair rolls.  Then for the back section I was going to create a bun, but my model had so much hair and my pinning technique was also slightly messy so I tired to disguise it by splitting the back section into 2 and wrapping each plait around the head into a milk maid braid, and then pinning to the head to secure.

If I was to do this hairstyle again, I would have focused on making the heart shape a little bit neater, although I was happy with it at the time as I look back I can see that is not as precise as it could have been, I also need to be more careful with my pins as you can see from my bottom right picture. I would also add a jewelled coif to the back of the hair and adornments as these would really bring the look together. However I am really proud of the amount of volume I have got into the front of the hair without using hair rats and overall I think it is a good first attempt with room to expand.

**HEALTH AND SAFETY**

• Make sure you put the crimpers on a heat proof surface.
• Do not heat the hair for too long as this could cause damage.

 





Shape of Elizabethan Hair and Modern Interpritations

During Elizabethan times it was very common to wear the hair in a heart shaped arrangement which was pushed over wire frames, this continued to be fashionable through to the 1570's - 1580's but after about 1590 the central dip dissapeared and curls and frizzing were less usual, so the hair was brushed into a high oval shape.

 

"Which force, must be curled, frizzed and crisped, laid outing wreaths and borders, from one ear to another, and, lest it should fall down it is underpropped with forks, wires and i cannot tell what.." - Phillip Stubbes (Anatomie of Abuses) this quote shows the lengths women would go to achieve the these fashionable hairstyles.

• Image 1 - 1585, John Bettes the Younger, English noble woman
• Image 2 - 1596 Anne, Lady Pope with her children from her first marriage by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (National Portriat Gallery - London UK)
• Image 3 - 1578 Unknown Lady by Nicholas Hilliard

 I chose these images to represent the shapes of Elizabethan hairstyles, and I also tried to keep away from always using Elizabeth to represent all of the Elizabethan styles. These images show a variation from a strong heart shape to a rounded shape, and also shows some of the looser hairstyles that the children would wear. The children tend to have looser, rounder hairstyles, this is because it represents virginity, however it looks like you can tell the age of the children by what they are wearing and how elaborate their hairstyles are.

As the women age the hair seems to get curlier and more structured, by looking at the photographs I would suggest that the woman in image 1 is older than woman 3 because of her hair, or she might be more noble.

• Image 1 - Heather Chapman for Sam Villa Blog
• Image 2 - NAHA 2012 - Sarah Goddard
• Image 3 - UNKNOWN (UK Hairdressers)

These are some images of contemporary shapes that have been made that remind me of Elizabethan hair, although the first image is probably more suited to braids, I have included it in this section as I like how the braid has moulded into round curved lines. The second image I absolutely love and I will definitely be designing this for my Elizabethan hair, it is totally crazy and elaborate, but I believe this is how the Elizabethans were so this is why it reminds me of them. The final picture I chose because of how ultra modern it is, the extreme round shape looks almost alien.

Courtais G. (1973). Elizabethan 1558 - 1603. In: Unknown Women's Headdress and Hairstyles in England from AD600 to the Present Day. London: B T Batsford LTD. p48 - 58.

Elizabethan and Contempoary Curls and Frizz

In 1550 the fashion of frizzing the hair had arrived from France, and this was done in a similar way to modern backcombing then the hair was brushed over rats or wire frames and help in place with a sticky paste of gum or mucelage however this could only be used by the upper classes so lower classes used to use dust of rotten oak or flour. 

• All Images are of Queen Elizabeth I

After experimenting with creating texture in the hair using frizzing and backcombing I have gathered some images of Elizabethan hairstyles that include these techniques. I have chosen these portraits because the curling and frizzing techniques are all very different, In the first one it looks like it was created with very tight curls at the top and has turned into very loose ones for the tendrils at the bottom, I like this hairstyle as it is very controlled and has very little frizz. The second one look more crimped in texture where as the third one looks like a series of tight ringlet curls that are all very separate, I included this as I believe you could re create this look very effectively by using the method of zig zagging the hair around a pin and setting with a hair straightener.

• Image 1 - David Barron
• Image 2 - Unknown
• Image 3 - 70's hair Bottega Veneta at Milan Fashion Week

I have chosen these contemporary versions because they are a fun take on the controlled Elizabethan style, I particularly like the first image, the hair almost looks like sheets of copper in the hair, I like the high shine and the movement it creates, the colour of the hair makes me link it to the Elizabethans and would be interesting to use in my designs. The middle picture I chose because of how fine the frizz in the hair is and also because of how it has been moulded., it reminds me of the first portrait of queen Elizabeth with the curly tendrils. The third one I just chose because I love the texture. this alone would be such a beautiful modern way to show Elizabethan hair.


Keyes J. (1967). Hairstyles. In:  A History of Hairstyles 1500-1965. London: Methuen & Co LTD. p6 - 7.

Periwigs

Keyes J. pg. 10

Periwigs became popular during 1585 - 1605, these became fashionable because of Queen Elizabeth who often wore these due to her loosing her hair because of illness she was said to have 80 dyed periwigs that were often auburn and saffron yellow. Periwigs were very complicated to dress and uncomfortable to wear so women often opted to shave their head and wore a complete periwig. These periwigs were very fashionable with the ladies in court and dyed these to similar shades of Queen Elizabeth's periwigs. To create these the hair was often stolen from children or young girls to get the best quality hair.

Periwigs were often styled in tiny curls or frizzed into tiny waves and built up into a symmetrical shape with a pronounced peak in the middle of the forehead, this was the signature Elizabethan heart shaped style and to finish they were decorated with pearls, jewels and feathers.


Queen Elizabeth Engraving by Antony Gucho

This image shows a middle aged Queen Elizabeth with her forehead plucked beneath a wig.

 

Keyes J. (1967). Hairstyles. In:  A History of Hairstyles 1500-1965. London: Methuen & Co LTD. p10 - 11.

Bryer R. (2000). From the Medieval to the Renaissance. In: Bryer R The History of Hair Fashion and Fantasy Down the Ages. London: Phillip Winston Publishers. p30 - 49.