Sunday 29 November 2015

Evaluation

Before starting this unit, I had no experience with hair styling of any sort. I am very surprised with how far I have come in one term. I wanted to include the iconic shapes from the Elizabethan era but in a contemporary style, so I had to play around with techniques and ideas. Luckily, I had a great partner who made it very easy for me to communicate my design. With Tara's design, I had to build my confidence in myself further as I was worried about completing her design in the way she wanted it. In the first practise, the height of her hair was not how we planned and the bun was not in the style Tara had described. However, after great communication with my partner and many practises I built up my skill set, became much happier the create the design (within the time) and produced a final look I was pleased with. It was a very useful task to work to my partners brief as throughout my career this will become a large aspect of my job and I enjoyed becoming a team with my partner to create the best we could.

Throughout this project, I have developed my research skills by using articles, books and websites for information and magazines and films for inspiration. I wanted to begin by researching the stereotypical styles of Queen Elizabeth and then further look into society and how other women would've styled their hair. I enjoyed comparing and combining contemporary styles I liked with historical looks and researching how modern designers do the same.

Overall, I feel this first project was very successful as it has given me the all the skills in hair styling to develop throughout my education and beyond. I have also developed my communication skills and the one thing I would change if I were to do this project again I would've practised a little bit more the get my skills perfected before the assessment so I did not panic before!

Bibliography

Books

Jean Keyes. 1967. A History of Women's Hairstyles 1500-1965. Published by Methuen & Co (London) Chapters: 1550-1565, 1565-1585, 1585-1605.
Susan Doran and Norman Jones. 2014. The Elizabethan World. Published by Routledge (Oxfordshire) Chapter: Society – Women. Pages 335-349

Websites

Jill Elaina Haley. 2015. Elizabethan Era Project. [viewed on 27^th October] Available at: http://jillelainahaley.com/elizabethan-era/
Linda Alchin. 2012. Elizabethan Family Life [viewed on 18^th October] Available at: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-family-life.htm
Linda Alchin. 2012. Elizabethan Hair Styles. [Viewed on 5^th October] Available at: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-hair-styles.htm
L. Mellin. 2008. Extreme Costuming [viewed on 26^th October] Avaliable at: http://www.extremecostuming.com/articles/twoelizabethanhairstyles.html
Maggi Ros. 2008. Love and Marriage [viewed on 18^th October] Available at: http://elizabethan.org/compendium/10.html
Pauline Weston Thomas. 2014. 1485-1600 – Women's Hair & Headdresses. [Viewed on 5^th October] Available at: http://www.fashion-era.com/hats-hair/hair3-1485-1600-womens-hair-calthrop.htm

Films

Elizabeth 1998 (Film) Directed by Shekhar Kapur

Visits/Exhibitions

Tudor and Elizabethan Portraits – National Portrait Gallery (15th October)

Assessment - Me as Designer and Tara as Stylist

Following my assessment last week, Tara completed her assessment with my New Elizabethan design in the allocated 2 hour time slot. She was a great stylist and I am pleased with the outcome.

Tara prepared by having my step by step instructions, hair designs and photos from practise sessions to help her have the best shot at the design. After crimping my hair successfully and in good timing, Tara slightly worried about getting the shape right but she achieved it after sectioning the hair properly. I am extremely happy with the shape from the front as it is symmetrical and the roundness I asked for in my design. From the side, it is slightly uneven however the silhouette is sleek and polished which is inclusive of my 'bridal' design. The bun was achieved efficiently and looked beautiful at the end with the pearl adornments. We did not have enough pearls to decorate the plan, that was included in my original design, but this may be a result of not using the pearls before this attempt. Unfortunately, when we went to take the pictures the curls became unpinned from underneath the bun so it did not have the volume I desired, however, the curls are exactly the style I wanted.

I feel that Tara's strength throughout this assessment (and all the preparation!!) has been her backcombing skills and creating the height I wanted. She has never failed to create the Elizabethan inspired rounded and volumized hairstyle! Considering over this short period of time since starting, Tara have gathered a lot of skills but I feel that in this timed assessment her weakness was maintaining the rounded, circular shape all around the head.

Overall, Tara was very professional whilst completing my design by being very organised, calm and friendly. We have had multiple practise sessions and Tara was always helpful, prepared to listen to my advise and always put the effort in to make it the best she could!

Assessment - Tara as Designer and Me as Stylist

This week, I completed my timed hair assessment with Tara's New Elizabethan design. It was completed within an hour and a half and overall both Tara and me were very happy with the outcome!

The first step of the hair style was the messy french plait across the top of her head behind her fringe. I feel I achieved the style Tara was looking for by pulling at the plait once it was in place to create the loose and varied texture throughout the plait. Tara also asked me to have some fabric running through the plait for the final images and as this was the first attempt at weaving it through the style I was a bit apprehensive but when I decided to thread it through the hair after I plaited it, it worked out successfully and Tara was pleased we went ahead with the adornment.

Following the plait, I created the backcombed back section. In the final photos, I love the shape from the sides as it shows the volume and texture the design asked for. From the front, the middle is not as rounded. If I were to re-create this again, I would make extra effort to backcombed her middle parting behind her fringe even more so than the rest as I feel the way her hair naturally falls works against the the technique I was using. However, overall I am please with this section as her desire to have a messy look has been embraced from behind and stray hairs and frizz adds to Tara's character design.

Finally, the plaited bun with pearl adornments was created. Unfortunately, I feel this was the least successful part of the final look. The reason for this being that in the final photos one pin had not been secured properly and one of the plaits became loose making the bun uneven and unintentionally messy-looking. I have inserted a photo of the bun after I have completed in the studio when I was much happier with it as it symmetrical and much more how I planned it to look. I do think the plaits could be more defined and visible as the centre of the bun does not clearly show the plaits so if this were to be done again I would probably leave more hair for the plaits to make them bigger and more obvious. The pearl adornments were also requested in this assessment and I am happy with the placement as it pulled the look together and added the Elizabethan touch that this modern look needed. Yet, like I mentioned I would make sure they are more secure so the final images would've been neater! This error would be avoided if I had the chance to do it again as I would know how to insert these pearl grips properly.

After completing this assessment, I feel my strongest part of this look was the french plait as it was the most accurate to Tara's design and most polished aspect of the final attempt. I knew how to produce a french plait beforehand so I feel this definitely gave me a slight advantage and make this part of the process easier! My weakness was my backcombing skills. It took me a couple of practise sessions to find the right technique for this look and I am frustrated with myself that the centre of the backcombed does not have the height from the front that I would have wanted.

Tara was a great partner for this assessment as she was very clear in her designs and the exact style she wanted. She was prepared for many practise sessions to help me get to grips with her look, she was always open for my questions and pointed out any issues in a friendly way!! Also, outside of university we communicated a lot with any issues and helped each other resolve problems out of class time. I would love to work with her again and I have a lot of confidence in her to complete my New Elizabethan hairstyle.

2nd Attempt with My Design (Tara as Stylist)

In our second practise session, Tara styled my hair again for my New Elizabethan bridal look. The images show her completed attempt within the 2 hour time limit.

I am very pleased with the final outcome of this session. The raised and rounded frizzed section is a great shape and is very smooth round the edges - the sleekness is how I would imagine a bride would desire their hair to be! From the front, the style looks simple and polished which is exactly how I desired it to be in my design. Moving onto the elaborate back of the style, Tara decided to create the look using two plaits to define the separation between the bun and the crimped hair as previously this was not there. It also helped Tara a lot this time round to section the hair into four areas before starting so she knew exactly how much hair was used for each and each section would be obvious - this is a step I would be sure to include in my consultation notes for the assessment. Slightly less hair was used for the bun, as discussed in our last session, to have more curls and it fitted in well with the rest of the style. The curls were also very effective as Tara pinned them up and under the bun to give them more volume and to appear as though are falling from the rest of the hairdo - an aspect often used within modern bridal updo's.

There is not much I can ask of Tara to improve! Tara took on board my requests and her struggles from the last session and created the look I pictured in my head. However, one thing that could be perfected is the neatness of the round shape at the front. The last image shows how the hair above the left ear is not connected to the head like the opposite side. I pointed this out to Tara (being very picky!!) and she will try and perfect this before the assessment. Otherwise, this was a successful test run before the assessment and if we can practise again the assessment it will only be to boost Tara's confidence and gives her a chance to perfect the style.

2nd Attempt at My Partners Design (Me as Stylist)

Plait

I started the second practise session with Tara's design by creating the french plait that goes over her head from ear to ear. To begin, I sectioned the hair amount of hair I needed behind her fringe into a middle parting and kept the sections either side even to keep the look symmetrical. In my first attempt, I found it difficult to have the start and end of the plait the same. This time I started lower down her head, more so by her ear, and after I had completely the french braid I loosened the style up with a metal pin comb which gave the impression of the hair being the same thickness all over (by loosening some bits more than others). As part of Tara's design, she wanted the plait to be very messy so I have taken photos of the plait at the stage Tara felt it was the right style for her character's hairstyle. I also discussed with Tara what she wanted to do with her fringe and she has decided to leave it out straight (as it would be awkward to include in the plait neatly and she did not want it crimped).

Backcombed Section

For the crimped and frizzed section, I began by crimping all the remaining hair behind the plait. I then sectioned the hair, layer by layer, to crimp and backcomb (using a thin-toothed comb) from bottom to top - focusing on the roots. To shape the hair into the rounded look Tara desires, I then used an afro comb to soften the frizz from the backcombing and pinned the hair in sections using hair grips. I gripped the hair in sections (from one side of the head to the other) to make it easier to make a symmetrical and meant I can take sections out of the grip again to backcomb more or smooth the hair. Tara was pleased with the shape as she does not want it to be extremely high. I felt there were quite a lot of flyaways, as a result of the backcombing crimped hair, that I will attempt to smooth in the final assessment. However, Tara stated it added to her 'crazy' personality linked to her character so it may be worth leaving the messiness in the look.

Plaited Bun

Tara's plaited bun design

Following our inital trial of Tara's design, we agreed to change the technique of creating the plait to make a larger finished bun. Instead of creating a ponytail and plaiting that hair, I separated the hair into three sections and plaited them. I then wrapped the middle plait into a circle and pinned into place. After that, I wrapped the other two around to create a rounded shape. Both of us were much happier with the section plaited bun shown above as it was larger and more like the style Tara had practised in the designing stages. Even though the first in neater, it is not as in-keeping as the second bun as it is messy and looser (I teased the plaits before pinning to achieve this). I feel it could be more round when I create it for the assessment and I can do this by pinning the plaits into a tighter circle shape and then teasing the hair to create Tara's loose design.

Overall, I am very pleased with my second attempt has been very successful. I have achieved the style of bun Tara really wanted and the issues with the plait behind her fringe have been solved. I also completed the style in less than the 2 hour limit. Tara and I want to have a final practise session before our assessments and I feel like this will be a perfect time to perfect the techniques (so it is not trial and error on the day!) and be very confident in the process.

Modern Bridal Half Updo's - New Elizabethan Design Inspiration

Following my final hair design process and the trials of achieving this look on my hair, I wanted to further research modern bridal updo's to refer back to. I want to make sure I am able to incorporate these ideas with Elizabethan techniques. I used pinterest and google to find some images that reflect my ideas of a New Elizabethan bridal updo.

Each look has the hair carried back and away from the face into a small quiff or raised area at the back of the head. This will be to keep the attention on the bride and emphasis their beauty, not to detract from it. On my design, I feel this has been included through the crimped, backcombed hair pulled back into a circle shape to demonstrate the Elizabethan high hairline and frizzing technique combined with modern shaping and styling ideas. These images often also have a focal area to break up the gap between the quiff and curls underneath. Some have a bunch of curls, wrapped round hair or buns. For mine, I have the plait and modern bun as two more sections to add a modern twist on top of the Elizabethan techniques shown at the front and top of the hair design. Finally, the curls complete the look. I wanted to include ringlet style curls to reflect back to typically modern bridal hair styles. Having researched historical and modern looks, I have to achieve my final style including an array of ideals from each era.

Redheads And Royalty

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