My Journey With The Elizabethans

Initial Elizabethan Research;

Initial research, focusing on a contemporary take on Elizabethan make up, focusing on individual features;

Lips;

I really love the red lip with the stencil pressed onto it. It reminds me of the embroidery that would be found on one of Elizabeths dresses. I also like the red and black colour scheme, because those colours are symbolic of being powerful and important. I also like the accentuated cupids bow. To create a contemporary take, an interesting idea may be to paint onto the lip in an abstract way. I don't like the use of gloss, it looks too sticky and the vision I have in mind is a matte finish. 

Cheeks

For the cheeks, I know straight off that I want a subtle blush. I don't want my model to look like a clown, a gentle pink or light red, almost like a warm flush of love to the cheeks! I like the cheek countered but for this look, I think that a more circular application of the blush will be more effective.

Eyes+Brows;

The eyes I want to be white, and possibly the only white part of the face? As it is a contemporary take on the Elizabethan make up, I may do the skin complexion rosie, and the eyes really white and frosty and leading up the forehead covering the eye brows. 

Combining Cultures;

In order for my designs to be innovative and original, I have been thinking about things that separate the Elizabethan times from our own. One of the main things that has stood out for me, is the multi-cultural world that we live in now, as opposed to the curiosity that Elizabeth had for new worlds. 

My discovery has been, that The Geisha girls, despite being worlds and cultures apart from the Elizabethan girls, are very similar in make up and hair. It leads me to believe that some where along the way, the two may have collided in some beautifully pale and crimson lipped time warp.

Experimenting at Home;

For my Digital Image Production class, we were asked to do a monochromatic photo shoot so here are some of the test shots I did at home; 

Unknowingly, the images turned out Elizabethan-esque .. Mainly thanks to the hair piece but I thought I would share them non the less to show how one feature being Elizabethan can give it such a contemporary twist.

http://powderbluedreams.blogspot.co.uk - my blog with the inspiration behind these images. 

Here are the final images from my main photo shoot for digital image production -