Creating Traditional Victorian Hair - 1

In the beginning of the Victorian era the traditional hairstyle was a centre parting with a high bun at the back of the head, connected to the front by two loop plaits either side of the face, or a bun with ringlets down, framing the face. The loop plait style was worn by Queen Victoria on her wedding day in 1840 and a picture can be seen on my previous post about Victorian Hair Styles. This week I learnt how to create this look, here is the method if you want to too!

Comb through the hair to remove any knots, and style the hair into a centre parting.

From the top of the head make a new parting across the top to just behind each ear, this will leave you with hair at the front and hair at the back of the head.

Take the section of hair at the back of the head and comb it into a ponytail near the top of the head.

Section the ponytail into two and twist the two sections around each other into a twist, then wrap this around into the bun shape and secure onto the head just over halfway about the mid section of the head.  Low buns were not a traditional style in the Victorian era. If the hair that is being styled is long enough this ponytail can be plaited and then wrapped around. This was a traditional style that was often created as Victorian women rarely cut their hair.

Take the front two sections of the hair either side of the parting and, with small sections and a curling iron, curl the sections with the handle of the barrel closest to the ground, always curling towards the front of the face. Depending how tight you want your curls you can leave them, or comb through them with your fingers.

You can leave your hair with curls at the front or, like I did, you can experiment and turn these sections into loop plaits.

If you decided to do the plaits, take the curls comb through them and section them into three strands of hair.

Begin to plait them quite low down, level with the top of the ear. This will keep the top of the hair smooth.

Loop the plait down and round and connect it to the bun at  the back of the head using kirby grips.

Apollo Knot With Ringlets

Ringlets Combed Out With Fingers

Looped Plait

Looped Plait From Back

Looped Plait From Side

Here are some images of Victorian women displaying these hair styles.

A Victorian Women With Ringlets
http://www.victoriana.com/Jewelry/victorian-hair-jewelry.html

A Victorian Women With Loop Plaits
https://www.pinterest.com/gaelmaid/1855-1865-hair/

An Oil Painting Created In 1831Of A Victorian Women With Ringlets And A Plaited Bun
http://fairyfiligree.blogspot.co.uk/2010_09_01_archive.html

Victorian Hair

The Victorian era began formally in 1837 and ended in 1901, it began with the crowning of Queen Victoria and ended with her death. Through this time there were many different fashions in hair. In the Victorian era hair was very long and thick as it was unusual for a women to cut their hair which meant that hairstyles could be very elaborate and intricate, usually involving buns, plaits and curls. The style of hair, for example curly or straight, was said to represent the temperament of a women. On the website 'Victorian Hair' by Michael Warner, it says 'curly hair was meant to indicate a sweeter temperament, while straight-hair girls were considered reserved or even awkward. A women's hair was profoundly important to the overall effect she was able to make'. In the early 1800's the apollo knot was a fashionable hairstyle among Victorian women. An apollo knot was a tight bun of hair situated high on the back of the head. This was worn alongside a centre parting with tight curls hanging down at the side and front of the head framing the face. It was also common for women to plait the front sections of their hair and loop them round to join the bun at the back. This style was very popular among royalty with Queen Victoria wearing the style on her wedding day on the 10th of February 1840. It is said that hairstyles reflected women's fashion, for example hair would be styled to fit a bonnet and the back of the hair would suit the back of a women's dress.

A Victorian Women With Long Hair
https://www.pinterest.com/bexbrides/victorian-hair/

A Victorian Teen With Sausage Curls
https://www.pinterest.com/seanhawkey/hairstyles/

Queen Victoria On Her Wedding Day
http://thedreamstress.com/2011/04/queen-victorias-wedding-dress-the-one-that-started-it-all/queen_victoria/

In the mid 19th century hair was sleek at the top, covered by a hat in public, but with a large mass of ringlets styled at the ends of the hair, which could be seen underneath the base of the hat. Materials and accessories began to be added into the hair at this time, such as ribbon, lace and flowers. In the 1870's the hair changed again and began to get bigger with more focus towards the back of the head rather than the front. At this time it was hugely important to have large amounts of hair and this resulted in the addition of fake hair pieces. In 1872 the Marcel curling iron was also invented, which was a metal wand heated up in the stove. This could be used to create waves in the hair which ultimately became a very sought after look. This constant heat on uncut hair usually resulted in hair becoming fried, leaving many Victorian women with damaged hair.

Victorian Women With Bonnets And Ringlets
http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry/dating-vintage-photographs-1840-2

In the 1890's Victorian hair began to get more elaborate as well as far more relaxed and loose than the tight curls that can be seen at the beginning of the Victorian era. The most famous look of the end of the late 1800's was the 'Gibson Girl', created by Illustrator Charles Gibson, who with pen and ink drawings created the ideal women. This image therefore began to be mimicked by many women who, like the original drawings, began to pile their curly waist long hair on top of their heads, which for this time has been described as 'scandalously natural'. The Gibson Girl hairstyle is said, by many, to be the end of the Victorian influence on fashion as shortly after the Edwardian era took over.

Gibson Girl
http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2013/05/23/beauties-of-the-past-annabelle-whitford/

Sources: http://www.hairarchives.com/private/victorian1new.htm

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/costume/nunn10.html

http://www.royal.gov.uk/The%20Royal%20Collection%20and%20other%20collections/TheRoyalArchives/QueenVictoriaeducationproject/TheweddingofQueenVictoriaandPrinceAlbert1840.aspx

https://faculty.unlv.edu/kirschen/handouts/victorian.html

http://merryfarmer.net/2013/04/the-beauty-and-evolution-of-19th-century-hairstyles/

http://www.1920-30.com/fashion/hairstyles/marcel-wave.html

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gibson.htm

Ageing The Hands

Ageing The Hands

As I mentioned in a previous post, it is important to age the hands along with the face to make the overall look seamless.

Method for ageing the hands using latex:

Apply a barrier to the skin before applying the base, such as the Kryolan Pro Shield Mousse.

Shake the latex before you pour it into a bowl, always make sure you re apply the lid to avoid spillages!

Stretch the skin on the hand and using a sponge stipple a layer of latex on the stretched skin.

Get a hairdryer, set to the cool setting, and dry the latex until it becomes more clear.

Apply more layers of latex, drying between each application.

In the end you should have wrinkled looking skin!

If the latex does not match your skin you can always go over the top with make up.

Aged Hands

Ageing The Face

In this week's practical lesson we were learning how to age the face and hands. This is an important skill for me to learn as I am interested in working in television and film in the future, and ageing is a crucial skill to know how to undertake.

When you work on any character you need to think about the script, the age of the person that is required, the stage of the ageing process that the person would be in and the background of the character, for example their class, job and types of food that they may eat.

It is also important to remember to age the hands along with the face, this is a large give away that the ageing is fake!

The method of how to age the skin:

Add a small amount of moisturiser to the skin, this will help to blend out the base layer and blend the lines added to make the wrinkles.

Apply a thin layer of foundation to the skin, you can adjust the colour to the look  that you want to achieve. I used the Kryolan Foundation Palette. Make sure you apply a small amount of foundation on to the lips also as well as bringing it down the neck.

Get your model or make yourself smile widely and frown heavily as this will show you where the natural lines of the face appear. Focus on the forehead and around the mouth and eyes.

Apply a brown coloured product into these lines, or mix green, yellow and red with a small brush. For this make up I used the Kryolan Supra Colour Palette.

After the application of each line, blend it slightly to soften them and make them more realistic.

You can also add some of the brown colour around the eyes to darken the area and make it look more aged.

To age the eyebrows, run a white product through them using a disposable mascara wand.

You can also use a stippling sponge along with the brown colour to achieve the effect of broken veins on the cheeks. In the pictures below I did not do this.

If you want to age the teeth on your model you can use teeth tints, you can get these in a range of effects such as tobacco stained and decayed teeth. I also did not use these in the pictures below.

It is important to remember that you are putting in effects that make up is usually used to conceal!

These are my attempts to age my model:

Before

After

After

After

Neill Gorton

This week I attended a talk by prosthetic artist and designer Neill Gorton. Neill Gorton is very successful in his field and has worked on many films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Children Of Men (2006) and television shows such as Doctor Who. He is currently working on the TV Movie Lady Chatterley's Lover and the TV series Spotless. I have previously watched Saving Private Ryan and found the use of prosthetics unbelievable and extremely realistic. Listening to him talk made me appreciate even more the skill, time and hard work that is required to produce work of that quality. As well as designing and applying prosthetics he also runs the Gorton Studio where novices can undertake short courses, seven week courses and bespoke courses learning the art of prosthetics. He also offers the opportunity for people to learn from home through the use of DVDs, magazines and books as well as other resources.

The talk that he carried out was interesting as it was less about his life and his rise to success but about the reality of working as a Make Up Artist or Designer in TV and Film. He started off by discussing the reality of working in the industry and how only 10% of the people in the room with him would end up working in television and film. He also highlighted the fact that hard work over skill can sometimes be more important if you want to be successful as it builds up a good reputation of yourself. He also expressed the importance of gaining as much work experience as possible to build up your portfolio and have a greater understanding of how the industry operates. 

He discussed with us the usual working hours while on set as well as the average salary earnings. The usual working hours are 12 to 14 hours a day 5 to 6 days a week. The days of working per week are usually on a two week rota basis where one week is 5 days and one week is 6. The salary of an artist working in a workshop can range between £7 and £30 an hour and on set £115 and £550, the highest wage is normally achieved by someone who is at the top of the field. 

Although the talk was eye opening to the harsh reality, it also reinforced my desire to be successful in this industry as it is my biggest passion in life and I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. He asked us to think about what it is that drives us to be successful. The money? Meeting famous people? The opportunity to travel? I think of these options the opportunity to travel and experience new cultures and countries is the most appealing and most exciting. He told us where his job has taken him; America, Australia, India and most of Europe. I think this talk had the potential to dissuade me from wanting to take part in this industry, however it has ignited my passion further and I am excited to continue learning and gaining new experiences from people as successful as Neill Gorton.

Neill Gorton Working
http://moviespictures.org/biography/Gorton,_Neill

Neill Gorton Working
http://moviespictures.org/biography/Gorton,_Neill

Sources: https://www.gortonstudio.co.uk/learn-from-home#other-resources
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003929/ 

Victorian Make Up Ideals

In this unit we will be studying gothic horror as well as Victorian make up. My current understanding of Victorian make up is small but since starting this unit I have begun to research, using books and the Internet. In the early Victorian era women were more discreet with the make up they wore compared with other time periods and, Richard Corson in 'Fashions in Make Up' said, 'most women who rouged did not advertise the fact. Rouge was occasionally seen on older gentlemen who cling to the habits of earlier years'. From what I have learned it was more about maintaining natural beauty, as written on the website 'Vintage Make –Up Guide'.  However, although they are discreet make up was still applied. Women, as well as men, penciled in their eyebrows using a camel brush. White products were used to improve the complexion, blues were used to define veins and reds to add colour to the cheeks and lips. However most of the products used were harmful to the skin as they contained lead and acids. In the book 'Fashions in Make Up' it refers to the writing of Mrs Alex Walker where she lists the effects that it can have on the body such as, ‘paralysis and contraction’, ‘the complexion becomes dull and tarnished, and the skin appears faded and ghastly.’ Painted lips were highly frowned upon especially by Madame Montez who wrote, ‘there is no man who does not shrink back in disgust from the idea of kissing a pair of painted lips.’ In the mid Victorian era women were still discreet, however the application of cosmetics was becoming more common but there was some resistance against the use of some cosmetics, which lasted into the next century. Perfume was very popular during this time period. Later on in the Victorian era there were people who were in favour of cosmetics, such as Harriet Hubbard Ayer, who though cosmetics should be used whenever and wherever they were needed. More women started to ‘paint’ however they were advised not to. It has also become apparent that cleanliness was of upmost importance at this time. In the book  'The Artificial Face' by Fenja Gunn it says, ‘cleanliness virtue second only to godliness.’ So far I am finding cosmetics in the Victorian era very interesting to research and am looking forward to learning more throughout this unit.

This portrait below is of Queen Victoria, it is clear in this image that she is wearing no or very natural make up. This is important because it was normally the monarchies that set the trends for make up, hair and fashion. This look on a Queen would have therefore made its way into society.

A portrait Of Queen Victoria
http://paintingandframe.com/prints/english_school_portrait_of_the_young_queen_victoria-18478.html

Examples of Victorian portraits where women are wearing very little make up.

A Victorian Portrait
https://serendipityproject.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/oct-29-2011-twenty-four-victorian-studio-portraits-of-women-in-a-variety-of-settings-second-part-english-c-1880-–-1900/victorian-portrait-woman-with-brooch-gloucester/

A Victorian Portrait
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ee/c6/0f/eec60fa541df01e9e3bda745730edb3e.jpg

A Victorian Portrait
https://serendipityproject.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/oct-29-2011-twenty-four-victorian-studio-portraits-of-women-in-a-variety-of-settings-second-part-english-c-1880-–-1900/victorian-portrait-woman-norwich/

A Victorian Portrait
http://libraryschool.libguidescms.com/harriet-martineau

Sources:

Books:

Fenja Gunn The Artificial Face

 Richard Corsons Fashions In Make Up 

Websites:

http://vintagemakeupguide.com/victorian-look/