Practice for the assessment.

Here is the outcome from the practice round of the timed assessment.

I think the eyelashes and eyebrows worked very well within this look and I feel they really give the look an Elizabethan feel but with a twist. I like the eye shadow as I feel the gold represents a sense of royalty whilst the pink tint compliments the red lips well. This practice for the assessment has highlighted to me that I like the pale base I had decided to use, but that I feel the pink eyeshadow might be a bit too pink and that for the actual timed assessment I will incorporate more gold into the eyes as I feel this will compliment the overall look better than that of the more pink base. 

Eyebrow inspiration from Givenchy and Cara Delevingne

Images sourced from this article

When researching how I can create the historic Elizabethan eyebrow look in a contemporary way I remembered seeing an article about Cara Delevingne having her eyebrows bleached by Pat Mcgrath for the Givenchy show at Paris fashion week. This reminded me of an Elizabethan look with the way that you can not see her eyebrows (Elizabethan's had pale, thin eyebrows). Another thing that I find wonderful about this look is the killer cat eye flicks that Cara has been given. This has inspired me for the eye look in my own design as when I look at the images I see elements that link to a historic Elizabethan look and how I can add a contemporary twist to the overall design with something like a cat eye that is a trend now.

Although Cara is well known for her large, dark eyebrows I feel the bleached eyebrow look actually really suits the model. 

Experimentation for my final designs

Over the past few days I have been discussing with my partner Samantha the timing element of the assessment and what my design involves. We decided to get together out of class over the past few days to practice our designs.
When experimenting with the designs for my Elizabethan look I thought it would look quite effective to have white eyelashes and eyebrows for the contemporary. The inspiration I got for this element of my look was from the fact that the historic Elizabethan looks normally feature a pale complexion so I wondered how I could translate that paleness in another way and on another facial feature which was when I came up with the idea for making the eyebrows white instead of blocking them out and then making the eyelashes white.
Here is the outcome of this experimentation.

I think the outcome was good and I especially like the eyelashes, therefore I think that feature will definitely be a part of my final design. 

Inspiration for my final design: White eyeliner.

When looking into one of the contemporary elements of my final design, I wondered how I would translate the element of white and being pale, without having a solid white complexion. Therefore I decided to do some research into some catwalk looks that involved white eyeliner. 

Image sourced from google images, originally from here

The first image I came across was this one of Cara Delevigne wearing white eyeliner at a fashion show in Milan. I then found this image from the same show. 

Image sourced from google images, originally from here

Another thing that I liked about this look was that they have decided to place the false eyelashes on the bottom eyelashes, quite low onto the lash which gives the models a very doll eyed look. 

Image sourced from google images, originally from here

Another version of white eyeliner that I found was an image from John Galliano's 2013 show. Here they have chosen to apply the eyeliner thickly across the eyelid with black smudged liner along the bottom. The white really sticks out in this look and I like how in most shows they will tend to have one focal point with the make up, this being the white eye. 

Image sourced from google images, originally from here

I then stumbled across this image. Although the eyeliner is black, I like the placement of the eyeliner on the crease of the eye and think this gives the overall look a structured yet minimalistic feel to it. Below I have practiced at home, using white eyeliner for my final design. 

Experimenting with Elizabethan makeup styles: Blocking out eyebrows.

Image sourced from google images, originally from http://www.marileecody.com/eliz1-images.html

Image sourced from google images, originally from http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/9545859

As you can see from the historic portraits above Elizabethan's typically had pale eyebrows that were very rounded in shape and quite high up, to achieve this I have experimented with the process of blocking out the eyebrows in order to be able to draw them on higher and in the correct shape. 

Tools needed for this process were: A glue stick, a  spatula to apply the glue to the eyebrows, pale foundation/Illamasqua skin base, primer and setting powder. 

Here is the final outcome from my first time blocking out eyebrows 

 I think next time I use this to experiment with Elizabethan looks I will use a foundation under the skin base to take away more of the dark colour of the eyebrows. However when taking my final designs into consideration this may be a process I will use as I believe the outcome will be effective if I can find the correct method for blocking out my own dark eyebrows. 

New Elizabethans in todays society

When I think of embodying the new Elizabethan's I immediately thought of the character Blair Waldorf from the TV series 'Gossip Girl'. I feel that she is a great example of knowing all about self promotion. Despite often being portrayed in a bad light by 'Gossip Girl' (a website that essentially reveals secrets about a group of friends from New York) she always manages to come out on top. She has a group of 'minions' that follow her every move and trend and worship her as their icon. The way that the character Blair had been styled throughout the series also reminds me of someone who is royal. This reminded me of the fact that the Elizabethan's worshiped Queen Elizabeth and the fact that she is such an icon even today.

Image sourced from google images originally from  http://difashionista.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/gossip-girl-part-1-fashion-forward.html#.VGZ0dBaPl1M

Another person that I think of when looking into New Elizabethans Katie Piper. I think that Katie is an exceptional role model to all people due to the fact that she has managed to overcome exceptionally devastating circumstances in her life and due to this has had to work at re gaining her beauty. This reminds me of the way in which Queen Elizabeth had to work on her beauty due to having smallpox. Katie Piper has had to have various types of surgery due to having acid thrown in her face whereas Queen Elizabeth decided to wear makeup to cover up the scars from having smallpox. 

Image sourced from google images, originally from https://tv.bt.com/entertainment/tv/tvfeatures/katie-piper-understanding-the-bodyshockers-11363870825278

The taming of the Shrew

Which characters for you represent new Elizabethans?

The taming of the shrew (2005) represents new Elizabethan's in many of the characters.
The overall styling of the film is very Elizabethan in terms of the mise en scene. For example the reds and dark wooden furniture look very luxurious and red is a typical Elizabethan colour. The styling of the characters Katherine and Tim in the opening scene are hold Elizabethan qualities. Katherine is wearing a black suit, with her hair slicked back and parted in the middle much like an Elizabethan woman and Tim is wearing a black suit with a red tie, again very high class Elizabethan colours. This could be a link in the wealth of the characters Katherine and Tim to that of high class Elizabethans as these colours were expensive to import and therefore only worn by the rich.

image sourced from http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/11_november/09/shake_henderson.shtml

One scene in particular stood out to me as being very Elizabethan in terms of a link between The taming of the Shrew and another adaptation of Elizabeth's life starring Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth. This was the opening scene where Katherine was charging through the hallways and all of the other politicians were moving to the side out of her way, this I feel links well to the scene in the film 'Elizabeth' starring Cate Blanchett where she has transformed into her new look as the 'Virgin Queen' married to England as like the politicians from The taming of the shrew, the other characters move aside  and let Elizabeth through. Although this is because she is the Queen in the film 'Elizabeth', the fact that the politicians move aside for Katherine to storm through, reminds me of that scene in 'Elizabeth' very much.
The character Katherine represents a new Elizabethan to me as her hair changed when she met Petruchio. During the first scenes of the film Katherine always wore her hair pulled back whereas after meeting Petruchio she would be seen wearing her hair down. This makes it new Elizabethan for me as when Elizabethan women got married they would then wear their hair up as a sign that they were married and unavaiable, although it is the opposite in terms of hair being up then down as opposed to down then up, I recognise a link between the two.
These two characters have elements in both of them that remind me of Queen Elizabeth. Katherine for being very independent and Bianca for being admired and idolised and not being bothered about marriage this clear from her statement 'I will not get married until Katherine does'.

Image sourced from 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shakespeare/tamingoftheshrew/photogallery.shtml

Another character from the Taming of the shrew that represents a new Elizabethan to me would be Bianca. This is because she represents an iconic beauty in the film which was essentially what Queen Elizabeth was for the Elizabethans, she was their idea of beauty that everyone aspired to be. Her styling was often wearing gold, another luxurious colour seen on many of Queen Elizabeth's dresses in her portraits.

Another character who's styling represents the new Elizabethan's for me would be Petruchio when he was dressed as a woman on his wedding day. I feel this represents the new Elizabethan's as he has been styled in red silk which is again a sign of wealth and status in Elizabethan society.