Blog 1: Elizabethan Hair Introduction

Introduction to Elizabethan Hair

My first thoughts of the Elizabethan era of hair designs were that they had big, bold, frizzy hair and they used a lot of jewelry through the hair. I wasn't entirely sure what extents they would go to create their ideal Elizabethan hair style. On our first day we looked at their hair styles in the 16th century and their hair was very rounded in shape, the texture looked spongy, frizzed and well structured. I also noticed the pictures we looked at were royalty throughout that period time and their hair was either fair in colour or red, this was the 'perfect' image to reflect their wealth and status. 

They also would shape their hair into a heart shape, with their tightly curled hair to create the desired look, the use of plait work was used with embellishments entwined or placed along the top of the hair, this reflected there wealth as poor people could not afford such luxurious items, therefore royalty during the 16th century would stand out with their big statemented hair designs, they wanted to show off what they had and used it well to create different hair designs.

 I researched portraits and paintings to give me more of a idea what their hair styles looked like, it looked so neat and rounded with a lot of detail used with the hair. I also looked at film clips to see how they interpreted the Elizabethan hair designs to get a better understanding of all the angles of how the hair look and stayed, as they look very well structured, they seem

Reference: http://hubpages.com/style/Clothing-the-Renaissance

Unknown female during 1560

Lettice Knollys 

http://hubpages.com/style/Clothing-the-Renaissance

I also watched the Elizabeth I Golden age and there was many clips that show the prime examples of the Elizabethan hair, especially at the scene "I am married to England". It shows her hair very rounded with curls, a typical Elizabethan hair style but shows a contemporary version with the use of the deep red hair tone. 

Elizabeth I Golden Age film 2007 Cate Blanchett

Image from youtube.com- Video clip 

I also looked into plays in which people played Elizabeth, to see how they interpreted the hair design. I found in the play Elizabeth Rex play by Paul Thompson and Timothy Findley 2000 was the first performance of the play, the hair was very classical Elizabethan and collected images.

Reference: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/findleys-elizabeth-rex-has-world-premiere-at-stratford-fest-june-29-90281

Diane D'Aquila

Reference: http://www.historyinthemargins.com/2011/12/20/history-on-display-elizabeth-rex/

I used a number of internet sites, looked into plays and film clips to see how they would wear there hair and what the texture was like. They were very much into the way it was clearly structured in a particular way with the heart shape or rounded affect with great use of jewelry in the hair. This research has given me inspiration for future designs and to incorporate into my modern contemporary design.