At the start of the project, when we were introduced to the brief, I was not too keen on the project and mainly about the history side of things, but to my surprise, I have actually enjoyed all of the different elements of this project, ranging from learning Elizabethan hairstyles styles and techniques to modern buns and fishtail plaits in the studio, to watching videos and different interpretations in class. I believe I have learnt a lot - in fact a lot more than I thought I would, and all of the things that I have been taught will benefit me in the future.
This project has allowed me to gain a lot of knowledge about the Elizabethan era, and understand why they would do certain things to themselves, e.g. why they had their hair pulled back to reveal their hairline. It has taught me the traditional and desired hairstyles that you would have worn if you were an Elizabethan, but it has also opened up my eyes and allowed me to see connections between the era and today's modern society, and how some of their influences still come into play, even today!
I feel I have conquered many hurdles, for example, things such as time management, working with different hair and learning how to evaluate. But overall it has been very beneficial, and I hope that the rest of the course is able to teach me the same amount of knowledge, whilst allowing me to enjoy the journey at the same time.
Overall, I was actually very satisfied with how my partner executed and carried out my design. She was able to create exactly what I had envisioned and to a fairly high standard - the bun was of a good size and positioned perfectly, the frizzing technique allowed you to see the shape, but yet did not lose too much length, and the overall style was quite sleek.
My only improvements that I could suggest to the stylist would be to perhaps backcomb the hair slightly more when putting it into the bun, because I noticed the hair was quite thin and had gaps at the top of the bun (but the stylist did also recognise this and did attempt to fix it). Also, I would've liked the pearls to have been positioned slightly more evenly and pushed in more securely, and the last thing is that I think the plaits around the edge of the bun could've been made slightly bigger to make them more visible.
Considering all of the above, I would give my partner a B2.
- Section the hair in half
- Tie the top half into a ponytail and clip it out of the way
- Taking fairly large sections from the bottom half of the hair, use the frizzing ‘figure of 8’ technique
- Leave this in to set
- Transform the ponytail into a bun, which is quite high up on the head, but you must ensure that you leave 2 strands of hair at the back/bottom out of the bun, which you are going to plait
- Plait these 2 strands of hair, and wrap one round either side of the bun
- Grip these into place, ensuring that there is a clear plait that runs all the way around the bun
- Release the frizzing technique but DO NOT comb out
- Add the pearl pins into the bun
I feel that my partner carried out my design very successfully, especially for a first attempt. Once I fully explained the design and answered any questions she had, she was able to carry out the design quite easily.
The only real problem that we had to overcome was explaining how the plait fitted into the design, and where to get the hair from, but once I explained and helped show her visually, she understood. (You are not actually able to see the plait from the angle of the pictures, but it is there!) The stylist also realised, when carrying out the design, that she needed the plait to be slightly bigger in order to be more noticeable, so for next time, she has noted to leave a larger section of hair out which is going to be plaited. The only other constructive criticism I had was that she could perhaps try pushing the pins (with the pearls on) in slightly further, to try to hide the pin section, so that it was the just the pearls on show.
Otherwise, I was very happy with the overall look and it is what I pictured. The bun is a good size and in the correct place, the pearls are positioned perfectly, and the frizzing technique was carried out effectively - the stylist took the right amount of hair, so that the waves did not come out too tight and shrivel the length of the hair up.
Overall, I was actually very satisfied with how the final look came out - I feel that I created what the designer asked for and carried it out effectively. I actually feel that the pictures alone do not do the style justice (especially the bow) because due to the reflection of the light on the hair, you are not able to see the exact shape and overall look. In the assessment, we used gel on the sides of the hair to flatten the sides down and make them quite slick, and the designer also decided to get rid of the pearl in the middle because she felt it made the style too bridal.
Although, there would have been a few improvements that I would of liked to have made... For example, at the back, you are able to quite clearly see the grips that are holding the bouffant up, so I could've perhaps tried to cover these up slightly by moving the bow higher up, or by using strands of hair to cover the grips. Also, on one of the side images, you can see a tiny loop of hair where it does not exactly fit into the bow shape, so ideally I would've liked to have moved this so it was hidden. However, during the assessment, it was actually very difficult to get all of the hair in the bow to fit the shape, due to hair having different lengths and layers; this meant that some of the hair was not long enough to be wrapped in the bow shape, and thus did not reach into the pins, but I tried my best to fit all of the hair into place.
I believe everything else was done quite successfully, and it was the best I had executed the look - the padding was the highest that I had been able to achieve so far, and I managed to ensure it was totally covered and not noticeable, the sides were slicked back as desired, and the ringlets/curls were all completed to a good standard. Furthermore, I was able to carry out the design in a good amount of time and have it finished to a high standard within the time limit.
This is my final design. I believe it has a range of different elements and influences from today's modern society and the Elizabethan era.
I have chosen a half up, half down look because I believe this is quite contemporary and is often used today, as well as the bun I have decided to incorporate, and have higher up on the head (again, which is quite modern). Having it higher up, actually makes it almost seem like a crown or head accessory like the Elizabethans would have worn. In the bun, I have decided to also incorporate quite big statement pearls - the pearls are Elizabethan, but the fact they are quite big and they make a statement relates to modern society because accessories are often used to make a statement nowadays.
Going around either side of the bun will be a small plait - this is an Elizabethan influence, and where the hair has actually been taken from below the bun, it creates a heart-shape, which is, again, related to the Elizabethans.
Finally, I have decided to have very defined curls, which will be created by using the frizzing 'figure of 8' technique (made with slightly longer grips, so that the curl is not too tight), but it will not be brushed out. I feel this is a mixture between modern and Elizabethan, because curls are still used in today's society, but yet these type of curls are very similar to the tendrils that Elizabethans would wear.
- Section the hair, from the ‘corners’ of the head, so that you can crimp the correct parts of the hair. Tie the rest of the hair out of the way
- Crimp the top section of hair (using small sections at a time)
- Section off a very small section across the hair line (that you’ve just crimped) and use the frizzing technique to add even more volume and thickness
- French plait the section where the padding is going to be and grip into place
- Backcomb the front section of the crimped hair quite dramatically
- Remove the grips from the frizzing technique and brush this out
- Insert the padding - place any remaining crimped hair, from underneath the plait, over the padding, and then pulled the hair from the front over the padding and gripped this into place
- Take the remaining uncrimped hair out of the hair band and section this at the top of the ears
- Reposition the pony tail so that you have half of the remaining hair down
- Use the hair in the pony tail to create a bow - take 1/3 of the hair and roll it around your fingers, and then grip it into place. Then repeat this on the other side, and leave the final third to represent the ribbon that hangs at the bottom
- Insert the pearl into the centre of the bow
- Use curlers, with a very small barrel, to create very tight ringlets in the rest of the remaining hair
Products and Equipment needed:
- A paddle brush
- A sectioning comb
- Grips
- Pins
- A hair band
- A pearl accessory
- Crimpers
- Curlers
- Hairspray
- Heat protection spray (optional)
