COMTEMPORARY PORTRAIT.

PORTRAIT

My contemporary portrait is of the beautiful Marilyn Monroe, this photo was taken at Amagansett Beach in the Hamptons, 1958 by Sam Shaw. 

This photo was one out of many the many beach photo shoot, shot by Sam Shaw. The first thing i notice in this photo is Marilyn's legs, they aren't thin, with a thigh gap, in fact they are  stuck together, if you ask me this a picture of a perfect women.

When i look at this photo of Marilyn i see power, confidence, beauty and CURVES. In today society you see a lot of edit photo's were girls have been "skinny app'ed" but in this photo you can see she is proud of her curves and everything else with it, and i would say that is god damn powerful! 

I connect to this photo myself as I'm not typically skinny an i don't really agree with the fashion statement of being stick thin. 

Another thing what caught my eye is that she looks elegant, most beach photoshoots are with girl wearing barely anything BUT not this one, she is wearing a full swim suit! I think that is a statement.

The colour of her bathing suit also stands out, the fact its white is rather amusing, White symbolises  goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. Which we all knew she would but It is also considered as the colour of perfection.

By looking at this photography i have realised that today's society has gone more judgemental on body sizes and looks. 

References: http://www.vintag.es/2013/02/marilyn-monroe-at-amagansett-beach-in.html

colour white meaning

THE WESTMORES.

The westmores

The legendary Westmores are famous for their legacy in the hair and wig industry. George Westmore started to give his cilents make-up advice in exchange for hair styling services, so in 1917 George westmore opened the first and tiny Make-up department, at Selig studio.

George, has six sons; Perc,Ern,Monte,Wally Bud and Frank. Four out of six, Monte,Perc,Ern and Bud had comprehended the industry to become chief make up artists at four major studios. All brothers continued to break ground in the horror and new beauty illusions until their careered ended. 

Ernest son of George won the first award given to a make-up artist by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for his work on the film Cimarron in (1929-31). The next make-up award was not given until 1982. 

why?

Researching the Westmores was relevant to my brief as Perc Westmore, worked with Bette Davies during the film  "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" in 1939. Bette Davies was the first hollywood actor to appear bald on screen, even though it was 3inch shaved of he headline.

 She later did the same again in future years. 



References.

http://universalium.academic.ru/292922/Westmore_Family
http://www.themakeupgallery.info/period/c16/uk/elizabeth/virginbd.htm

APPEARANCE.

Portraits of Queen Elizabethan aren't significantly realistic on how she actually looked like, well they give us some idea of her physical appearance, but from them alone it is not easy to visualise what she actually looked like. 

“...her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled, her eyes small, yet black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked, her lips narrow and her teeth black; her hair was of an auburn colour, but false; upon her head she had a small crown. Her bosom was uncovered, as all the English ladies have it till they marry. Her hands were slender, her fingers rather long, and her stature neither tall nor low; her air was stately, and her manner of speaking mild and obliging.” 
Paul Hentzner, German visitor to Greenwich Palace, 1598. 

The above passage gives us more of a visual image to what she possible looked like. Queen Elizabeth did enjoy having her self painted and she was often painted looking a lot more younger than she actually she was.
From my previous lesson with Sharon discussing what Queen Elizabeth looked like, We discussed that Queen Elizabeth started losing her hair and originally had black teeth due to the lead used in her make -up. Queen Elizabeth also had scaring on her face from smallpox.

In her book “Elizabeth the Queen”, Alison Weir describes the 25 year old Elizabeth as:

“tall and slender, with a tiny waist, small bosom and beautiful, long-fingered hands, which it pleased her vanity to display to advantage in a variety of affected poses. She had a swarthy complexion like that of her mother, although she made a habit of whitening it with a lotion made up of egg-whites, powdered egg shell, poppy seeds, borax and alum, which made her face appear white and luminous. She had inherited also Anne Boleyn’s long, thin face, high cheekbones and pointed chin. From her father she had her red naturally curly hair and high, hooked nose.”

Information found. http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/profile/appearance.html http://www.elizabethfiles.com/what-did-elizabeth-i-look-like/2936/#ixzz3H4Rv74fo

image:http://www.shafe.co.uk/crystal/images/lshafe/Metsys_Elizabeth_I_The_Sieve_Portrait_c1583.jpg
Why?

why would i say this information is relevant to my work, while researching on Queen Elizabeths original look could help me with my interruption of Queen Elizabeth with a modern twist. This information has gave me more of image of how i personally thought she looked like, which might be different in the eye of someone else. 

TUDOR COSMETICS.

Tudor cosmetics

The use of make-up during the Elizabethan era was a fashion which the Queen herself set. Queen Elizabeth was naturally a red head with a pale complexion, but as she grew older she wore more detailed make -up which was useful for hiding her scarring on her face from small pox. The mixture was also useful for hiding wrinkles and other signs of ageing this helped her maintain her illusion of beauty and image of the Virgin Queen.

During the Elizabethan Era only people who wore wealth were capable of achieving the pale look, this indicates that the poor women would be working outside so their complexion would appear a lot darker to the wealthier. 

The mixtures the elizabethan worn was Ceruse this was vinegar and lead, this mixture was extremely poisonous but the Queen still chose to use it, but in later years faced the consequences. 
Cohineal was also used to stain their lips and cheeks, this is also used in food colouring in today's era but originally made from crushed beetles. Madder and vermilion was also used to redden the effect. Kohl was used to darker their eyelashes also. 

The image above gives us a perfect illusion of how Queen Elizabeth looked during her time as the Virgin Queen. 



References

http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-make-up.htm
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html

VIRGIN QUEEN.

Queen Elizabeth 1st

It was expected that Queen Elizabeth would marry and continue the Tudor line with children. Despite numerous courtships,Queen Elizabeth never produced an heir nor did she marry. As Elizabeth grew older, she became famous for her virginity. A Grew of people which known by "A cult" grew up around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants and literature of the day. The cult was in full swing in 1550-1580's.

Theory's of why the virgin Queen never married;

•  One theory is that she never married because the way that her father had treated his wives had put her off marriage, 
• Second theory is that she was elegy abused by Thomas Seymour while under the care of Katherine Parr, 
• An last but not least the third theory suggests that she was so in love with Robert Dudley that she could not bring herself to marry another man.

Reference :http://www.historyonthenet.com/tudors/elizabeth_portrait_of_a_queen.htm

http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/elizabeth/representing-the-queen/elizabeths-image

UNDERSTANDING QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Brief

Looking at the brief for the Elizabethans Project, i was told to look into painting portraits, books, film etc base on the Elizabethan era. We was told not to just look at Queen Elizabeth, but as she was one of the biggest influence not just in her own era but today too, i feel it is important to start with her.

Facts I know about the Elizabethan era are that Queen Elizabeth 1st was a rainbow of characteristics, she was cunning, vain, kind, smart and was very manipulative. Elizabeth was a natural red head with a natural pale complexion, later on in years she does enforce more colour to her hair and face.Elizabeth Loved beautiful clothing and jewellery. Leaders of the sate were to travel around the world to show their leadership but Elizabeth had a lot of catholic enemies so  she had her self painted in fabulous outfits to symbolise her leadership of the state.

The cosmetics worn by women during the time of Queen Elizabeth differed radically from those we wear today. Not only were the materials used--kohl, ceruse, vermilion, etc--far different, but the look that women tried to achieve was different as well. Standards of beauty change over the centuries. To understand the cosmetics worn by Elizabethan women, it's important to understand the effect they were trying to achieve--that "ideal" of beauty that they wanted to imitate.

The following video gives a brief speech about Queen Elizabeth's 1 life. 

I have also written parts if the video underneath for future references.When Henry the V11,Father of Elizabeth and his son died Mary, Elizabeth's half sister was made queen and due to religious differences she locked Elizabeth in the tower. Mary Died in 1558 making Elizabeth queen at 25 years of age.

Because Elizabeth was a female monarch she new she could use her appearance in court to create a loyalty and affection to her from the courters. 

Fears 
My fear of doing this brief is that we have to list out our imagination of how we would like our look and leave it in the hands of our partner. I myself is little more nervous to be given someone else's picture and do it totally different on how they expected. Considering it will be my first time exploring make up and i will try my best and hopefully they will like the final piece.

I am really looking forward to hearing more about the specific way they made their makeup and the tricks that they did to show how they thought beauty was. 

Another fear is combining a modern look with an historical look to come up with a final idea, but researching into it more will give me more depth about the elizabethan era.

One of my favourite sonnets from shakespeare is below. 

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
Coral is far more fair then her lips fair
If snow be white, why then, her breast is dun,
If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks..."

Why?

why is this information relevant you may ask? 
This information will be useful me in future reference throughout my first semester. It will give me, the reader/ designer a visual image of how i would like my interruption of Queen Elizabeth to look like. 

reference website :http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html

THE 'IDEAL' ELIZABETHAN WOMEN

Whilst researching the Elizabethan era, i came across a post about the "ideal" Elizabethan women. 

The Elizabethan view of pure beauty was a woman with light hair and a snow white complexion complimented with red cheeks and red lips. A pale complexion could only be achieved by a woman of the upper class. Lower class women were expected to work outside and therefore acquired a suntan!  The pale complexion was therefore a sign of wealth and nobility - an immediate identification for a person from the upper classes! This alabaster complexion was therefore also required by Elizabethan men! Queen Elizabeth not only achieved this picture of ideal beauty by using white make-up but was also a natural red head. 

The photos of Elizabethan are interrupt photos of Queen Elizabeth as she was extremely vain! 

The Rainbow Portrait, c. 1600–02, attrib. Isaac Oliver

The photo above is a perfect match to the description of the ideal women. 

Although the fashion for women changed to more seductive look it was important for Queen Elizabeth to maintain her image and the beauty of the virgin Queen.

UNDERSTANDING THE ELIZABETHAN ERA.

Elizabethan Era. 

The Elizabethan era was highly famous for theatre as, William shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theatre.

While researching the Elizabethan era i noticed seeing that England was a well-off compared to other nations around Europe. I came across a passenger saying the historian John guy (1988) argues that England was economically healthier, more expansive and more optimistic under the Tudors than at any time in a thousand years. 

Other historians often portray the Elizabethan era as the Golden age in english history. 

The Elizabethan era is observed so highly largely phases before and after. I was a brief phase of largely internal peace between the English Reformation and the battle between Protestants and Catholics and the battles between parliament and the monarchy that submerged the seventeenth century.For a time the Protestant/Catholic divide was settled by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal Absolutism.

This information was found on http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk

ME MYSELF & I

For starters let me tell you my name, i am Bethany Louise Webb, im 19 years of age and from Ellesmere Port. I grew up with two older siblings, one brother James and one sister Leanne which makes me the youngest. My Previous education is Art and design 3D Foundation degree which i studied at West cheshire College, i currently don't have any make up or hair back ground. The only back ground i have in hair which could be relevant experience is my mum being a hair dresser, this has given me some practical experience as i was always interested in watching my mum do clients hair.  I have done previous hair and Special FX make up before an i love it! One fear of starting this course was coming from a art background as well as others coming from beauty and hair. This basically means they have more of a lead to me but i am willing to try my best throughout my briefs and explore all my abilities.

INDUCTION WEEK.

The first week, the most nerve racking week of your life is the induction week, getting to know people from different ethnic groups as well as people with different personality but the MOST important thing is we all have the same thing in common, passion for Make-up and hair design. 

During the induction we got given a sheet which was  the Orientation Exercise. 

Below is a photo of we was expected to do.

The first part of the exercise was to get into groups of 4 and explain our mood boards which i explained before which is the summer project. 

Our Second part which you can see was to do some research on brands shown in the images below   find out what are there best selling product is. We was also expected to find locations which will be useful to us for the next year and take a selfie. 

This part i found difficult i didn't really have the confidence to stand there taking selfies in the middle of west quay for people to stare at me! but ey i did it. following few pictures 

•  MACS best selling product is Studio Fix Fluid Foundation 
• You can buy it at a price of £21:50
• The other best Selling product is Ruby woo mac Lipstick in Matte
• You can buy this at a price of £15.50
• A Regional Best selling Product is also the new mascara according to the southampton store we went in. 

• Benefit's best selling products are Hello Flawless oxygen wow! foundation, The POREfessional, and Real beyond Mascara

• BOBBI BROWN's best selling products are Skin Foundation SPF 15, creamy Concealer kit, Brightening finishing powder - Brightening Nudes

• laura mercier best selling products are Tinted Moisturiser, Secret Camouflage, Secret Concealer.

• Smashbox best selling product is Photo Finish Foundation Primer, Photo set finishing Powder, O-Plump Intuitive lip plumper

Tuesday

Tuesday morning we were up at the main building for 9:00am for Sharon to take us across into town where the Solent IT/ Library is. This was to give a short presentation for us to know where the IT/library was for future references. 

We then had a two hour gap where people could either go into town and finish their research task as well as the chance to sign up for the GP.

Once we came back we was seta short exercise and make masks, which turned out to be big brown paper bags we had to design whatever we liked or what we wanted to be in 5 years time.

As you can see below I made mine into a person who looks different, this not just in bad way, but i wanted to explain my personality to always be yourself and not copy other. 

We then had to pose for a selfie somewhere as Sharon our course leader loves a good old self!

Wednesday

Wednesday morning we was given our sally's salon head kit, this gave us the chance to have a look and organise our bags for future lessons. Later on we had 3 representatives from Illamasqua who gave us a detailed description of their company and products.During this process one of the representatives chose a model (Beth) to show us techniques to use the brushes, we got to understand why they always keep their brush moving and how quick they move it, the end result was amazing as you can see underneath. 

 THURSDAY

Thursday morning we had a sales pitch from Charles Fox about all the Krylon Products and their companies history which was very interesting. Gemma, the sales rep went through all the products including her favourites, best sellers and the ones we have in our own kit. 

After this we had the freshers fair were you could join up to different Society's as well as lots of discounts leaflets, you also had the opportunity to get free Dominos Pizza!

FRIDAY

Friday was the day we were meant to go on a little road trip but instead they decided to prospone the trip for another two weeks and organise a trip to London for the 10.10.14. This is an opportunity for us students to go look around the portrait gallery as well as buy discounted products from MAC Illamasqua and Charles Fox. 
So we had friday off.

SUMMER PROJECT

Summer Project mood board Group photo. 

"If i could i would" that was the first part of the summer project given, we all had to create a mood board of how we expect our lives to be in 5 years time, even if its being happy, settled down with a family an married or exploring the world traveling and exploring the Make-up and hair industry.

Following this is a copy of group discussion we had for a chance to explain our mood boards 

Sophey Sommers

Facts from Sophey’s mood board: Sophie wants to be a working mum and have a house with her partner, work for television shows and work on film sets, she would also love the opportunity to travel.

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board?  Films, Make up artists and the world around me.

How did you research the project? Online, books and magazines.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Relieved that the presentation is over, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Beth Webb

Facts from Beth’s mood board: Beth would like to find herself in 5 years time working for films such as harry potter, Hunger games, lord of the rings but not only films she would like to find herself exploring the catwalk industry too. What or who was the inspiration for your mood board? Films, make up brands, adverts and music videos.

How did you research the project? Magazines and ideas that she already had.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Not pleased, she had done another mood board that was better but couldn’t bring it from home as it was to big.

Vicki Leong

Facts from Vicki’s mood board: Vicki would like to work part time at a university whilst being a make up artist and would like to write her own make up book. Her inspiration is Sarah Jagger

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board? Make up artists and bloggers.

How did you research the project? The internet and movies music videos.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Pleased that she had finally completed her mood board.

Sera Gerwat

Facts from Sera’s mood board: Sera would like to work for catwalks, magazines or in fashion, she would also like to work in Korea as she is learning Korean.

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board? Different cultures, magazines and bloggers.

How did you research the project? Online, movies and music videos.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Sera liked her mood board and thinks it went okay.

Anna Lenton

Facts from Anna’s mood board: Anna would like to work in television, films and fashion, work for a company developing products, have a house, income and a job she enjoys.

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board?  Make up artists, bloggers, films, television and magazines.
How did you research the project? Online and the ideas she already had of what she wanted to do in the future.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Anna was pleased with my mood board, it went better than I thought it would.

 The Above three photos show two things, what i want to be in 5years but also some of the work i have already created in previous projects.

While creating my mood board i found a page in the magazines saying the winners, but i decided to remove the 's' and make it the winner as i would love to aim for that in 5 years time.




Second Part of the summer project was to analyse two films, an answer the following questions.
What genre does the film belong to?
Think about what makes the film iconic, did it start a style movement or was it mirroring society at the time?
Did it help to make the leading lady or man a fashion/style icon?
Is there particular accessory, piece of clothing or make-up look that defines the film?
Who were the make-up artists, hair designers, fashion designers that worked on the film?.
Why do you think the film is iconic in terms of fashion and style?

In the above two photos, shows the two films i chose and what i understand about each one, while writing the answers to the questions given.