My Final Design

 

Here it is. My final look that I designed and Ley executed. I am over the moon with how this has turned out! I'm really thankful that me and Ley work so well together and understand one another's thought processes and ideas. We are inspired by a lot of the same things so when we get together its a massive creative burst of energy! The final outcome is pretty much how I envisioned it when designing it. Ley did a fantastic job of taking on board everything I had told her about my idea. The hair piece was better than I had excepted. I wanted to create something that looked elegant but also empowering and eerie, as this is how I imagined Queen Elizabeth the First to be. I wanted to incorporate feathers in to my design to add texture, and when researching I noticed that in quite a few pictures there were birds or pheasants somewhere in there. Also in the Elizabethan Era they didn't have supermarkets like we do now, they would have hunted for there food and this inspired my use of feathers. I wanted to use some sort of jewel or glitz as jewels were laced on the rich Elizabethans head pieces and clothes, so rather than adding jewels and sticking to the same idea they had by putting them on their clothes and in their hair, I wanted to twist it up and put sequins on the face. I personally feel that this created a really contemporary twist as the Elizabethans didn't go to town with make up on there face, apart from making sure they were pale. I wanted to create an eerie and powerful look, and overall I think myself and Ley achieved this. I am really pleased with my final design.

Self Evaluation

My self and Leonie partnered up for out Final Assessment. The brief was to design and create a contemporary Elizabethan look, but once we had done so, we then had to switch and each partner had to create the opposite partners design. We had 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete and perfect our Contemporary Elizabethan designs that we had created after having researched thoroughly in to the Elizabethan era. This included Hair and Make-up, and any styling if chosen to do so. Once the assessment started we were not allowed to discuss the designs and had to keep noise to a minimum. I was first to do the assessment which meant I was to do Leonie’s design on her. Leonie had done a lot of prep before the assessment, including making her head piece and jewels, so on the day of the assessment I felt a little more relaxed. This meant that I could focus more on the make-up making sure I perfected the lips and eyes. I feel personally that the assessment went according to plan as me and Ley had practised quite a few times before hand. We made sure that we knew each step off by heart and because we had discussed the design so many times we were extra prepared and I felt extremely confident. My self and Ley had talked about her inspiration behind the design she had created, meaning that I had a good understanding of where she wanted to go with the look which meant that we worked well as a team as I completed the look exactly how Ley envisioned it. I think Leonie got a bit worried that I wouldn’t finish in time as I spent some time on parts of the makeup that perhaps didn’t necessarily need to be faffed with, but because I was so confident that I would have the hair done in a short space of time I wasn’t too worried about not finishing on time. I do find that when it comes to doing winged eye shadow or eyeliner, in this case it was winged eye shadow; I find it hard matching each side. I found it tricky getting both sides exactly equal and this panicked me slightly as I wanted it to be perfect for Leonie. I want to be able to feel confident when doing this so I don’t stress too much when doing make up application, as I find that when I stress I doubt myself leading to me not perhaps doing as well as I could. I think I have a tendency to worry more than I need to at certain times which throws me off slightly, but I am slowly but surely learning to trust myself and my application. Overall I am really pleased with how the assessment went for Leonie’s design. I feel that we both worked in a professional and hygienic manner.

Peer Evaluation

I was pleased with how Leonie went about creating my Contemporary Elizabethan Design. She was organised and went about the assessment in a hygienic and professional manner. My self and Leonie had practised my design a few times before the actual assessment so we were both feeling confident and prepared for the day. Leonie was quite worried when I showed her my face chart design, as I had included quite an intricate make up design on the face using sequins. Leonie was worried that she wouldn’t have enough time to glue the sequins on as they are fairly fiddly and time consuming, but after we practised she soon relaxed as it didn’t in fact take much time at all. Like Leonie, I made my hair piece beforehand so Leonie had more time to focus on the make-up. Before the assessment me and Leonie had talked through in detail my inspiration for my design, and how I wanted to portray the look. This meant that Leonie understood my thought process and new how I wanted my design to look at the end. During the assessment Leonie got a little worked up when she was doing the eyebrows which resulted in her making a few mistakes. She decided to take off quite a bit of the makeup she had already done which meant she got even more stressed as she then had to go back and re do the makeup she had already done. However, she did quickly re compose herself and did a great job of the eyebrows afterwards. Leonie suffers from mental health problems so I took this in to consideration. Leonie positioned my hair piece exactly in the right place and made sure that it was pinned securely to my head using grips. Leonie did a great job of creating my design and I am very happy with the final result. She took on board all of the information I had given her and she produced some lovely make up.

My final chart design...

Here is my final design. I was inspired by the use of texture I have seen in the Elizabethan research I had looked at. I wanted to create an authentic contemporary look but obviously keeping to the brief which is for it to look Elizabethan with a contemporary twist. Myself and Ley practised this look before the assessment and discovered that there were a few parts of the design that wouldn't have worked within the time frame given, there for we had to adapt and change around some ideas to create a better outcome for the assessment . The parts of the design that we decided to change were the feather ruff that I wanted to structure on to the neck to create height and authority. I used a glue gun to glue the feathers together, but the glue was not strong enough to hold the structure together. And I didn't want to use it unless it was going to work exactly how I wanted it too. So I took that element away and I decided to have black lace draped over the neck and chest area, coming up on to the jaw line. I wasn't too disappointed about not being able to use the feather ruff as I actually preferred the look with just the black lace. It gave off quite an eerie feel which added to the overall image. I also decided that the look would look more aesthetically pleasing if I made the design look more symmetrical so I decided to add sequins on both sides rather than just one. I took the jewels  away as I felt that they added a tacky feel to the look.    

Practising Ley's Contemporary Elizabethan Design...

 

Here are a few pictures of when myself and Ley practised her Contemporary Design for the assessment. When we did this we didn't know we had 1 hour and 45 minutes so we set a timer for one hour and finished with 1 minute to spare. The practise went really well, Ley had explained to me in detail her thought process and inspirations so I was clear of where she wanted this to go. Before I started we set up everything we needed for the assessment so that everything was to hand. We practised as if we were in an assessment so we didn't really speak and we kept to the time (the time we thought we had, 1 hour). I was really happy with the result seeing as this was my first time. I need to focus on perfecting winged eyeliner.

Inspiration

 

Here are a few images I came across when researching in to contemporary Elizabethans. All of these pictures are so unique and beautifully designed. They have their own style yet still portray an Elizabethan theme. It's really amazing how much the Elizabethan era has sculpted and inspired the world we live in now.

 

Me and Leonie went to Ikea to try and find some inspiration for our ideas for out final design. It's amazing what you can find if you look for it.. there is inspiration in everything around us. We don't take advantage of this fact! The twisted plants reminded us of the Elizabethan plaits. The tops with the ribbed pattern on reminded us of armour, and the net at the top reminded us of a ruff!