Early and Late Victorian Hair in Film

Early Victorian Hair

The Young Victoria, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee and written by Julian Fellowes, is a 2009 film based on Queen Victoria's early reign and her romance with Prince Albert. Queen Victoria is played by Emily Blunt and there were many hair and makeup artists that worked on the film, including Francesco Alberico, Kate Benton and Mandy Gold. 

The hair in the image below looks very similar to the hair style we had learned in lesson. It looks like the front half of the hair has been split down the middle and then put into one big curl on either side, towards the face. These front two curls have been swooped over her ears and into her bun at the back. The back section has been put into a ponytail at the back of the head and then it looks like it has been plaited and twisted into a bun shape. It looks like there is a hair net holding her bun together and there is a jewel encrusted hair accessory on top of the bun. A flower crown has been added around the front of her head to add decoration. 

https://ladiesof2318.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/the-
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In this hair look, the front section has been given a middle parting and the top part of the hair has been smoothed down and then as it gets level with the ear a plait is formed and it is looped down and around her ears to be attached to the back bun. The back section has been put into a plait at the top of her head and then twisted into a bun. No hair accessories have been used in this hair style, so it has a relatively simple look for the Victorian era. 

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27400000/The-Y
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I really like this hair look as I love the bright yellow colour used and the jewel accessory and the extravagant shaping of the bun. The front section of her hair has been put in a middle parting and it has been kept smooth on top and then curled into a ringlet on both sides. The back section has been put into a bunch on her crown. I am not completely sure what has been done to the hair at the back, however I think it has been separated into small sections and wrapped round plastic hair moulds to give the petal effect. A band of yellow flowers has been wrapped round the bun and a delicate head piece has been arranged round her head. 

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/26700000/The-
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Late Victorian Hair

The 2002 film Daniel Deronda was directed by Tom Hooper and written by Andrew Davies and George Eliot. The hair and makeup designer was Caroline Noble and the other makeup artists were Rebecca Cole, Ashley Johnson and Tapio Salmi. Gwendolen Harleth is played by Romola Garai and she is the character whose hair I will be looking at.


It looks like there is some padding or back combing under the hair at the front, because even though it looks smooth, it definitely has some extra height. It then looks like the rest of the hair has been curled and some of the curls has been gathered more tightly at the top and then the curls look looser and less contact further down. The front of the hair is very smooth because a hat needed to be added for decoration.

https://recycledfilms.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/daniel-deronda-4b.jpg

It looks like the side sections have been pulled tightly backwards and then the top, middle section has been curled and possibly pinned down to made it easier for the hat to sit on top. I then think there is a bun at the back with curled hair and that some more curls have been wrapped around it to make it look really big and full. The very bottom section looks like it has been curled and then let to hang down. There is a small jewelled accessory in the bun section to add decoration.

http://demodecouture.com/projects/gwendolen/gwendolen5.jpg

This hairstyle looks very similar to the one above, however I think that the bun is higher and more hair has been let down at the bottom. There is a centre parting and then the curls have been swooped very slightly to the side and joined with the massive curled bun. She isn't wearing a hat in this look, so more jewelled decoration has been added, for example, I can see a shiny butterfly clip in her hair. . 

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Resources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0321897/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm