Estella: Late Victorian Hairstyles and Hair Charts

I did a blog post previously all about late victorian hair and what styles were most popular, so after looking at that again, I decided to create some possible hair styles that I could use for my Estella interpretation. Below are some images and sketches I found that gave me inspiration for my three looks. I wanted to keep all my hair designs accurate to the victorian era, with the sides pulled back and most of the body on top.

Examples of Late Victorian Hairstyles
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IJVPacWHTNw/T0Y-deW4uFI/AAAA
AAAAAvI/Ersto7HKPyg/s1600/victorian-hairstyles.jpg

Sketch of a late Victorian hairstyle
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j8qkfi8gI_M/TijQkq9QgaI/AAAAAAAA
ASI/7vv73dDb3FY/s1600/1875-12%2Bpeterson%2Bhair.jpg

Sketch of a 1880 Victorian Hairstyle

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/9b/d

c/88/9bdc8815cb522348ad2a549c02d17af2.jpg

My Hair Designs

Design 1

This first look was inspired by the sketch above of the 1880 victorian hairstyle. I think that to achieve the hairstyle, hair pieces or padding would have been used, however I wanted to achieve a similar look with just my model's hair. I thought that the technique of putting a bun in the top of the hair and arranging the rest of the curls around that was a good idea, so I drew that method here. The sketch shows that the hair splits in two at the back, however I wanted to keep the hair all together at the back, falling to one point. The main reason I took inspiration from the image was the curled fringe. My partner doesn't have a fringe so I don't know how this would work but I am intrigued to give it a try. I know that many women in the victorian era would use fake fringes to stick on the front of their hair if they didn't want to cut their hair, so that is always an option if I decide to continue further with this design. 

Design 2

This design was inspired by the image below of Queen Alexandra because I thought it was interesting and different, how she tied all her hair up and didn't have any curls loose at the back. I was also inspired by how far forwards the body of the hair came, instead of it being more focused on the back. I hadn't tried this look out so I just drew something down that I thought could be a starting point for developing this hair design. I thought it would work if all the hair was curled in tight ringlets and then it was all pulled in to the centre, wear a centre parting would be positioned, and secured in a line to create the strip of curled hair. I then thought it would look pretty if some flowers were added to the centre strip of curls as it was very popular to decorate your hair with flowers in the victorian era. Even though I do like this look, I don't think it's fun and girly enough for the character of Estella as it is very structured. I will therefore not be experimenting further with this look. 

Portrait of Queen Alexandra
http://pre-raphaeliteramblings.blogspot.co.uk/201
3/06/the-victorian-human-hair-market.html

Design 3 (chosen design)

I was loosely inspired by the hairstyle on Gwendolen Harleth below from the film Daniel Deronda because I really liked how all the hair was pulled off her face and how the sides had been twisted or curled backwards. I also really like how all the volume is at the back/top of her head because I think it is the  most flattering. I decided to adapt the curls at the side into the hair at the front being twisted in sections and then meeting with the bun at the back. I thought that the method of having a bun to build the height and then taking the curls up to add the fullness would be the best method that I knew. I wanted the curled hair to be brought into the middle and down the centre of the head and I wanted there to be some curls left loose at the bottom to add length, which is all very similar to the image below. I thought it would look pretty if I added some flowers to the hair, as this was very popular in the era, around the front of the hair to act almost like a crown of flowers. I am really happy with this design and am looking forward to testing it out on my model.

Romola Garai as Gwendolen Harleth in the 2002 film Daniel Derondahttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ToB4gvsGyGo/UZG0xTVqVwI/AAAAAAAAB-I/LnIKBIMzmqI/s1600/deronda47.jpg

References:

https://locksofelegance.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/curly-late-victorian/

Late Victorian Dresses and Jewellery

For my Estella creation I thought it would be fun to have her wearing a victorian style dress and some Victorian inspired jewellery. I noticed, after looking at many victorian style dresses, that a popular style was to have a lot of the chest showing and sometimes the shoulders, with a jewelled necklace to add some decoration. It was very popular to have slightly puffy sleeves and a puffing skirt, but with a tight waist to emphasise the women's curves. I have given some examples of the dresses I am referring to here. 

Queen Victoria
http://www.luxuryandlifestyles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/queen-victoria.jpg

A sketch of examples of dresses in the late Victorian era.
http://www.fashionlady.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/BallgownsLate19th1.jpg

Daniel Deronda based in 1867.
http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/daniel-deronda.jpg

I found this dress in my mum's wardrobe. It was my grandmother's bridesmaid dress for her wedding and I thought it looked very similar to the victorian style dresses I had been looking at above.

I found that a lot of the victorian jewellery was very bold and had many jewels on them; they were definitely statement pieces. However I also found more subtle necklaces that looked more elegant and feminine which I thought would work better for Estella's younger character. I have shown some beautiful examples below of the more understated necklaces that I found.

Antique Victorian Natural Pearl & Diamond Necklace
http://www.beladora.com/store/504905_antique_
victorian_natural_pearl_and_diamond_necklace

Victorian Antique Necklace & Earring Set
http://www.olivierlaudus.com/products/victoria-antique-necklace-earring-set.html

Early Victorian Diamond Bow Pin
http://www.langantiques.com/products/item/50-1-1730

After rummaging through my mum and grandma's jewellery collections, I found a necklace that I thought looked very similar to the ones I showed above. The shape of the necklace is very similar to the two necklaces above, with the jewels running along the necklace and also some dangling down. The fact that there are bows on the necklace was inspired by the image above of the victorian diamond bow pin I found. I think that by the necklace having bows on it, it gives the necklace a younger and more fun and girly feel about the necklace. The jewels on my necklace are yellow and silver which I also think are fun and bright colours, representing how Pip feels about Estella. I will be using both the dress and this necklace in my final Estella interpretation as I think they both fit the character well.

Estella Description

The name Estella means ‘star’ - she is beautiful, but very distant and out of reach.

'“Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures," replied Estella, with a glance towards him, "hover about a lighted candle. Can the candle help it?”'

Estella is also the light in the dark corridors of Satis House as she lights the way with a candle when Pip visits.

Young Estella, from p46

On his first visit to Satis House, Pip was met by Estella at the gate describing her as ‘the young lady, who was very pretty and seemed very proud.’.

‘Though she called me ‘boy’ so often, and with a carelessness that was far from complimentary, she was about of my own age.  She seemed much older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful and self-possessed; and she was as scornful of me as if she had been one-and-twenty, and a queen.’

‘Miss Havisham …. Took up a jewel from the table, and tried its effect upon her fair young bosom andagainst her pretty brown hair.’

When asked by Miss Havisham what he thought of Estella, he whispered in her ear:-

‘I think she is very proud …. very pretty …. very insulting.’

All above was at Pip’s first visit to the house.

On later visits ….

‘Sometimes, she would coldly tolerate me; sometimes, she would condescend to me; sometimes, she would be quite familiar with me; sometimes, she would tell me energetically that she hated me.’

During Joe’s visit to Satis House ‘her eyes laughed mischievously.’

Daydreaming when at the forge with Joe he would imagine he could see ‘Estella’s face in the fire, with her pretty hair fluttering in the wind and her eyes scorning me’

When abroad being educated to be a lady, described by Miss Havisham as ‘prettier than ever; admired by all who see her.’

Described by Herbert Pocket as ‘That girl’s hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree, and has been brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex.’

Young Lady Estella, from p200

When Pip returned to Satis House as a young gentleman & saw Estella again

‘an elegant lady whom I had never seen.’

‘the eyes were Estella’s eyes. But she was so much changed, was so much more beautiful, so much more womanly, in all things winning admiration had made such wonderful advance,’

‘Proud and wilful as of old, she had brought those qualities into such subjection to her beauty that it was impossible and out of nature – or I thought so – to separate them from her beauty.’

‘air of completeness and superiority with which she walked at my side’

‘I am serious’, said Estella, not so much with a frown (for her brow was smooth)’

‘Her handsome dress had trailed upon the ground.  She held it in one hand now’

‘the air of inaccessibility which her beauty and manner gave her’

‘with a cold, careless smile that always chilled me’

Older Estella, after her marriage has ended, from p411

‘The freshness of her beauty was indeed gone, but its indescribable majesty and its indescribable charms remained. Those attractions in it I had seen before; what I had never seen before, was the saddened, softened light of the once proud eyes; what I had never felt before, was the friendly touch of the once insensible hand.’

Ageing the Wedding Dress and Veil

I decided to paint over the plastic flowers on the veil because I thought they looked too bright underneath the fake flowers I was going to put on top. I therefore mixed green and brown to make this dark, merky colour as I thought it would just add depth to the flowers on top. To age the veil, I used a cheese grater and rubbed the material with it to make rips and holes and I am really happy with the results. I also soaked teas bags in hot water and rubbed the tea bags over the veil to give it a yellowy colour that Pip describes. 

I was going to use real flowers and let them go off and die, however I knew that this wouldn't work ver well for continuity as they wouldn't necessarily look the same as before. I therefore chose to find fake flowers that would give the same effect. These were difficult to find, as not many people want to buy dead flowers, however after looking around I finally found some that I thought were perfect! I played around with the flowers that go around the top of the veil and I was really excited by how it looked! I think that the wooden flowers look really realistic, as if they were once white roses and had now died and gone off colour. I will need to buy some more of these roses so that they can go all around the back and super glue them in place for continuity. 

 To age the dress, I used the same method as with the veil. I used a cheese grater (as shown below) and pulled at the material to make rips and to unpick some of the stitching. I also used wet tea bags to make the material look more yellow and old. I only worked on the upper half of the dress as this would be the only part that is going to be shown in my final images. I am really happy with the results. I also ripped around the neck line of the dress to make it look bigger as it says that she used to fit the dress but had now 'shrunk to skin and bone' so therefore it was too big for her.

Close-up of the worn material.

Before.

After.

Experimenting with Miss Havisham's Hair

My Hair Charts

The design below would be my favourite out of these because I think it would have been a true representation of how her hair would have looked. After years of not fixing and washing your hair, I can only imagine what it would look like, but I think that her hair would have fallen out and the tight curls would have loosened and gone knotty. I think that the bun at the back of the hair would have fallen out, but I think that the hair would still be tied up with a hair elastic. I think that the most important thing about the hair look would be the colour and texture. The colour was described and 'white' and 'grey' in the book, so obviously I will need to find a wig tat is either grey or could be made to go grey. I think that the texture would have been very dry and dusty, so I will need to show that in my hair style. 

Working with my Model

I decided to paint the plastic flowers on the veil because I thought they looked too bright and too shiny and new. I used some acrylic paint to make them look a browny/yellow colour as I wanted them to look more old; however I am not happy with the colour as I think it looks too yellow on camera. I will therefore add some more brown to make them look darker and so that they blend in more with the fake flowers I will be putting on top.

Before and After

I had ordered a wig online, however when it came it was a lot darker than I thought, however I decided to test it out anyway and get a rough idea of what the hair would look like. I first applied a wig cap to my model's head, which I made from a pair of tights. I made sure that all her hair was tucked away so that it wouldn't interfere with the wig. I then put the wig on, starting from the back and clipping the wig in as I go. I found it quite fiddly to get the wig on at first, but after I practiced a few times, I started to get the hang of it. 

 I decided to use dry shampoo to give the wig a grey look. I chose to use dry shampoo over a grey hairspray because I think it would give a more dusty and dry look. I really like how this technique means that all the hear is not one colour, because I think it looks a lot more natural with the different tones and highlights.

When I was deciding what I wanted the back of the hair to look like, I though of how it might have looked on her wedding day and how it may have fallen out and deteriorated. It was very popular for women to have the back of their hair in a bun, that was possibly plaited. Therefore I thought that the bun would have fallen out over the years when she was sleeping and I think the hair band would have dropped. I also think that it would be very knotty and matted, so I will back comb the hair to give it that effect. I am happy with how it turned out below, however I think I will need to make it look more matted, as it just looks knotty. 

I wanted to roughly see what the hair would look like with the 'dead' roses along where the crown is. I think that they looked a lot better than the plastic flowers on the veil as they looked more real and more suitable for the character description. I thought that the hair on the left looked too neat and perfect, so I used a tail comb to back comb the hair to make it look more messy and matted. When I was back combing the hair, I noticed that a lot of the dry shampoo fell out which made the hair look black again. I could help this by spraying the dry shampoo over the hair after I finished the look, however I think I will look into finding another wig that is already grey.

Research into Warts

I want to add a witch aspect to my Miss Havisham portrayal and to do that, I thought it would be interesting to add a wart to the end of her nose. When I think of a witch, I automatically think of a green, old lady with a wart on her nose. I think this because of the films with witches in that I watched in my childhood. I want to include a wart in my Miss Havisham portrayal because I want the audience of the film to be able to instantly recognise the witch reference, without making her green! Below I have made a collage of some of the witches I found online of witches and they all have warts.

Examples of Witches with Warts

http://movieboozer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/disney-witch-wart.jpg

http://www.tigerscursebook.com/images/witches/ugly%20witch.jpg

http://ccn1.net/POTD5/oldwitch-sketch.gif

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/keyw.com/files/2013/03/witch-630x459.jpg

Nose Warts

I found the most common places to get warts are the soles of the feet, chin and hands; however I found that Seborrhoeic warts grow on the face and can grow on the nose. 

'Seborrhoeic warts are also known as seborrhoeic keratoses. In the past they were also called senile warts. They usually look like greasy or crusty spots which seem to be stuck on to the skin. The colour varies but usually they are darkish brown or black.

They are usually round although they can also be oval in shape. Some seborrhoeic warts have an irregular shape. Their size can vary from around one centimetre to several centimetres in diameter.' - http://www.patient.co.uk/health/seborrhoeic-warts.

Example of a wart on a nose.
http://www.advanceddermatologycenter.com/images/P
hotoGallery/Surgical/p2240_preHex_wart_nose.jpg

My Wart Inspiration.
http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/1x6004473/seborrhoei
c_wart_on_nose_72-year-old_man_m729037.jpg

When creating my wart, I will be referring back to the image above of the wart on the nose. It looks like it is raised only slightly, but it looks very rough and uneven. It is red around the outside and then a darker red/brown where it starts to lift. The wart itself look a light yellow/brown colour. I will be using my supra colour palette for this and then powdering it afterwards, as it doesn't look very shiny. I am not sure what products I will use to create this wart; I will just have to experiment and see what works best!

Reference:

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/seborrhoeic-warts

Death Masks

The Victorians were fascinated by death and the happenings after you passed away. Queen Victoria mourned her husband, Albert, for the remaining forty years of her life, wearing all black and rarely going to public appearances, but instead spending much of her time by herself in Windsor Castle. Queen Victoria kept everything in his room exactly the same as before he had passed away and the servants were asked to bring hot water into his room every mourning, as they had done before his passing.

An example of the dresses Queen Victoria wore in mourning.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-xdsDRGuMcy4/T-q-E3zYqpI/AAAAAAAAXpg/U3dng
H-VCzA/Queen%252520Victoria%252520in%252520Mourning%25252
0Dress%25252002_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

The state of mourning was taken up by the Victorians to show their bereavement and respect towards their lost ones. They would wear black and then as the years went by they would change the colour of their clothes to show the stage of mourning they were at, for example at 'half mounting' they would wear purples and greys. The women were expected to stay in isolation at home, just like what Queen Victoria did, however the men were allowed to continue to work through their mourning. 

Memento Mori, which means 'remember you must die' in Latin, were things that would remind the owner of someone that they had lost. People would arrange lockets of the person's hair and wear it in their jewellery, people would have photos taken and then with the use of double exposure, their loved one would hover over them like a ghost or spirit. It was very popular to have a public death, so people would have photographs taken with their loved ones who had passed away and prop them up to make them look like they were almost still alive. Another Memento Mori would have been to have death masks created, which were moulds of the person's face.

Example of a lock of hair in a locket.
https://40.media.tumblr.com/b553d879ae393c4d0365911f
43561ce2/tumblr_mgxycjXjMx1rdurh7o1_400.jpg

An example of Double Exposure in the Victorian Era
http://www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/cur
iosities/2011/october/images/victor11.gif

An example of someone posing with their dead loved one.
http://editorial.designtaxi.com/news-morbid3001/8.jpg

Death Masks

A death mask is created when a mould is made of a dead person's face out of wax or clay. It is a form of Memento Mori. One of the most famous death masks ever made was of an unknown woman who had been pulled out of the Seine River in Paris in the 1980s. The mask was named L'Inconnue de la Seine, which means 'the unknown woman of Seine'. This death mask is still famous and used today, as the first-aid mannequin Rescue Annie!

L'Inconnue de la Seine
https://anarchistcoloringbook.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/anne.jpeg

My Death Masks

Resources:
http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/victoria/section5.rhtml
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-death/victorians-and-the-art-of-dying
http://mentalfloss.com/article/22871/creepiest-thing-ever-linconnue-de-la-seine