Influential Older Women: Vivianne Westewood

Vivianne Westwood is an influential older lady. She broke into the fashion industry years ago and is still an icon who is highly respected. When doing research for Miss Haversham it reminded me of other older women I could take inspiration from. I find it really interesting how women can be so influential through years and years of inspiring other women of all ages.

Vivianne is a fashion designer who is 74 now. The reasons why she reminded me of reflecting on Miss Haversham are as follows:

She is British

She is powerful

She likes to shock people-shock value of punk.

She has been married twice, meaning she had one divorce which all relates to Miss Haversham. Here is some more info I found on Viv:

In 1962, Vivienne Swire met Derek Westwood, a Hoover factory apprentice, in Harrow.^[6] They married on 21 July 1962 and Vivienne made her own wedding dress for the ceremony.^[6] In 1963, she gave birth to a son, Benjamin Westwood.^{[6]- wiki
 For 30 years she lived in an ex-council flat in Nightingale Lane, Clapham,[56] until, in 2000, Kronthaler convinced her to move into a Queen Anne style house built in 1703, which once belonged to the mother of Captain Cook.[57] Westwood does not watch television or read newspapers or magazines; however she is a keen gardener.[58]
-}

I love this image of Vivianne! She wears abstract makeup and fills her brows in with a red liner to match her eye makeup. She has the same feel as Miss H here with pale skin, and white hair!She's independent and loves making a statement. 

Fashion Images Miss Haversham References

Today I was reading through LOVE magazine and found some great inspiration for my Miss Haversham design. I really loved these distorting images. These images made me feel something and that is something I want to take into consideration for my Miss H final design.

The spooky images are really disturbing to me and I love how the photographer has incorporated dramatic lighting within the photos.

These few images include a skeleton which reminded me of Miss Haversham being described as "half skeleton" by Pip.

These images reminded me of Miss Havaershams deteriorating wedding dress. The fabrics look like they're decaying. The right image especially reminded me of an Alexandra McQueen reference from his collections.

The white hair and skinny boned, pale appearance of the model here also reminded me of Miss Haversham in a high fashion style!

Final Assesment Photos Taken For Continuity

Here are some more images of my Miss Haversham first assessment.

Gothic Horror in Great Expectations

The novel Great Expectations has aspects of Gothic and Horror within it. The setting, the themes, the time it was set and the story all show different ways of how it could be related to these two words and meanings.

How is 'gothic' and grotesque depicted in Great Expectations?

When I read GE I found it was gothic from the beginning of the story. The first chapter shows Pip a young boy in a grave yard, he is abandoned and this shows his family aren't looking after him properly. In his mindset he was very afraid to be there and the story of Pip goes on to be a very lonely guy who has a lot of love to give. Miss Haversham is a ghostly woman who is very disturbing and someone if you would imagine to meet you would feel as if you'd seen something out of a horror/gothic movie. Satis house is a very ghostly setting which is almost haunting when you think about it. The house is full of years of old cob webs, dust and has frozen from many years ago without any maintenance.

The words distorted and repulsive are similar to grotesque. So when I think of grotesque factors in GE I think of questions that come in to my mind about Miss Haversham and Satis house, questions that come to my mind are:

Has Miss Haversham washed since the day of her wedding?
Does she have rats/mice/mould?
In the Victorian era they often used basins as a hole in the ground to go to the toilet, Miss Haversham barely moves from one room so does she keep a toilet in there?

Many questions which are revolting and grotesque which shows how the reader feels when reading into Miss Haversham's situation.

What are specific elements of the uncanny?

1. "The uncanny (German: Das Unheimliche, "the opposite of what is familiar") is a mixture of the familiar and unfamiliar that is experienced as being peculiar." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny
2. Unfamiliar scenes in GE are when Pip goes into Satis house and the lead up to going into Satis house. "On this day of the year, long before you were born, this heap of decay," stabbing with her crutched stick at the pile of cobwebs on the table but not touching it, "was brought here. It and I have worn away together. The mice have gnawed at it, and sharper teeth than teeth of mice have gnawed at me." (11.99) This explains how disgusting the house is and the fact that Miss H has stopped her life in time to this has made it clear that Miss H has gone mad. Pip's perspective of the house must see a very unusual disgusting appearance and setting and the thought of the tother senses when reading this chapter made me think about how the house could've smelt and felt to be in. 

How does Dickens give the uncanny a unique twist within the novel in terms of characterisation?
How do you interpreted the gothic?

I find it interesting how Dickens has used Pip a very vulnerable innocent young boy to go into a house with such character and disgust! And he also has to face Miss Haversham who appears very intimidating. She is a strong character who is very unfamiliar who has 'no heart'. The fact that she's stopped everything in time shows how crazy she is. Theres definitely a unique twist when Estella comes into this as well as Miss H influences Estella to 'make Pip fall in love with her' to get her own back on men! This shows evilness to Miss H and also Estella and shows through at the end of the novel too where Miss H burns to death! It's ironic as she's been rotting the whole time and then she gets set a light and Pip sees her. It shows the horror on Pip as he has always been the one to be unfortunate within the situation; going to work in Satis house was out of his comfort zone as a child and then he falls in love with Estella who shows coldness to him after he opens up to her and then he finally sees Miss H die in front of him. This shows how Dickens has cleverly shown gothic the whole way through the novel. I also think that the setting is very gothic, the time frame which is in Victorian time; a time of gothic history etc.

Practice Of Gothic Shoot-Claudia Inspiration

Today I collaborated to shoot a Gothic Doll shoot. The inspiration was taken from death masks. The character is disturbing and mentally ill. She is found dead in a forest. My Claudia is found in a forest but is not dead. This character really related to my version of Claudia as she's been beaten up with no one knowing what is going on. I really liked the makeup I created for this look including bruising on her neck and puffy eyes as if she'd been biten by a vampire. This is a similar idea to my Claudia and Quentin scenario.

My final images from the shoot are to come soon!

The Importance Of Continuity In Film, TV and Theatre

I have understanding of continuity and its importance in TV & Film industry. In my look I hope to fulfil these skills. In my Miss Haversham design I have clearly stated which products I will be using on the facechart. I think a facechart is essential for this kind of task as it gives a translated outline of where you will be placing these products onto the skin. I enjoyed creating the character of Miss Haversham and felt the task was a great idea for us to practice these looks onto the skin. In my design I have chosen to use theatrical ageing as a way of giving Miss Haversham an old look. To keep continuity within my design I have practiced the look a few times to get it to where I want it to be. The first layer uses skin base by Illimasqua which is a white pale foundation, this is to be placed on with the same brush each time I do the look to give the product the same look. I used a foundation brush for this and blended and buffed it out with this on the forehead, tops of the cheekbones, nose,  chin and mouth area. To continue to this I then added the ageing lines in the face with supra colour. I use a small angled thin brush to do this each time and get my model to scrunch up their face accordingly to how I want the ageing lines to be. I hope to make these lines very thin but not too light, just the right amount of product to be visible as my look is for TV. I then blended the lines into the skin a little to give a more natural effect. I looked at photos of my previous work and my facechart to try and get the exact product placement on the skin. For the eyes I used supracolour, I tried each time to mix in the sam reddish/yellow colour for the bruised tired looking eyes. I made sure that my design would show the same shape for this each week for our assessment. I then used powder to make the skin look dry and flakey especially the nose. I used MAC shine over the top of the makeup I did on the eyes and tried to place it in the same area as I did the week before.


In terms of hair and styling I kept it simple so it would be easily created again. The plait I used was a hair extension piece which helped me to have a similar plat the next week as I had the same amount of hair both weeks in this plait.
In film and TV the show needs to flow and show that if its the same scene but a different day on set it needs to show the exact same costume, makeup and hair. If it has any slight differences or something e.g. is on the wrong side of the hair, the audience will notice. It's a very important factor of film to make sure that this will be exact to the time it was last cut on a scene. The idea is to make the transition as swift as possible.

I have enjoyed undertaking the task of using continuity as I feel I have been able to strengthen this talent. You have to be a lot more careful of the way you apply the makeup and where you're placing the make up and hair. I hope that my Miss Haversham looks are very similar when they come out in the photos. I was pleased with how organised I was as I used a stage by stage detailed plan of how to apply the makeup.

Fascination With Horror?

It seems that there is a fascination with horror in media and in our general lives. Horror is everywhere. TV shows, movies, real life stories, books, wildlife, ghost scares and museums. Horror themes crop up in the fashion industry and fashion catwalks too. young children love the thought of horror in evil characters in movies and TV. The thought of being 'thrilled' or scared or feeling of tension gives humans an adrenaline. Halloween is a time which reminds me we are brought up excited to dress up as something traditionally 'scary' for fun, horror is a sense of excitement and fun in a different way.

TV Shows: Many TV series include the aspect of Gothic and Horror now. Many mini series are inspired with the idea of horror, I have seen lately especially lots of new shows which include supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves! These are however original too as the aspect of Ghosts and creepy stories have been seen in e.g. Buffy the Vampire for years!

True Blood, American Horror story, Dexter are all shows which show a horror side of supernatural beings being included in their shows. I find it interesting how these shows have appeared more and more over the years and become very popular with award winning shows.

Movies: Dracula, Frankenstein, Amiteyville Horror, The Exorcist and The Interview With The Vampire are all horror movies which are either old or more new. It shows how horror has been remade for years and year and how new horror stories are being made all the time. I find Horror a really interesting genre which is popular in all ages.

Fashion: Fashion especially high fashion shows references of horror all the time. Even certain materials and colours show up each season to show references to Gothic. I will show within my blog many posts of how fashion and horror has a connection.

Books: In books ever since the Victorian age there have been books referencing horror, ghost stories etc! The original Dracula book was written in 1897. Now we have teens reading all sorts of horror books such as Twilight saga, True Blood etc. Different elements of horror appeal to different people too, some love the romantic style and some people purely love the original novels.

Wildlife: As I live in the Cotswolds we see a lot of roadkill unfortunately. People are always fascinated by the animals we see dead or alive! Even though I cant stand the thought of dead animals we see Gothic Horror examples in our every day lives which we cannot escape from. Creepy crawlers also have a sense of scare within us humans even though they're so small compared to us!

Ghost Scares: There are always people in my everyday lives talking about how 'they've seen a ghost' and tell you about their ghost stories! My grandparents always tell me stories of how they saw a ghost a few years back of a passed away loved one!

Museums: I find that I've seen a lot of horror within museums! The National History Museum shows Egyptian tombs which I was scared of as a child which I still memorise now! Gothic horror can be so memorable and having scares is also memorable as a child and as you get older too. I find this so interesting.

Children: Even children's Tv shows and movies include a 'baddy' in their shows and films. So from a young age we all experience the thought of an evil character.

Pip And Estella Character Breakdown in Novel, FIlm and BBC Series

From reading the novel Great Expectations I have now got an understanding of Pip and Estella. Pip is by far the most important character, we see him at the start as a child and see how his journey changes as he grows up into a young man. The novel is based on how Pip is seeing and experiencing things. Pip comes from a poor background which is reflected on how he appears and dress's. His actions in the novel make up the story line. He makes up the opinion of the reader and shapes how things appear in the story. Pip is explained as being immature and a hopeless romantic who falls in love with Estella who leads him along. For imagining Pips appearance we don't have much evidence as the novel does not explain much on his appearance. But we imagine him as being not well dressed in some old clothing that has been passed down from the family, a hat, muddy boots from being at the forge and possibly a waistcoat. Character estimations have been created on both the BBC show and the films of Great Expectations. As Pip gets older he gets more sophisticated, almost embarrassed of his family and upbringing as he heads to travel to London we start to imagine the new Pip and how he would've appeared. 

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/canalysis.html

BBC: In the BBC series Pip first appears on screen as a very innocent looking young boy. He appears vulnerable but brave to take on everything that comes to him. He is a strong character in the series as he isn't too shy or timid from the start. 

 He then grows into a handsome young man who is still shown as vulnerable but more confident. He continues to have a love for Estella no matter how mean she is to him. His persona is shown through his styling, makeup and hair in the series being smartly dressed reflecting on being more successful. His hair is soft natural curls with some length which appears groomed and well looked after. He suddenly becomes a gentleman.

 Young Estella is also an important character of Great Expectations. She is a mean young girl who grows up with Miss Haversham looking after her. She is constantly undermining Pip. And she casts Pip under her spell of falling in love with her. She is a cold character who is manipulative. "as Pip learns near the end of the novel, she is the daughter of Magwitch, the coarse convict, and thus springs from the very lowest level of society." 

She appears as a young girl in the BBC series with a perfect complexion, tidy hair, immaculate clothing. Like Miss H she has a pale skintone suggesting she is more wealthy as she does not work in the sun. 

When Estella grows into a young woman we see her character develop into a strong young woman. The hair in the series suggests mid-late Victorian hair styles as she has loose romantic curls coming down but also has part of her hair up at the back. Her parting is in a middle parting too which suggests a later Victorian hair do'. 

How do you think you'll show Estella through production through styling/makeup and hair design?

I want to show Estella looking young, innocent but still sophisticated. I want to style her hair in a very romantic, curly way with references to the BBC series of chosen hairstyle for Estella. I want to choose a side parting to show it will be later Victorian style too. I think the viewers/audience will see my Estella as a natural looking young lady with natural makeup with flushed cheeks, she will have a little obvious makeup around her eyes and lips will match her blush with a bit more orange tone.

Consumption, Deathliness and Momento Mori

In the Victorian times, Victorians loved telling each other different ghost stories and tales. The Victorian times was a time in history where science was developing and everything was progressing towards the world we live in society today. Education was developing and the business world was getting more advanced. There were also a lot more buildings being built. Including St Pancreas Station, London.

Many fictional ghost stories were being sold. And the 'terror' factor was popular within Victorian lifestyle. 18% of people died in their own homes in England. Most deaths were quite young too. Most children/adults would've seen someone in their family die at some point in their lives. This is so different to our culture now where we can take ill people into hospital straight away and most deaths are in hospitals now. In Victorian age malnutrition was a big factor of illness and death. Lots of women would die also by giving birth, blood loss was a huge risk when giving birth and there was not much help with this at the time. Smallpox was another common reason for death in the Victorian times however Elizabeth 1st did survive this many years before. 

In 1839 there was a big problem with sewers in England. These supplied all over the streets causing illness from the bacteria going around. There was human waste in the water supply. 60% of Manchester 22 and over died from this. 

As most families had a loved one die, they often had memorials of this person in their house. Sometimes a death mask, portrait etc. There was a constant reminder of this person around the house and they were proud to have these. This is very different to culture now where we would't usually like these kind of obvious reminders, especially all over our houses. Queen Victoria mourned over her husbands death and wore black ever since. She had a glass of medicine portrait. These reminders were called Momento Mori-Which means 'reminder of death.' 

memento mori

mɪˌmɛntəʊ ˈmɔːri,-rʌɪ/

noun

1. an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull.

   "he placed the picture in his room as a memento mori"

1839 was when photography was invented. It was very expensive at the time as it was newly found. There was a clear fascination of the afterlife and sentimental values within their lived ones. Victorians often had a family photo and would dress up their dead family member and have a photo with them 2-3 weeks after they passed. It was a time of 'spirit photography' which was popular for showing someones spirit in a photograph. Often Victorians would keep a lock of hair from their loved ones in their jewellery too, for example embedded in a necklace pendant which was sealed. The Victorians didn't show emotion through crying but showed it through mourning though the person.  

I find it so fascinating how different we mourn over people now. Traditionally we keep things of the person for example their jewellery and sometimes a piece of clothing, photos, cards, letters etc. We have a funeral for them where we remember all of the good times for the person. They're then either buried or cremated. Most deaths now are in hospitals and are a lot older than a Victorian death. 'The current life expectancy for men is 79.5 years old in the UK, while women can be expected to live to an average of 82.5 years old - and this is echoed across the globe.' wiki. 

Horror Movies: Dracula

Dracula was originally written in 1897. The novel got very famous for the character of Count Dracula who was a vampire. Ghost stories were very popular at the time it was written. The story is about a vampire trying to make his way to move out of Transylvania all the way to England to find new blood. Dracula had a curse which was biting humans to get blood and then they would turn into vampires also. At the time the novel was a little shocking as it had sexual conventions and talk of immigration. The Victorian age were disgusted and very against immigration, it was very unheard of. The vampire was not invented by the author 'Bram Stoker' but from the book he made vampires very well known after this. It has 'themes' of women in Victorian culture. Victorians had a fascination of death and would make masks of loved ones who had passed away as part of an on going memory.  The fascination of a 'vampire' was very unheard of but intriguing. 

Miss Haversham Fashion References Jessica Stam

Today I read LOVE magazine and found these beautiful images of Jessica Stam for the Spring/Summer issue. I felt she reminded me of a youthful Miss Haversham. Her hair has a white/grey finish which with the harsh lighting looks almost straw like. It appears to be wet so gives this kind of effect. 

Her cheekbones look chiselled and everything including the makeup is very grey and dulled down. Her lips look grey/silver. She has shading on her eyes which make her eye sockets look more hollow which has references to being more skeletal alike to Miss Haversham. The images are beautiful but have a slightly gothic twist with the lighting and shaddow. They have aspects of 'dramatic lighting' too with harsh effects.

Dry Skin and Rashes

Today I created a makeup design which included using liquid latex to create holes and rashes in the skin. My outcome was a little dramatic and I think I overdid the peeling of holes in the face but next time I will only add this to one certain area or make the rashes a little smaller. Hoever, I did enjoy creating this look as it was something different and outside of my comfort zone when it comes to makeup design. I learnt a lot from this session which I will take with me in my makeup career.



Products used:

Barrier cream

Old age stipple

Sponge

Liquid latex

Blood

Supra palette

Foundation palette

Pin

How to:

Make sure model is wearing no makeup at all

Apply a barrier cream to the area you will be working on

Pour the old age stipple into a dry bowl

Use a sponge to dip into the bowl

Evenly apply the old age stipple to the face ensuring to feather at the edges

Cover the whole area and you can then use another layer if needed

Use a hair dryer on a cool heat to dry

Rub the area with your fingers to build up a hole in the latex and roughness to add texture

Use a little foundation over if it's not a similar colour to your models skin tone

You can now pick this up with a pin to manipulate it into shape 

Use fake blood and supra colour red tone with a brush on the inside of the tears

Sore eyes:

Use a bluey/brown supra colour for a darkened eye appearance blend thoroughly 

Can use a blood/browny/red to fill in the dryness to look like an injury put along the eye to make it look injured 

Dirt:

Use kryolan spray ensuring models clothes are covered up

Spray 30cm away from hand approximately 

Use a selection of colours here I used black and brown

Fever Techniques

Fever on the skin shows from having a high temperature and a low temperature. So sweat and redness will appear on the skin. Today we have made the skin appear like the model has a fever.

Products used:

Supra colour palette

Water spray

Firstly you can use a base if required for your model. Then add a little red supra colour mixed with a pinkish colour and stipple this mixed on top the face giving the skin a red appearance, using fingertips gives a good effect for this. Smudge in until happy with the desired redness

Then use a spray bottle and spray the areas where you would naturally get hot, on your forehead, nose, chin and cheeks. 

Estella Practice Hair

My design for Estella's hair will be inspired by late Victorian hairstyles. Typically these were worn in a loose, romantic, soft curls and waves which was looser than the up dos from the start of the era.

I have taken photos step by step to remind myself how to be sectioning the hair ready for my assessment.

Firstly, the hair was brushed out, and then sectioned at the front using a side parting. These sections will come down to the ears so that they are not too thin for the design I will be doing at the front of the hair.

I clipped these sections away and began to curl the whole head of hair ensuring thee curls were very tight and twisted the hair after I would let it go from the heated tongs. The sections were relatively small so tat there was a lot of curls to work with in the hair.

I also curled the front section of the hair. Then I used the tail comb to section a piece from the back of the hair in a horse shoe shape, rounded. This section was then tied into a small pony tale. 

I then used curls from the pony tale to wrap around themselves and fall on top of the hair tie to hide it. These are not necessarily pin curls but a similar looser idea. The curls from the back section are then pulled back into the back of the hair.

I re curled the ringlets at the bottom as I wanted to give a neater effect to the hair.

The front section of the hair was done by loosely taking both front sections and pin curling them onto the sides of the hair. these were meant to look more flowy with added height and volume. I backcombed the right side a little to give it a bit more texture. The sides above the ear section was curled to hang at either side of the face. 

I like how my design went as it reminds me of a more romantic Victorian style. 

Spooky Surroundings

I was in the car travelling home from Birmingham and we went past a small town called Long Compton. The village is very old and Victorian. There were many churches we drove past. The village just seemed to be how I picture Great Expectations in my head, the character of the dingy buildings reminds me of when we're first introduced to Pip.

The small houses like this reminded me of Victorian houses. Victorian houses are often reffered to as a 'gothic revival'. Victorian houses are somewhat eery and spooky with many stories that have been passed from them. The red brick found on the house on the image below shows it could be from the Victorian times as the red brick was often popular to be used.