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.