Elizabethan Hairstyles

Wealthy women and royalty put a lot of effort into their hair in this time period. It was fashionable to have pale 'yellow' or strawberry blonde hair, and women that could afford to would use a die made of cumin seeds, saffron, celandine and oil. This first hairstyle is very elaborate, and was often worn by Elizabeth the 1st as it is seen often in portraits of her. The hair has been tightly curled (if the wearer didn't naturally have curls) and is slightly heart shaped which was fashionable at the time. Jewels have been used in the hair for decoration, and you can see some of the white lace fabric is peeking out the back which indicates that there would be some form of decoration from the back too. This hair style would only be worn by a wealthy or royal woman due to how expensive it would be for the jewels and other decoration.

Another hair style of this time was similar on top to the first, but had long tendrils coming down around the shoulders. From portraits of the time,  it seems that these were normally frizzy and curly looking. This was very common for the time as having curly, textured hair was very fashionable. We learned a technique in class on how to create crimpy waves which look very similar to this. 

Before marriage, women were able to wear their hair down. This was seen as a sign of purity and virginity, and often on their wedding day women would wear their hair down one last time before pinning it up as a married woman. 

Finally, this is an example of what a working Elizabethan woman's hair may of looked like. They could not afford the expensive jewels and headdresses that the royals wore, and hair needed to be practical for doing physical work all day. They would of most likely worn hair in a bun, with some kind of headscarf to hold it back out of their face. 

Introduction to Redheads and Royalty

Our first project this year is called the New Elizabethans. It is centred around Elizabethan hairstyles, and in our final assessment we will have to create a contemporary version of an Elizabethan style. To achieve our final design we must research traditional Elizabethan styles and use our research to help us create a final design, being aware of the techniques and shapes that Elizabethans themselves would have worn. I should also think when creating my style, which type of women would wear it (e.g queen or working woman).

It was fashionable at this time for hair to be very pale, often strawberry blonde. Lots of accessories were used to decorate the hair such as cauls, a hair net which were decorated with pearls, coifs embellished with jewels and lace and the attifet which was a heart shaped cap. Hair often had a frizzy, crimped sort of look about it, and lots of plaits and buns were used alongside the hair accessories to create elaborate up do's.