The Introduction to the Project - Gothic Horror - Victorian Beauty Ideal

Initially when we got the brief I didn't really know anything about victorian women so had to do a bit of research to see what kind of hairstyles they would go for as I felt that the makeup would be quite minimalistic as a lot of the women were very reserved.

At the start, the Victorian era was about modesty and natural beauty. Women of higher class practiced control with their makeup. 

Although many still used powder to tone down shine and give the skin a lustrous glow, it was used sparingly. Even eye shadows and lipsticks were very pale in tone and carefully applied. 

Bold colours and heavy makeup application was initially considered taboo and was used only by prostitutes. The use of cosmetics actually became controversial with many religions banning them as immoral or labelling them as “the tools of the devil”. 

Hair in the Victorian era was quite reserved. 

It was often pulled back off of the face and placed in a knot, bun, plaits, or even curls.

Long, gentle curls were used to accent the face at the sides or even in the back. 

Smaller baby curls sometimes accented the forehead as well. It wasn’t uncommon for women to slick back or oil their hair to assure a smooth style. 

Even men took on a more modest stance, wearing their hair far shorter than any period prior. 

Curls were acceptable even in men’s hairstyles as was the use of oil to smooth out a difficult coif. 

In contrast, however, Victorian men often sported a moustache or beard and sometimes allowed their sideburns to grow.

After looking at a number of different portrait's and images of victorian women and hairstyles its evident that a lot of the hairstyles include middle partings with curls to compliment the face. Also a lot of the hairstyle have the ears slightly out which just shows how things change as hairstyles now never really include the ears being out unless the hair has been slicked back.

Also with some of the hairstyles they plait the front section of the hair and almost wrap then under/around the ears to almost get people to look at them. The back of the hair is also a lot of the time curled and pinned back but often quite low which looks quite elegant

Within this movie clip the hairstyles are very similar as middle partings were very common. A lot of the women would stick with the same makeup and hair and pale skin as wearing too much makeup was something only prostitutes would be seen wearing makeup. Also wearing makeup was frowned upon around this time.

References

• Miss Wilton (2016) Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/19603157@N03/2190167519/in/photostream (Accessed: 14 February 2016