modern elizabethan hair

Recently I practiced one of my hair designs I created in a practical lesson. I created this design prior to the practical session which I made in response to some research I had done, looking at the artist FKA Twigs. I wanted to take my inspiration and then merge it with some traditional french plaits and crimping to keep the Elizabethan elements in my hair design. 
Using my Katie head, I separated the hair into two sections leaving a small strand of hair out at the front, enough for me to plait and curl. taking these two sections, one side I began crimping and back combing and the other side I left straight and smooth. I did two different textures on my dolls head so I could experiment with both techniques for my design. After making sure I had both textures I started to style the hair into a bun shape by bringing the section of hair upwards and then began twisting all of the section into a swirl shape and then wrapping the hair around itself to create a small thick bun, I then secured these with clips. After creating the buns I played with them a bit so that they became looser and higher so they weren't as compact and neat. After creating the bun style, I concentrated on the small section I left out at the front, splitting this small section of hair into two I curled on side so that it fell facing away from the face and then on the other section I created a tight plait which I could then wrap around one of the buns I had made. I chose to practice this hair design as It is something I had thought of when developing my contemporary ideas, but I liked the design because It visually reminded me of a modern practitioner I had looked at who has at a lot of symbolism and attitude in their style. 

This is my Hair Design.

The Outcome.

The three images above are of the finished hairstyle I created, I feel that the styling of my design was simple and fast to create. After practising my design I feel it was successful to create but I no longer like this design. Compared to other designs I have created I feel that the finished outcome of this design makes the hair appear very boring and doesn't properly communicate the dramatic concept my character is about. Although I used the traditional crimped texture and also featured the use of a plait detailing in the hair, I don't think I will develop this design and use it for my final hair design. I think this design was very practical in terms of time and it would work on most hair textures and also hair lengths. If I was to recreate this look and develop the style I think I would change the amount of plaits and the plait style I created to a fish tail style, so that the look held more texture and detail. I would also change the amount of hair compacted into the buns, I would experiment by letting more hair hang loose at the back so that the hair appeared more dishevelled and interesting and less neat.