MODERN ELIZABETHAN HAIR- TECHNICAL

I actually found coming up with a design for the modern elizabethan hair really difficult. I looked at a number of images for inspiration from fashion to theatre to editorial, but none of them really caught my eye as anything special. I did really like a photo I found where it was two really large buns on the head which was quite simple but looked really good, unfortunately I could create this at all on my dolls head, but I am going to try doing it on a person. Instead I decided to create my design around plaits as I find it inspiring that plaits were used all the way back in Elizabethan times and are still used in the same way now. I wanted to create a design that was quite quirky but still showed Elizabethan in the some way. 

 I started by sectioning the hair and creating two really tight braids in the front, going from either side of the ear. I then decided to plait straight down the back of the hair creating a parting with the braid. I knew middle partings were very popular in the Elizabethan Era so I thought it could be a cool concept. After plaiting I really struggled with how to create a heart shape with the rest of the hair without covering the plait in the middle. I tried a few ways including rolling the hair in sections, back combing and creating just one section, I also tried put the hair over the plait and having it peak out in just certain places. None of them looked how I wanted them to. I then sectioned the hair in small part and back combed, I used two pieces of hair and crossed them over the plait gripping in the middle to create that heart shape. After that I was able to grip the other parts in place one by one layering them to look like a heart at the back.

I quite like how my design turned out but I actually liked the way it looked better from the back view. From the front it didn't really have the look I wanted it to and didn't have much volume on top of the head. I do want to try this look again on a person and maybe use some padding to get the heart shape slightly bigger and more prominent. I do like the concept of the plait being used as a middle parten and I would like to try this in different styles.