TRANSFORMATION THROUGH MAKEUP- ELIZABETH (1998)

In the film 'Elizabeth' we see the transformation from young girl to Queen of England. One of the most dramatic changes in this revolution is her makeup and hair.
In the start of the film Elizabeth lacks any sort of makeup at all and appears completely natural. She looks baby faced and 'pure'. Her hair is long and strawberry blonde with plaits. In the first scenes we see her very happy dancing and trying to attract the young man that is Robert Dudley. He appears to be fascinated by her clean and natural looks which soon changes when she begins to transform during the film. You can see in the scenes before the starts to wear makeup she has colour in her face from the sun which is portrayed as lower class. Her hair looked messy and loose and she wore plain dresses with a lack of jewelry.

Once she is made Queen her looks start to change quite quickly, although at first her natural makeup continues her face becomes slightly paler and her hair is more groomed and sleek. Once the Queen is made to find a suitable husband she becomes a lot more lavish, with pristine hairstyles weaved with jewels and flowers.

As she becomes wealthier and experiences the luxurious life style she begins to indulge, this is shown when she starts to wear bigger dresses and headpieces and more dramatic makeup. Her face becomes extremely pale white and very chalky with red rosy cheeks and red small lips her eyebrows are virtually invisible and her hair is now mostly up with beautiful head pieces.

At the end of the film this look is taken even further when her head is shaved to create a higher forehead and to fit her extreme wigs onto her head. Her face is as white as snow and her cheeks and lips are a lot more deep in colour. Everything is lot more dramatic.

The transformation shows her coming from an innocent young girl to the Queen of England, the ruler of the country. In a way the makeup acts as a way of showing she was ready to rule, a way of showing that she could be a icon for the women of her era and a statement in history. I enjoyed seeing the changes throughout the film and knowing more about how it actually happened and why the makeup and hair became so dramatic. When researching about how the makeup artists on the film did the makeup I found a few things I could use when recreating the makeup such as using full coverage foundation and layers of powder, they also bleached the eyebrows to get the full effect which I think would be a great idea for my project although I'm unsure I would dare to bleach my own eyebrows.