The Elizabethans

Who were they?

The term “Elizabethans” is used to describe people from the era of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign from 1558-1603. This period in history is known as the “Golden Age”, as it represented the height of the English Renaissance, and saw a boom in music, literature, poetry and theatre.

Queen Elizabeth I was very much the guiding portrait of beauty and fashion during this era. There has been no other queen in English history that has had quite the impact on beauty like she did, both back then and today. Elizabeth set such high standards for both women and men, that beauty was everything, and women everywhere strived to look like her. This meant quite drastic measures, as not everyone had her fair skin and red hair, but these were both signs of nobility, wealth and affluence, so getting them was essential. 

When Elizabeth first came to the throne, she wanted to look pure, and virginal, and so she kept her alabaster skin natural and her hair long and flowing. The Elizabethan ideal look of a virgin was to have this long hair and it was favoured by many Elizabethan brides. 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_I_in_coronation_robes.jpg

Once a woman was married, hair was then worn swept up in various different styles, but always off the face, to expose the forehead, as a high forehead was high fashion, and women would often pluck their hairline just to achieve this look. As the hair was worn up, the ruffs and collars women wore were very elaborate and became more extreme as the era progressed.

 http://trystancraft.com/costume/2011/07/15/elizabethan-hairstyles-1560-1600/

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/cate-blanchett/picks/results/137394/did-like-elizabeth-golden-age-leave-comments-please

 http://www.bellasugar.com/History-Red-Hair-18437675?image_nid=18438138

http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html

The Elizabethans were people who were very much dictated by the fashion preferences of Queen Elizabeth I. She set the trends of the era, and women aspired to look like her, and would take sometimes extreme, drastic measures to change their natural features, to resemble the queen's. Fair hair, like Elizabeth had, became a must for women of the court, and one of the most popular ways to dye their hair blond would be to mix saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil together, to create a yellow hair dye. Women would spend hours sitting in the sun with this mixture in their hair, wearing specially designed hats that would allow their hair to be exposed, but would protect their skin so that it remained pale. Another popular colour was red, like the queen had. To dye their hair red, women would sometimes use henna, or they would mix saffron and sulphur together. This mixture actually releases a type of nitrogen, which we now know today to be poisonous. Some women would even go as extreme as putting urine in their hair to bleach it, whereas others, such as Queen Elizabeth herself, would shave off their natural hair and just wear wigs. These wigs were very elaborate, and the detail such as shape, texture and height was absolutely amazing. The queen herself is said to have owned over 80 pairs of wigs. Hair rats were also very commonly used to create shapes and height in the hair, such as the classic heart shaped Elizabethan hairstyle.

Hair texture was also very important in Elizabethan times. Frizzy hair was extremely popular-most likely because this was the state the hair was left in after all the extreme products they would put in their hair. Curly hair was also very popular, and the curls were often tight ringlets or pincurls on the head. 

Appearance was absolutely everything to Elizabethan men and women. Hair, makeup and clothing meant everything to them because it literally showed your social standing. There were Sumptuary Laws passed by the queen that dictated certain colours that only certain classes were allowed to wear. The fear of appearing poor, or not being accepted socially was so great that Elizabethan people would literally risk their lives (unknowingly or not) to be socially accepted. It is a scary thing, that nearly 600 years later, we as a society still hold such similar attitudes towards beauty. It could be argued that it may not be as extreme nowadays, as it was in the Elizabethan times; but today we are literally changing our faces in the form of plastic surgery- so is it possible that our idea's of beauty today are even more extreme than the Elizabethan beauty ideal?


http://www.mydochub.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/21/donatella-versace-plastic-surgery-gone-wrong