FMS406SalmonMNewElizabethans: Elizabethan Era Research/ The Golden Age.

In 1558, the Elizabethan era was born due to the former Queen Elizabeth I, whose reign was put down in history as the 'Golden Age'. Queen Elizabeth I was not only incredibly intelligent and well educated, but a very influential and iconic woman in her era, as her signature red hair and porcelain pale skin, became the most desired and beautiful look that inspired women all over the United Kingdom in the Elizabethan period. Queen Elizabeth's look greatly impacted the transformation of make-up and hair and eventually set a superior standard in hair and beauty history by without knowing it, creating a beauty and fashion trend that only the likes of aristocracy could afford to wear.

After researching of Queen Elizabeth I alongside watching the film Elizabeth directed by Shekar Kapur, I collected a large amount of information from different sources which discussed the methods, social importance and impact of make-up hair and fashion worn in the Elizabethan period. Throughout the film and in history Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) constantly changed her style due to many different reasons, such as her transformation from a young woman to Queen. Before Queen Elizabeth's reign and serious acceptance as the Queen of England, she was often referred to as a bastard due to her late beheaded mother Anne Boleyn who was accused of adultery and incest and her late father King Henry VIII. As times changed and she created her new reputation as Queen of England that required her to look the part, this is where fashion and beauty became more important and we can see this in the film.

As (Cate Blanchett) her reputation and status as Queen grew more in the film in terms of learning of her new responsibilities and requirements as Queen beautiful ball gowns, jewellery and unique hairstyles were introduced, slowly forming the young woman into a beauty and fashion Icon. A scene in the film also shows an example of how lavish and beautiful the dresses she wore were, as one of her servants admiring her gorgeous gowns, decides to try on one of Queen's Elizabeth's new dresses, but later dies as the dress was discovered to be poisoned.

In 1562 Queen Elizabeth had smallpox and nearly died, due to this she was left with severe scarring on her face. These scars were then covered with heavy white make-up which became fashionable but the ingredients used in the white face makeup created terrible skin problems and were also deadly. In the Elizabethan period a pale complexion was considered to be a sign of good health as it set apart social classes; e.g. rich women could afford to have fair skin where as working class women would work outside which of course resulted in tan skin. The women that could afford to achieve this pale complexion would use methods such as applying 'Ceruse' a foundation mixed with poisonous lead, vinegar and sulphur and also white eggs which have been said to hide wrinkles. Beauty methods like this help discuss the transformation of make-up, as wealthy women would follow these methods to flaunt their social status where as Queen Elizabeth used this beauty method to disguise her imperfections.

Hair was equally important as makeup in the Elizabethan period and elaborate hairstyles and wigs were also worn by men as well as women. It has been said that Queen Elizabeth had a wide variety of elaborate wigs and hair pieces, these were referred to as 'Periwigs'. Upper class women that followed this extravagant hair style dyed their hair as fair as possible as it was part of the ideal beauty image. Methods such as mixing saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil were used in order to achieve colours such as blonde that were part of the 'Elizabethan look'. Historical sources have said that young women kept their hair long and worn out right up until their wedding day then after, up in a bun away from the face. Long hair symbolised virginity, and throughout the film Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) is shown to have many romantic disappointments and the pressure of marriage constantly pushed upon her, then her true love breaks her heart which results to her in the end of the film announcing that she is ' Married to England', before she announces this, her good friend Kat is shown cutting off all of her hair in which Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) tells her, ' Look Kate, I am a virgin'.

Although in the film Queen Elizabeth is portrayed as who she is described to be in History considering her personality and characteristics, the hair and make-up worn by Cate Blanchett who plays Queen Elizabeth is not historically accurate. This can be seen in many of Queen Elizabeths portraits painted that featured her porcelain white skin, rouge lips and rouge cheeks. Even though the hair and makeup created in this film to portray the late Queen Elizabeth isn't completely accurate, the face complexion and signature red hair still appears beautiful in the film. Makeup is completely toned down in the movie considering the rouge lip and cheek, and arched brow she was said to wear. The contemporary version of the original makeup look that Queen Elizabeth wore for the movie was a very clean and simple look which nicely compliments the natural beauty Elizabeth was said to have when she was younger. Taking into consideration that at the end of the film we are told that Queen Elizabeth reigned for 40 more years just shows that the Elizabeth we were shown in the film may not have begun to wear her signature makeup looks or hairstyles until after her announcement of becoming the Virgin Queen of England, this again discusses the transformation and development that make-up has historically.

I found the Golden Age film interesting as I had never seen it and I could understand how it is a good source when researching Queen Elizabeth I and her reign. Before the introduction of this project I only had limited knowledge on Queen Elizabeth's family members and also her bold makeup, hair and fashion sense, so watching this film and doing more independent research was important and interesting for me. Although this film is only a portrayal on how Queen Elizabeth I was said to have been, I was shocked to see how much she had sacrificed and done for our country and all the troubles she had faced during her reign.