Evaluation of my headpiece and costume design

Evaluation

For our final, end of the year show we had to create a headpiece and a costume for the theme we chose. I chose the 'Balls of Louis XIV' category. The reason for this is because I don't have any images in my portfolio in this theme. I've done Tribal, Day of the Dead- sugar skull and Mythological/paganism makeup looks before and I thought that a baroque style image would look great in my portfolio.

So I started the process by researching images from the baroque era. I wanted to create a baroque style look with a modern, edgy twist, rather than a classic baroque look.

As Baroque/ Rococo is known for its artistic style that used exaggerated motion, clear details and swirling spirals and upward diagonals, I tried to go with this theme.

I also tried to incorporate Madame Pompadour's style by using flowers for the dress. Madame Pompadour was one of the most important figures to establish Rococo fashion. She adored pastel colors and floral patterns.

Dress

My original idea for the dress was to use a corset for the top part because corsets provided a nice contrast to the wide skirts in this period. As for the bottom part of the dress I wanted to create a wired underskirt with a few layers of tulle on top of it. Unfortunately I soon had to change this idea, because I couldn’t find any kind of wire that would be strong enough to hold the structure of an underskirt. I therefore decided to just make a puffy tulle skirt with flowers attached to it to brighten up the darkness of the black tulle. I was quite happy with the end result because it looked puffy enough without having a petticoat underneath, but then another problem occurred. I also made underwear for the outfit that was supposed to be seen underneath the original wired underskirt. I hand painted golden baroque motifs on it with gold fabric paint and attached pearls to it. I really wanted the underwear to be seen for a more modern look.

I then researched a bit more and found out that in this period, skirts were often opened at the front, displaying an underskirt or petticoat. This is why I decided to cut the tulle skirt shorter at the front so that we can see the underwear.

Headpiece

My original idea for the headpiece was something very modern but still suitable for the theme in my opinion. Here is a picture of the idea:

Original idea of the headpiece

I think this hairstyle looks very modern and edgy, yet still have the shape of the classic baroque hairstyle. I bought polystyrene balls and fake hair to make this headpiece. As I started to make it I soon had to realize that it is much harder to make it as it first seemed. I could not wrap the fake hair around the polystyrene balls smooth enough and it all looked messy and horrible. I also didn’t want to cover my model’s gorgeous curly red hair so I decided to change the whole concept and make something completely different. Since I had the polystyrene balls it made sense to use them for the new headpiece. I decided to spray paint them gold. I also had a beautiful Venetian mask from a previous project and I thought it would go really well with this theme so I decided to incorporate that as well.

Conclusion

I was very happy with the end results. I think everything came together nicely in the end. I tried to bring back the colors of the dress in the makeup as well.

My main concern was about the headpiece. It is a bit heavy and I was worried that it will be wobbly on the model’s head. I am going to try to rectify this issue by adding a support wire at the back for the final show.

As for the makeup, instead of sticking the pearls on the face one by one, I am going to attach the pearls on a thin piece of netting in advance for faster application on the day.

The end result

The finished hair, makeup, costume and headpiece