Final images - Estella

Final Images - Miss Havisham

Creating Estella

Young Victoria - Emily Blunt

Young Victoria - Emily Blunt

I looked more at fashion and hairstyles of the time to gain inspiration for my Estella.  I wanted to re-create the more established Stella, more when she's about to attend the ball.  In particular I looked at the film Young Victoria: Played by Emily Blunt.

Sketched idea of Estella 

Hair for Estella

Test on doll

Test on doll

Before thinking about hair i referenced lots of styles and ideas, I suppose I took a little from Young Victoria then made it my own.  I knew from working on the doll that the fancy bun took most of the hair.  I wanted two long curls to drape either side of the neck so I has to add four rows of extensions for thickness and length.  For the front i wanted it young and simple so I made a middle part, i backcombed for volume and curled the underneath either side to create the traditional marcelo waves.  For the bun i simply divided into three sections and rolled separately to create a more formal evening look.  Finally i curled the extensions and wrapped into two thick marcelo waves.

Marcelo Waves & Bun

Extensions added for thickness and length

Marcelo waves & Bun

Three rolled bun & waves

Make-up for Estella

When referencing the Victorian era I learnt that make-up wasn't really used.  It was seen as something that prostitutes wore.  As I was trying to achieve a young, fresh and youthful complexion make-up was needed, so I had to be very careful to make it look as natural as possible.  I simply matched all the skin tone and covered with a base to give a flawless complexion and added a soft pink to the cheeks to give a rosy glow.  Finally i added a peachy natural colour to the lips and applied powder to the whole face to reduce shine.

No make-up

Flawless base make-up

Base with slight pink cheeks

More blush for camera & natural lips

Styling for Estella

I managed to source a dress and fan that had been handed down from the Victorian period.  As I wanted to make the dress more formal and evening style i dressed it up with some lace and a broach.  I added some long diamond earrings for effect.  I used the fan on my test shots but it didn't come across well enough in the final images so I chose not to use it.

Dress before being styled more formal

Lace and broach added to make more formal

Earrings added to give an air of wealth

Fan used for test shots but not on finals

Test shots - Estella

Great Expectations - Estella

In all adaptations of Great expectations Stella is always true to Victorian style, however she appears as a young and old girl in all of them.  I decided to work with Estella when she is coming of age and about to embark on the scene of London.

Like Pip, Estella is an orphan and a victim. Both had surrogate mothers who thought they were doing the right things. Both are used by their surrogate parents — Estella by Miss Havishem and Pip by Magwitch— to extract revenge from society. Both share a somewhat passive approach to life that she alludes to when she says they are both unable to follow their own free path but must do the bidding of another. She is an honest character, not evil, and is what she was trained to be. She cannot love Pip or Miss Havisham because she was not taught love, and she says so quite honestly. There is no manipulation, only frankness. She also shows a sort of loyalty to Pip when she tells him she will toy with all men, but him. There is an acknowledgement that she knows Pip loves her, she cannot love him, and therefore she will not be with a man who will realize she has nothing to give him. Yet underneath this rigid unemotional surface is the passion and emotional fury of her parents, Molly and Magwitch. The one time she responds to Pip and lets him kiss her is when he displays rare aggression and forcefulness in beating the Pale Young Gentleman. There is, deep within her, something that responds to emotional fury. That is the part that is changed and softened by the abuse Drummle hands her in their marriage.

Creating Miss Havisham

I decided i wanted to follow with the description of the original character, written by Charles Dickens.  I decided to work on an older lady, but emphasise her wrinkled areas in order for her to appear worn, tired and old looking.

A sketch of my idea for Miss Havisham

I wanted to gain some practice on making a face look older so I decided to use myself.  To achieve the look i used 3 tones.  One lighter, one slightly darker and one considerably darker to emphasise and shadow the creases in my face.

Trials for ageing

Trials for ageing

My model Suzette is a 45 year old woman, I wanted to make her look like she was mid-fifties, but appear like she'd had a very tiring existence.

Suzette my model in her natural state

Make-up for Miss Havisham

I wanted my model to appear ghostly so i started by paling her face down......... I then began to add tones to the creases of her face to give a more sunken look..........

Paling face and emphasing wrinkles

Paling face and emphasising wrinkles

Paling face and emphasising wrinkles

Hair for Miss Havisham

I wanted to create a look with the hair that looked like it had been done, but then left for many years.......

My model had short bobbed hair, so I knew i would need to use either a hair piece or a wig to give the effect i wanted to achieve.

My models short hair

The wig I decided to use

I wanted to keep the look as natural as possible so i sectioned the hair from ear to ear, i then pinned the wig at the back.  This left all the front to style and tease so it looked like her own hair.

Parting made to hide the wig

Parting made to hide the wig

Wig attached and front blended over

I finally sprayed the wig and her natural hair with white hair spray.  This blended all the tones and kept the hair in theme with a grey old, ghostly woman.

Hair sprayed then manipulated to appear natural

Styling - Miss Havisham

For the styling of Miss Havisham I wanted to keep it in with the traditional theme.  I hired a wedding dress and made a veil from lace.  I also wanted to bring some of Satis house into the shoot so I borrowed a Candelabra and covered it with cobwebs to add to the effect of the shoot.

Wedding dress used for shoot

Veil made from lace

Candelabra used with added cobwebs

Test shots - Miss Havisham