Sally Bowles Contemporary images

Due to it being almost the end of term of course every single studio in the university was being used which meant I had to do my shoot from home! I was actually quite excited about this shoot because I could really showcase all that I have been working towards. I decided that I didn't want to complicate my image with UV paint, plus the resources I needed were too expensive and they wouldn't arrive in time. After I came up with my Medusa idea I thought it fit better that the paint expolosion. The shoot took me about 3 and half hours in total because my model had so much hair which meant the back combing process took a lot longer than I had anticipated. I was really pleased with how the make-up  looked on the model because I was a little unsure after I did my face chart that it looked too much like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. But the dark green was a really good colour to cover the eyebrows with. The eyebrows that I drew on were a little tricky to get symmetrical but using an eyeshadow really helped to keep the lines controlled. I thought the sugar worked so much better than the hundreds and thousands did because under the light you could really see the sugar on the lips. It also gave her this cold sharp look because the sugar looked so crystalised. In terms of the hair I was really pleased with the outcome but I had to pin some of it into place in order to make it looker higher than it was. I didn't anticipate my models fringe so I was left with a small plait at the front that didn't fit into the rest of the hair so I had to clip it into the hair which wasn't I wanted to do but I had to improvise. The images that I took were either with a bright white light or a variation with a warm lighter just so I could see the comparison with the two. I am really pleased with the outcome of my images and I think I really encapsulated Sally Bowles but in a modern day setting. I realised that I had given myself quite a complicated idea but I think it worked well all together. 

Revised Face and Hair charts

My final idea has finally arrived. I have talked so much in this unit about Emcee and Sally having a mask to cover up their true self so I decided that I would feature this idea into my final design. I didn't want to make the entire face green because I wanted Sally Bowles to be visible. I decided to stick to a Sleek palette called Garden of Eden which was full of beautiful shades of matte and shimmery greens because after all Sally was glamorous. After the problem I had last time with the amount of grease products I had on the face I thought I would draw on the eye brows with an eyeshadow to get a smoother line. I had so many ideas on how to convey sickly sweet lips but in the end I chose glitter and sugar because it will give a lovely 3D effect but also it will really enhance her lips.

This is a detailed drawing of how I imagined my hair design to be but I don't know how I will get the hair to stand up right from the root because it will be attached to the head already from the plait. 

I then decided that the plaits at the front of the head weren't showing enough of the historical hairstyle. So I thought instead of having the plaits going from front to back I would have them going from a side parting. This way I could have my contemporary hair style but with a historical parting and shape. Because I wanted the plaits to be visible I want to be able to pin the plaits into the afro so that they curl around like snakes.

I think giving an extra twist to my design really gave it direction and although its not exactly like Sally it is an updated version of her. Her characteristics can be seen through the colours I have chosen and the extravagance of the hair.  

Sally Bowles experiments

So these are my experiments based on my original face charts. I found the plait easy to do but when it came to the rest of the hair I found that the techniques of weaving hair around a pin and then applying heat was a process that took a long time and was suitable for the model I was using because her hair was too long and too thick. So I decided that crimping was the best was to achieve an afro look. I underestimated the weight of my models hair because as I was back combing the hair it wasn't getting the volume and height that I wanted so I realised that I needed to back comb a lot more.

This is the make-up look that I tried out. This is the first time I have used to blocking out eyebrows technique and it was incredibly hard to do and then cover with foundation. I tried to draw on the eyebrows with an eyeliner but I found that there was too many grease products and they smudged and ended up looking really messy. I was overall really unhappy with the blandness of the look so I knew that I needed to try something different.

Medusa

1930's circus

Before the time of radio and television the circus was the biggest form of entertainment. Circus' would travel around the world usually by train, recruiting men and women as they went from place to place. The lifestyle of the circus can be likened to the Cabaret scene in Berlin. It was as an exciting lifestyle filled with people from different walks of life. This is why I thought it would be a perfect lifestyle for a character like Emcee. If Emcee were to be any member of the circus he would have been the ringleader because their job is to entertain the audience and introduce the acts and you never really know the real person behind the facade. I watched the film Water for Elephants because you see into the life of a circus behind the make-up and stage presence. You learn quite how brutal the lifestyle is and how their is a great love for animals. I thought this could also relate to Emcee because he chooses to sing about a Gorilla so he already has a good relationship with animals from being in a circus. I wanted Emcee to seem as realistic as possible by giving him a genuine background.. circus life.

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/THE-CIRCUS-DURING-the-1930s-Water-for-Elephants

(https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=water+for+elephants&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=600&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=EimBVLLzN4TvUvCUguAP&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=zMyd1JA3wtoC9M%253A%3BZTq6gEKxNVKpWM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcromeyellow.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2011%252F04%252Fwater_for_elephants.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcromeyellow.com%252Ffilm-review-water-for-elephants-2%252F%3B1920%3B800)

This circus man looks to be either a trapeze artist or perhaps a strongman because of his bulky physique. To me this is vintage circus, looking at this image I am transported back to a life of blood, sweat and tears. But also alcohol, sex and glamour- a lot like Cabaret. This image was a main inspiration for me because it encapsulates my idea of Emcee before he joined Cabaret. I will admit that this image is very masculine but I love the facial hair in this image. I really want to give this styling a go because I think it will really help understand my idea of who Emcee is as a character. And how he looks in the flesh. 

Sally Bowles brought to life

Having watched Party Monster and been show some visual stimulus from Vogue Italia I was so inspired to get to work on our contemporary ideas for the Goodbye to Berlin project. I knew that we still had to base our ideas around another Cabaret character but I was excited to work with some crazy colours and styles.

I have chosen to use Sally Bowles as my contemporary character because I don't think her behaviour and lifestyle would be that different 50 years later. I thought about other empowered woman who loved to stand out and I thought of Lady Gaga and her recent album ArtPop where they who idea is about being yourself and wearing anything you want. In particular lots of colour and outrageous outfits. Katy Perry, especially her 'California girls' song where everything is made of sweets. This sparked an idea about Sally Bowles as she portrays a sickly sweet persona when she wants to and then switches off when she has had enough. I wanted to translate this through covering her lips in some sort of sweet because its around her lips where it would usually go but its like she is seeping sickly sweet words out of her mouth. It could also symbolise the amount of drugs that would have been taken and again its like she has taken so many that they are just falling out of her mouth. I thought this would be a perfect way to incorporate colour.

The image that I have to create has to express the character of Sally Bowles but in a contemporary way. This allows me to experiment with all the different styles in a modern culture to which there is no limit. When it comes to hair there is shape, texure, and colour to think about. One thing that Sally Bowles never had in all of her portrayals was long hair, so that is one thing I am going to chance. She is always seen as having very neat cropped hair so I want to do the exact opposite, give her bold, frizzy hair. I am going to experiment with crimping and backcombing as well as weaving the hair around pins and applying head and then backcombing. Either way to create an afro frizz. Another style that is popular in todays society is plaiting either large or tight intricate ones that go along the hairline into the middle of the head. I wanted to combing both styles to see how it looked and to give ultimate texure. When we were first briefed on this assignment so many ideas rushed to my head that I wanted to do them all. But I knew that I had to reign it in because it didn't want to crowd my image. So I decided to pick two main features, the hair and the lips. I will make both colourful and then leave the rest of the face porcelain and simple so that all of the attention falls on those two parts.

I didn't know how much freedom we had with our image but I came up with a small idea to really bring the character of Sally Bowles to life. This was to splash the face of my model with multi-coloured UV Paint and have an image in the dark so that all that was lit up was the paint. How could this relate? Well, Sally Bowles was a lady that came to life at night and the Berlin scene was mainly at night in the seedy clubs. She was also seen as having this mild multi personality that always surprised people. So if I were able to take an image of her fully lit with simple make-up and colourful hair and lips. Another in the dark with neon UV paint splashed on her face, cut the images vertically and merge them I could fully convey a contemporary Sally Bowles.

From Historical to Contemporary

This next part was the tricky part. It's very easy to say to YEAH I can create a contemporary look because we live in the here and now so everything is contemporary. But to try and create a look that is a contemporary version of a historical period is another story. This really helped me understand how to begin the process. We took the images from our historical photo shoots and used collage materials to transform the image from historical to contemporary but still keeping the idea behind it. 

There were certain things that you just would not have seen in Berlin in the 1930's such as glitter. So I wanted to take advantage of that for my contemporary look because I love using glitter as it instantly changes a whole design. The material that I have covered the hair with was a sort of hair net idea, where I could create a style with the hair and then cover it in a net. I thought this might look unusual, something different to try.

This image is a complete contrast to the latter as its a lot more colourful whereas the other one is more glamorous. I plaited three different coloured netting and applied them to the hair to imitate french plaits or corn rows. One thing that I have found more and more with contemporary images is that it doesn't have to be symmetrical. So I decided to use on feather covering the eyebrow because they would have had feathered accessories in that era but never stuck to the face.

Leigh Bowery meets Party Monster

Leigh Bowery was fashion icon during the 1980's because of his unique style. I had previously studied during my art foundation because of his performance art. He influenced many other fashion icons such as Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, he also gave inspiration to Boy George and Lady Gaga. His extravagant style was one that he flaunted but didn't want any one else to be seen in. His designs were his pride but he made sure that no one else was seen in the same thing despite his clothing line. He often work balaclava like mask all in ones. His eye and lips would almost always be seen so that he could paint lots of make-up onto his eyes and lips.

His style was described as 'avant-garde' because of how experimental and flamboyant it was. Much like the people of Party Monster. They were a group of people that created the so called 'Club Culture' during the 80's. They wore the most outrageous and strange costumes in order to stand out and encouraged other to join their lifestyle. During the 1980's fashion exploded with its wacky outfits and everyone trying new things. The costumes in this film range from saucy doctors and nurses to alien freaks on a talk show. But they also show how cross dressing was something of a trend. The lead characters of the film are both men who end up battling to be the most glamorous 'darling'. The make-up that they wore throughout the film seemed to be used as a cover up for the misery inside. Michael begin the film as a plain heterosexual boy who wanted to be part of the fame and glamour. But as the story evolves he becomes more corrupt therefore the make-up and costumes become more extravagant. Whenever, he you seem without make-up after that is when you see the cracks in his lifestyle appear.

This idea can be related to the characters in Cabaret. For example Sally Bowles could be likened to Michael as they both started out as innocent young people that were so infatuated by the glamorous lifestyle. Then once they had it, they couldn't escape it and became ignorant to reality. They both commit self sabotage because they know that their lives are corrupt yet they continue to succumb to it. Emcee as a character is very much like James St James because they have both been part of the scene for a long time and continue to sell its likability yet they can both step back from the situation and realise what is wrong with it. Despite Cabaret being set in the 1930's and Party Monster being set in the 1980's this idea of there being an exciting lifestyle with money, drugs and sex was apparent in both time periods. For certain people temptation could not be overcome and people fell victim to such an exciting yet deadly way of life.

Both eras were examples of divine decadence because they lifestyle was a feeling of pure ecstasy (quite literally) yet it was the downfall of most people. If you read about people from those time periods such as Leigh Bowery they were either killed by drugs or a sexually transmitted disease because they were care-free. It is a juxtaposed idea that something can be so beautifully ugly. Just like Michael and his passion for fashion that was fueled by his drug addiction. Sally with her performing talent and love for people yet her ignorance to the real world. Who knew that decay to be so beautiful?

Images that partner created

I created a look based on my research of the character in the script and the film. I decided to create my own background story by his characteristics having been in the circus before he came to Cabaret. I tried out several designs knowing that I wanted to include facial hair but not knowing the best way to incorporate it into my design, trying to avoid it looking fake and tacky. I know that Emcee wears make-up as part of his character but I wanted to try a different approach. So I looked a clown make-up, theatrical and gothic in order to vary my options so I could choose one that I liked.

I found it very difficult to let someone else create my design. I think is because having a vision of your design and trying to make another make-up artist see what you are seeing is hard. I think the make-up artist that created my look did really well to imitate my design the way I wanted. However, watching the whole process meant that I could see what she did the same as me and what she didn’t.

These were her images…

Anita Berber the finished look

I was very anxious about doing the re-shoot because I knew I had to make sure everything I do right or wrong in the first week I had to repeat in the second week. I think that both images looked the same and I did really well to achieve an image with good continuity. I felt the hair in the second image was a lot more curly and wild. There was more buoyancy in the hair, but I think this was due to the cleanliness of the hair. Obviously there was a clear difference in the image quality because the second shoot was done in a studio so it adjusts the colours of the skin. I felt the sharpness of the cupids bow was better in the first image, it was more rounded in the second image. I felt the design was a little bit plain compared to what I am used to. But I think that the blush was washed out so it makes the model look paler. If I were to do it again I would create a pinker cheek and try to subtly contour so that the image still looks historical.

Anita Berber Continuity

                                 

These were the outcomes from my first shoot of Anita Berber. I took images from my phone because they were just an extra reference for the continuity shoot next week. I think I transformed the face chart onto the model quite accurately. I found that the hair didn't go as well as I had planned, it wasn't as volumed as I hoped and the waves didn't sit properly on the side of the head. I should have prepped the hair before the lesson to allow enough time for the hair to set. The make-up went as planned but once I had finished I did think it looked very plain. I could have gone a little darker with the blusher and also tried different shapes with the eye brows. 

Anita Berber- Face and hair chart

Having researched Anita Berber and how she was perceived as this saucy seductress that threw caution to the wind I wanted to convey that in my face chart. I knew that I didn't want to create something that was too complicated because I would need to re-create it the following week. At the same time I knew women wore make-up but not as much as I had originally thought. For most characters in Cabaret I imagine them to have dark eye and lip make-up because it was such an evening look. 

I tried to keep it simple by not layering on lots of eye make-up because it wouldn't have been true to the era. But I did apply a lot of foundation in a paler shade than normal because I wanted to highlight the contrast between light and dark. The eyes have different shades of grey that gradually blend into each other because I thought the monochrome eye would really make the lips pop. I applied a little amount of blusher because I didn't want the image to look too over the top so a little blusher just brings out the cheekbones. But also it highlights the flirtatiousness of the character. 

I had a lot of fun with the hair. I used the classic 1930's curls style because I knew that it would be most fitting. I decided that I would tie in a black piece of lace as a headscarf because I rarely use hair accessories and this really brought the character to life. Having researched women in the 1930's quite a lot of them wore a head piece or scarf because it was very much the fashion. 

Context of the time- Anita Berber

1920's/1930's Berlin was all about the Weimer culture. Every type of artist joined forces in the German expressionism. Among these artists were people such as George Grosz and Otto Dix who has such an influence on art during that time. But art wasn't the only exciting thing going on during Berlin at that time. Cabaret was just getting started. Imagine seedy club and saucy dancers moving to jazzy music, that is exactly what you would see if you took a walk through Berlin in the 1930's.

Girls would move to Berlin as teenagers looking for their calling and find themselves in the centre of a crowd, dancing on stage with a group of other girls or at the forefront of a painting. One woman that lived life to extremes was Anita Berber. To me she symbolises what that era was like, seductive make-up, clothing and behaviour. She was an icon of her period and in fact was even painted by Otto Dix himself. Drugs, alcohol, sex and glamour were what drove the people at the time, many would die young from overdose or extreme drug or alcohol abuse and even sexually transmitted diseases. It doesn't sound very appealing but it was what sold... the lifestyle is what people wanted. I honestly don't think there were any boundaries and if there were they were in place to be broken. It was party time, all the time.

(http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/glitterdoom/gad_07.htm)

Towards the end of the Cabaret era was when the war began. Berlin was a showcase of lots of different people including Germans and Jewish people. Before the controversy of politics began about the separation of the two everyone would mix quite happily without the worry of being different.

Abstract painting with Aqua Palette

Our first year was very much about looking at make-up techniques and going back to basics. Whereas this project gave us the opportunity to explore different avenues of art. For this particular experiment the aim was to be as free and colourful as possible. Having studied several art courses before I started University I found this and other experiments really natural because before I began practising make-up, art was all I knew.

• Start by cleaning the model’s face with cleanser, toner and moisturiser.
• Using the Aqua Palette and either your angled brush or for big gestures use a foundation brush to create lines and shapes across the face.
• Try different tools such as an eyebrow brush to create textured areas, you could also add a lot of colour to the brush and flick it onto the skin to create a spray effect.
• By adding more layers of colour to the face you can distort the look of your model.
• Using white will make the face stand out and if you want particular lines to be prominent then use a white to highlight them.
• This particular idea has no limits, we are so used to creating the perfect look and being neat but this idea of being messy and unpredictable opens up a whole new idea because you can get to the stage of using both techniques. 

This was so much fun! It has been quite a while since I have done painting so to be able to incorporate it into my make-up was really exciting. This allowed us to totally let go and be free with our application. I loved what the white did to the whole image... I do love a good highlight, it really made the face stand out. I didn't try flicking or spattering the colour which I would love to try again. But there was no boundaries to this task which was a first.

1930's curls

In our first year we learnt how to do finger waves using barrel curls. But the importance of doing this style is so we can use it in our historical designs as well as manipulating it for a contemporary.

• ·         Begin my brushing the hair through with a pin tail comb so all of the knots are gone.
• ·         Then part the hair on the side, either left or right depending on which way the hair naturally falls.
• ·         You want to start your curling at the front of the head. Place the hair around the tongs at the end of the hair and roll it anti-clockwise until the strand is wrapped around the tongs and you have reached the root of the hair.
• ·         Leave it there for about 30 seconds then gently easy the hair off the tongs, trying to keep the barrel curl in place. Then clip into place with a sectioning clip.
• ·         Repeat this step in a brickwork formation across the entire head.
• ·         When you come to doing the curls on the side of the head that has less hair try to angle the curls so they point towards the centre of the head.
• ·         Once the whole head is curled start unravelling the curls in the order that you curled them because they will be more set and cooler.
• ·         You then want to use a paddle brush to brush the curls till they are frizzy.
• ·         Then apply a shine spray at it will make the hair more shiny and make the hair look healthier.
• Then use a comb to brush the waves into place, gently try to backcomb the waves into place.
• Try putting sectioning clips in the waves to keep them in place until you are ready to photograph.

If you were to use a model with longer hair you would follow the same steps. But when you take the hair out of the clips, brush it through and then use stuffing or if the hair is thick enough you can roll it underneath.

Then use wig pins to pin the hair into place. If necessary backcomb the hair to give it more volume.

I found this surprisingly difficult, especially with short hair. Just because the ends of each strand were very straggly and I couldn't always wrap the tongs all the way to the end which had an effect on my overall image. The finger waves themselves didn't sit properly and then I was left with a piece of hair from the fringe that I tried to curl around into a kiss curl but I was not successful. I thought it was really practising this look because it was so vital in this project and I found the more I tried it the best I got at it. I would have loved to try it on long hair so that I could really transform a long hair style into a bob.