Saturday, 4 October 2014

Summer Project

On the 28th April 2014 I received an unconditional offer to study BA (HONS) Make-Up and Hair Design at Southampton Solent University. This left me feeling very relieved and pleased as I was going to be doing something that I love for the next three years and learning the skills needed to start my career in make-up and hair design. A few months later and I received information form the university about a Summer Project I needed to complete, a sort of introduction into how to work in the mind set of a creative make-up and hair student.
The first part of the Summer Project involved creating a mood board titled "If I could...I would". It was an opportunity for us to think about where and who we wanted to be in 5 years time and later on during Welcome Week we would be explaining our aspirations to other students. This is what I created...


I am unsure at the moment exactly what I would like to do in make-up and hair as a career so I decided to show possible jobs I am interested in, company's I may like to work for, characteristics I would like to have, things I want to accomplish and people in the industry who inspire me.

During Welcome Week we discussed our mood boards in groups in order to find out a bit more about each other. Initially this was a bit daunting as we didn't know how many people we would have to present our mood boards to and how long we would be expected to talk for. However in the end we were in small groups and only needed to explain our work for a short amount of time which made the activity more enjoyable. Below are the interviews we did in the group to find out more about each other.




Sophey Sommers
Facts from Sophey’s mood board: She wants to be a working mum and have a house with her partner, work for television shows, travel and work on film sets.

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board?  Films, Make-up artists and the world around me.

How did you research the project? Online, books and magazines.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Relieved that the presentation is over, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Beth Webb
Facts from Beth’s mood board: She wants to work on films for example films that are like Harry Potter, work for film company’s possibly in Hollywood, have a car, house, money and travel.

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board? Films, make-up brands, adverts and music videos.

How did you research the project? Magazines and ideas that I already had.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Not pleased, I had done another mood board that was better but couldn’t bring it with me.

Vicki Leong
Facts from Vicki’s mood board: She would like to work part time at a university, be a make-up artist and write a make-up book, her inspiration is Sarah Jagger

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board? Make-up artists and bloggers.

How did you research the project? The internet and I looked at movies and music videos.

How did you feel about the final outcome? Pleased that I have completed the mood board.

Sera Gerwat
Facts from Sera’s mood board: She would like to work for catwalks, magazines and in fashion, she would like to work in Korea as she is learning Korean.

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board? Different cultures, magazines and bloggers.

How did you research the project? Online, movies and music videos.

How did you feel about the final outcome? I liked my mood board, I think it went okay.

Anna Lenton
Facts from Anna’s mood board: She would like to work in television, films and fashion, work for a company developing products, have a house, income and a job she enjoys.

What or who was the inspiration for your mood board?  Make-up artists, bloggers, films, television and magazines.

How did you research the project? Online and the ideas I already had of what I wanted to do in the future.

How did you feel about the final outcome? I was pleased with my mood board, it went better than I thought it would.



For the second part of our Summer Project we were given a list of films and told to review two, focusing on the make-up, hair and why we think they are iconic films. I chose Breakfast at Tiffany's  (1961) as I hadn't seen the whole film before and as it's known for being a very popular and iconic film I felt I should review it to make an opinion of it for myself. I also chose The Great Gatsby (2013) as I had seen the film before and it's one of my favourites in terms of make-up, hair and fashion.

 Breakfast at Tiffany’s Film Review

I think this romantic film has become iconic and is considered to be a classic film because when it was released it was seen as one of the best made films of the era. It is an example of a moment in time when fashion, make up, hair design, film making and acting worked perfectly together to create a piece of art that was adored by the audience and admired by professionals in their respective industries.  The film set a high standard and even today films of a similar style are compared to and criticised against Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with some people believing that such a film has not been made which surpasses the sophisticated style and class of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
 After the film’s release Audrey Hepburn’s character Holly Golightly  became a fashion icon with women all over America attempting to emulate her styles from the film and striving to have a little bit of Manhattan beauty and elegance in their lives. This increased Audrey Hepburn’s popularity and she soon became a leading figure in fashion and acting with women copying the way she looked and admiring the characters she played. Therefore the film helped Givenchy to become one of the most popular fashion designers of the time as he was responsible for Hepburn’s wardrobe throughout the film. Hepburn’s make up look designed by Wally Westmore emphasised Hepburn’s stunning natural features with flawless skin, nude lips and black eyeliner creating a sophisticated look. Hepburn’s hair styles created by Nellie Manley were new twists on the looks of the 50’s and became popular styles in the early 60’s including sophisticated updo’s with smooth finishes. All of the looks in the film became popular at the time and have influenced many styles since, making the film to be considered as iconic.
Anna Lenton


 The Great Gatsby Film Review

This dramatic film with the costumes designed by Catherine Martin revived the fashions of the 1920’s and led to high end and high street designers using the styles in their collections as people remembered the fun and glamorous styles of the 1920’s. The film had stunning hair, make up and costume shown to its full effect during the various party scenes in the film where the designer clothes, energetic music and beautiful scenery created a feel good and carefree party atmosphere which was synonymous with the roaring 20’s. The audience wanted to live a little bit of the New York businessman and socialite lifestyle for themselves and so the looks became iconic. This is partly because they are associated with a period in history known for hope in following the American dream and a carefree life style where anything goes. The film stayed true to the classic looks from the era yet kept them modern by the shades of colours used and small adjustments in the style of the hair and make up, designed by Kerry Warn and Maurizio Silvi. This helped to make the looks as flattering as possible and so they highlighted the mood of the character and the drama in the storyline. Many remakes of films or book adaptations don’t compare to the standard of the original however this film lived up to the expectation and the audience were spoiled with the high quality of the fashion, hair and make up. The 1920’s American style was already iconic however The Great Gatsby almost gave people the confidence to wear the styles again and made people believe that they are just as suitable for wearing today as they were back then.
Anna Lenton



I think the Summer Project was a interesting and useful exercise as the mood board made me think about what I want my life to be like in the future and what I need to do in order to make this happen. Also the film reviews made me look closely at the make-up and hair in the films and think about why the designers chose the looks they created and what their designs add to the film. I had never watched a film and focussed so much on the hair and make up but it really helped me to try and understand the choices the designers made. In the future I will think about this more when watching films as it will help me to understand why designers make certain styling decisions and when designing myself to focus on every detail in my designs and the purpose they serve.




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