skin white as snow

Day 4

Make-up worn by Elizabethan women during the 16th century differed greatly from the make-up of today. Unlike the modern western desire to be bronzed by the sun, Elizabethan woman, in accordance with Queen Elisabeth's appearance, desired snow-white skin, rosy cheeks and red lips. Pale skin was a sign of nobility, wealth and delicacy for woman of that time.

In one of William Shakespeare's sonnets, he makes fun of the woman's ideal beauty:

“My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
Coral is far more fair than her lips fair
If snow be white, why then, her breast is dun,
If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks...”

William Shakespeare (del Prado, A, I, B, n.d.)

This sonnet is one example of how Shakespeare saw a tendency in Elizabethan women to 'hide' their real identity. In theatre especially, this hideaway was shown to the audience by dressing men as women (young men were to act the roles of females as women were not allowed to act). Everybody knew that behind the make-up, a totally different person was hidden. One could find 'ideal' beauty in the gentle, pure and virginal female characters, whereas the grief-stricken women were sometimes depicted as the contrary. Mad women wore their hair loose and mad people of both sexes had disordered clothing and make-up.

Another example of a slight mocking of the fashion is John Tailor's following poem:

"Some I have heard of, that have beene so fine,
to wash and bathe themselves in milke or wine,
else with whites of egges, their faces garnish,
which makes the looke like visors, or new varnish.
Good bread, and oatmeale hath bin spilt like trash,
My Lady Polecat's dainty hands to wash."

John Taylor

Within time, Elizabethan woman decreased their usage of make-up as theatre seemed to ridicule it. The girls in brothels also exaggerated this 'ideal' beauty which is another reason why Elizabethan make-up became very soft and subtle (Leed, D, 2008).

Of my personal experience today, although I could not get male skin quite as pale as it should have been, the reaction of my peers were not as sudden or shocked as the previous make-up styles I have worn. This is probably due to the fact that we are exposed to many different types and races of people in our very cosmopolitan society. To strangers, I suppose, I possible seemed British or just heavily make-uped.



References

del Prado, A, I, B, pdf: mural.uv.es/abordel/GP1.pdf, n.d. Hairstyle and make-up in Shakespearean times and comedies. Retrieved 7 October 2010 from
http://www.google.co.za/search?q=elizabethan+make+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Leed, D, 2008, Elizabethan make-up 101, Retrieved 7 October 2010 from
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html

Leed, D, 2008, Elizabethan make-up 101 [Image] Retrieved 7 October 2010 from http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html