Miss Havisham Final Design.

For me, Miss Havisham seems to mirror a lot of characteristics of Queen Victoria, in her mourning period. Miss Havisham mourns the loss of her fiancee when he jilts her, and spends the rest of her life in the wedding dress, whilst Queen Victoria spent the rest of her life in her mourning dress. In my design, I want to communicate this deep sense of emotion that both these women have, and the utter sadness that has swallowed them up. Both women's whole lives revolve around one event, Miss Havisham being left at the alter, and Victoria's husband dying. Both women's lives drastically change due to the loss of a man, which to me shows how both women relied on and lived for their partners. I want to express the desperation of Miss Havisham through my design, the neglect of her own body and the result of this. Miss Havisham would be suffering from malnutrition, I picture her with dark, hollowed out eyes and cheeks. As well as malnutrition, another factor of her appearance would be how she keeps herself enclosed in the darkness of Statis House. This is very similar to how Victoria retreated from the public eye, although the novel was written in 1860, and Albert died in 1863, I can see a direct link between the two characters. Both women are obsessive with the loss of their loved one, with Miss Havisham keeping the dining room decorated with rotting food and dying flowers, and Queen Victoria instructing her servants to lay out Alberts clothes and medicines ready for his morning routine. I want my design to communicate the desperation of Miss Havisham, but also portray the horror with what she lived in. I want there the be an aspect of death about her, as if she is a ghost. 

Final Facechart

Practice 1

Practice1

Practice 1

I want to communicate the idea that Miss Havisham is rotting away inside her own body, she is close to giving up on everything that she has. Her whole life is now dedicated to using Estella as a weapon against all men, and after that is complete, it is her time to go. She is essentially waiting to die. I have used a dark palette to create this look, to portray the element of Gothic in the design. I have enhanced the natural wrinkles of the face using dark greys and warm browns, to keep them as natural as possible rather than theatrical. I have used a contour brush to softly blend out the hollowed eyes and cheek bones on my partner, which also makes the look more realistic. By ageing her further with white eyelashes and eyebrows, this helps to place her in the timeframe. I am going to spritz her hair with dry shampoo to make it dusty, as well as backcombing and letting the curls drop. 

Practice 2

Practice 2

Practice 2

Here I practised the look as a whole, including the hair. By doing this, I know now how the hair ties the look altogether. I have pulled some strands of the hair out of the bun to make it look messy and uncared for. I am really happy with how my idea is moving forward, and am very happy with my final design. I have been able to communicate the Gothic and the emotions faced by Miss Havisham through this look, as I want people to empathise with her.