Development of my Lady in Waiting make-up design - Lettice Knollys

I have chosen the bad girl: Lettice Knollys (1540 - 1634)

Lettice Knollys as Countess of Leicester, c. 1585 by George Gower

For me this Lady in Waiting seemed to be the most interesting one, with the naughtiest story behind, and that inspired me. I thought that I can be more creative when doing a bad character so here I am, researching the historical background, the symbolism behind what I want to incorporate in my final design and creating another story for my character.

When I read a bit about Lettice, I instantly knew what I was going to do. Of course, my design changed a bit from facechart to facechart and from practice to practice, but it was the same idea from the start. I don't know why, when I'm super excited I can't sleep at night and when I'm in bed  I think a lot about what is going to happen, and then wonderful ideas suddenly pop into my head and I have to get out of the bed, turn on the lights and write them down so I can finally go to sleep peacefully and stop annoyng my boyfriend who tries to sleep. :))

Here are some interesting historical facts about Lettice Knollys:

• Lettice Knollys was known as the Lady in Waiting that married Robert Dudley, Queen’s favourite;
• She was the Queen’s cousin and they have been friends since childhood, being younger than her;
• She was also one of the most beautiful women from the court, her features matching the 16th century standard of beauty;
• Lettice had 3 husbands, and Robert Dudley was the second. After his death, she became a rich widow, beautiful but heartless;
• Once the Queen heard about their “secret” marriage, she banished Lettice from the court.

Really interesting character, isn't it? Yep, for me it really is.

Mark Satchwill: Lettice Knollys

The struggle:

To create a contemporary design for Lettice’s look, I had to brainstorm a little… and I started by writing down what I have learnt researching.
And to write in my notebook every idea that came into my mind at night when I was trying to fall asleep.

My brainstorming sheet

My nasty notes and handwriting

After researching the secret meaning of every colour I wanted to use for my design, looking at portraits of Lettice Knollys and trying to imagine how her character was, I concluded the following:

• I should use green for the eyes, because she was like a “green eyed monster”, envying Queen Elizabeth for everything she couldn’t have;
• A touch of golden-green glittery powder in the centre of the eyes, because she got rich when she married her second husband, Robert Dudley, but again… considering the saying “The eyes are the mirror of the soul”, the green glitter also symbolised that her soul was corrupted and poisoned by envy, even if the sparkle (her beautiful features) tried to hide this;
• Red for defining the inner corner of the eyebrows because red and green are complementary colours, which symbolises her duality (the friend and the “frenemy” for Elizabeth), and the contrast between her appearance and her soul’
• Blushed cheeks symbolising youth and beauty (she was younger than the Queen);
• Red and black ombre lips – she was sensual, beautiful, rich, but she cannot hide forever the poison that was inside her soul.

My first face chart.

Second face chart and the dirty blended one.

Third face chart and the best one.

References:

• Elizabethan makeup 101 (no date) Available at: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/makeup.html (Accessed: 2015).
• Lettice Knollys (2015) in Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettice_Knollys (Accessed: 2015).
• Lettice Knollys by Mark Satchwill (2007) Available at: http://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?ID=553166&IRV=1 (Accessed: 2015).
• Meaning of colors (no date) Available at: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/meaning-colors.htm (Accessed: 2015).
• Morton, J. (no date) Explore colors. Available at: http://www.colormatters.com/color-symbolism/the-meanings-of-colors (Accessed: 2015).