Research: Adam James Phillips & Elizabeth 'The Golden Age' Film Review

Adam is a hairstylist who works in the film and TV industry. He was self taught but after having some training doing a course at the Musical Theatre ArtsEd London he discovered he had a passion for hair styling, I wanted to look into Adam's work to find out more about his previous work to inspire me with my current and upcoming projects. I originally found out Adam worked on the set of Downtown Abbey. Although I was later to find out that he worked on 'Elizabeth The Golden Age' which is perfect to relate to my current project.  Adam is also famous for his work on Captin America, The Imitation Game and Malificent. I find this range of different films interesting as The imitation Game and Captin America seem to have similar hair and makeup looks.

This is the charater from Captain America which shows the same similar hair style to the Imitation game photo down below:

Refrence: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5976959/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Here is an image of Malificent which Adam also worked on. Strangely, Malificent reminds me of Queen Elizabeth in a strange way. They both have a large amount of power, strength and they're both influential in character. Malificent makeup isn't that far off Elizabeths either and I would consider her a contemporary style of Elizabeth. She wears black which is a colour of richness, she wears red lips which tudor women would try to create, has brown eyes and an extreemly pale snow white complexion. I find it interesting finding characters which could be related to be a 'New Elizabethan'. I find it interesting how Malificent has such an amazing head piece too. In the film Elizabeth they have extravagant wigs and Adam was working on both sets so this shows the talent in the hair department of these films. I hope to research many more Wig makers/Hair stylists to get inspiration for my project. Reference for image:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/03/14/angelina-jolie-qa-maleficent/

I've inserted some images found on: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=elizabeth+the+golden+age&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=IQx_VIbvGOOs7AaZ4oDgCA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1280&bih=728#tbm=isch&q=elizabeth+the+golden+age+hair&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=6FSuMM27DiyE8M%253A%3BmVbjzcyd8I5HiM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%252F236x%252F92%252F93%252Ffa%252F9293faa473c88c858ae17031c9a06000.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.pinterest.com%252FArzciMondragon%252Fvintage-gowns%252F%3B236%3B318


I've viewed some images to get a feel of what the hairstyles/wigs were like in the film, I found them so amazing and very artistic, the hair team really got to grips with how the Elizabethans wore their hair.

Jenny Shircore was also a hair and makeup designer in this film. (A blog post follows on Jenny)


This image shows Elizabeth wearing a green gown with her hair in a V shape at the front. I find the hairstyle really interesting firstly because of the shape and how structured the angle is and also because of how neat and tidy it is. All these styles are made out of wigs but still, there are no hairs out of place and this seems very Elizabethan because you would always see her polished hair never messy or anything in her portraiture. This shows royalty and how well looked after she was.

This image shows Elizabeth holding a feathered fan in one of the scenes. She wears a pink ruff which elongates round to the back of her neck. The hair in this scene is quite volumes with lots of pincurls. In my plan I want pin curls at the front of the hair but in a contemporary way to give it that new edge to the hair for my design.  

I love this look featured in the film. The global dress designed by Alexandra Byrne which I thought was so cleaver as at the time the renaissance was going on and Elizabeth had power over many countries as if shes wearing it to mark her spot. Her hair is huge and the wig shows pearls coming through with diamantes and a designed detail which matches the dress which I found a nice touch, this is typically what Elizabeth used to be seen wearing (matching hair to costume).

Another style I especially liked in the film was a character other than Elizabeth, her maid wore a detailed ruff made from lace which I really like. The hair is very soft looking and not as harsh as Elizabeths styles, maybe being not as rich and not wearing a wig possibly. I like how the soft curls are in a middle parting turning into a heart shaped front. 

My own film review on the film 'Elizabeth the Golden Age':

"Today we watched 'Elizabeth' starring Cate Blanchett. The film was action packed and I really enjoyed seeing the fast paced movie. The character of Elizabeth was incredibly strong and Cate definitely acted how we would've imagined the real Elizabeth. She was a feisty, bossy character and she portrayed her royal role well.

The makeup used on the film was very minimal using natural flushed cheeks, very pale skin (but still looking natural), thinned out eyebrows which looked dyed blonde. The other characters in the film also wore very similar makeup to Elizabeth. The hair in the film was very extravagant and I love the different unique looks used on each character. There were very big quiffs, heart shaped designs, lots of use of buns, plats and twists. They also accessorised the hair well like the Elizabethan era using pearls and gems in the hair. At one point Elizabeth wore a feathered collar from her head which was very effective and mirrored her clothing which was what Elizabeth used to do all the time in her portraits. The dress's were traditional Elizabethan tudor dresses using petty coats, caging and ruffs with a square neck. The dress designs really inspired me as they made it believable we could be watching the real era. The costume designer was Alexandra Byrne who has designed the clothing in many other films too including Hamlet and the Phantom Of The Opera. The design work is very periodic and she shines through in this movie due to the accurate styling. The men are traditionally dressed using the colours black and white wearing ruffs and long socks with pointed shoes. The poor looked extremely tanned in the film and the rich seemed to be very pale like Elizabeth. This would be looked at in tudor times as being normal as the poor would work outside and gain a suntan.

Overall the film was good because of the action and story line was twisted from what actually happened in reality. The styling won a BAFTA (Alexandra Byrne) award and I strongly feel the styling and hair was exactly right for the century they were filming for."