the lilac files: The Elizabethans

Who were they?

The Elizabethan era, known as The Golden Age, spanned from 1558 to 1603. The coronation of Elizabeth, the first female monarch, marked a renaissance that inspired national pride and a naval triumph over rivalling Spain. This period in history marked the lives of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. A time that England thrived on literature and the exploration of new worlds.

Queen Elizabeth I

Commonly known as 'The Virgin Queen', Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, executed just two and a half years after her birth. A truly noble queen, she aimed to reign by good council and fairness. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry, produce and heir to continue the Tudor Line. However, she famously defied these expectations and chose to keep England safe under rule instead of cowering under patriarchy. One of England's greatest military victories saw Queen Elizabeth I overcome the 'Spanish Armada' led by Philip II, attempting to overthrow her thrown.

Fashions Inspired By Elizabeth I

Elizabeth is the epitome of typical 'Elizabethan Fashion', with her ghostly complexion and golden orange hair, her high hairline and crimson cheeks, she was the Kate Moss of her day and an icon to all women about at that time.

Pale skin - If you had clean, pale skin you were thought of in an upper class way, as those with dirty, and sun kissed skin were often peasants working in the fields. The queen however was not as natural a beauty as we are lead to believe by her pristine portraits. 'Ceruse' a lead and vinegar paste was applied to the face, neck and any visible skin area to achieve a porcelain and perfectly pale finish. The lead was very unhealthy and caused numerous skin problems. Some doctors around at that time advised against it and new remedies were sought up such as - egg white, talc, alum and tin ash. Small Pox was a huge epidemic and concealing the face with these types of paste hid many scars and imperfections.

Red lips + cheeks - 'Fucus' a technique still used today in lipsticks to achieve a deep red, is simply crushed beetles spread on to the lip and cheek. This is something that women in history have been doing for a very long time. Cleopatra was said to have used a mixture of crushed carmine beetles and ants to colour her lips red.

The hair + brows - The hairline was extremely high, many plucked their hairline by up to an inch to create an aristocratic look of the then, very fashionable large forehead. The brows were also plucked to give a perfectly arched brow. Similar to now a days, there is the 'it' hair colour, but unlike us, the Elizabethans didn't have a home dye from Boots, they had to find alternatives for creating that sought after Golden Age, golden hair. Such as ; urinating on their hair, and if that didn't do the trick, they opted for hair pieces and wigs.

Portraits of Elizabeth in Chronological Order