Miss Havisham.

Yvonne's lesson this week was about looking at things differently, and too look at the colour, shape and texture of an image or thing. She showed us pictures not nessercarily Victorian, some contemporary, that had aspects and details through colour, shape and texture that related to Miss Havisham. This inspired me too look more closely at the all the little details that make up Miss Havisham, and too also look at the colour shape and texture of them.

Yvonne also showed us this quote by Damien hurst- 'the physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living' which definetly to me sums up miss Havisham, and how she was living but not really alive. At one point she might have been happy and attractive, but no longer. 

Aspects and research that I feel apply to my Miss Havisham: 

      Health and hygiene wasn't great at all in the Victorian era. Every person who died of old age, eight died of disease such as Cholorea. In poor places streets might run ankle deep in mud for weeks. Some considered a bath a place where you would catch disease and some people would not even take their clothes off to do so. So although Miss Havisham was wealthy she wasn't the sort of person that would wash and maintain her personal hygiene. Most wealthy women would change they're clothes 4-5 times a day, which is also something Miss Havisham would not be partaking in. She would have been very dirty which i feel would come across in her appearance. Maybe the dirt would have been in her wrinkles? Her nails would have been dirty and not manicured and unkept too.

This image above really gives of to me a sense of layering. Which could be something that Miss Havisham would have had, years worth of dirt and grim layered on top of each other on her skin. 

      Deodorant wasn't created until the late 1880s, so I imagine she wasn't smelling her best either. She would have looked quite sweaty, from the oil lamps being on and never getting any air or light. There were no toilets and indoor plumbing so most houses smelt really bad, i feel as Miss Havisham was also indoors sitting in the smell it would have added to her horrible odour.
      Women in the Victorian times also didn't groom their body hair (this started about the 1920's), so her eyebrows would have been extremely messy and un plucked. Did she have any other facial hair? 

      In the Gillian Anderson portrayal of Miss Havisham she had a tick and was itching her skin a lot. I feel like this would have been quite accurate as bed bugs were a normal infestation in the Victorian Era causing lots of skin disorders and diseases. Does Miss Havisham have eczema? I think Miss Havisham skin is very discoloured. Due to illness, lack of sunlight and infestations. I imagine it to be very washed out and grey or yellow like, with red itchy patches and yellower  and brown tones around eyes and cheeks making her appearance very gaunt and ill looking. The image i perceived in my head of her was almost like a skull. as i feel she wouldn't be eating well so would be very thin.

   I really love the colour palette of the image above, the browns arounds the eyes make him look tired and old. The cut lip, and gauntness of the face and neck are brought out by the brown and darker coloration. I love the texture of the face, its very old, unkept and rough looking. The way the eyes are very inset and dark, brings out more of a sense of his ill health. I love how the face is not perfect at all, and you feel like he has had a hard life. Also on this photo there looks like there are scars and cuts and bruising. Which makes me think if Miss Havisham would and why? However, I think it is important to remember that Miss Havisham was seen through Pips eyes so his perception of her would have been a lot more exaggerated than to what she actually looked like. In all aspects for example, age, as she would have only been 40 maximum as life expectancy wasn't very long due to all the disease but Pip is portraying her to seem a lot older and grotesque as he was only a child looking at this seemingly old eccentric woman. 

       Everyone was also infested with body lice and head-lice. People used to use mercury to try and kill the lice (which caused more illness.) I think Miss Havisham would have definitely had head-lice and extremely dirty matted hair, which was once grand and lovely but now an unkept mess, with grey going through it. Maybe cobwebs or other accessories are lost and caught up within it? Her veil would have been extremely off white, yellows, browns and greys. Years worth of dirt caught up in it.

        Dental hygiene wasn't a very common thing in the victorian time either. It would usually be just a bit of rag used to brush teeth. Womens teeth were known to be worse then mens due to pregnancy and the hormones causing teeth to fall out. Although an Italian company Marvis brought out toothpaste in the late 1700's it still wasn't very common. I imagine Miss Havishams teeth to be very yellow and black, maybe some have fallen out.

Another image that really stood out to me whilst doing research on Pinterest for Miss Havsiham was this painting by Gustav Klimt. The gauntness and skeleton like shapes of the body really portray to me how i see Miss Havisham. The unkept brow, and the yellow tones and paleness of the face are also details which i feel she would have. 

Make up in the Victorian Era was an issue for women and society. Anything applied to the skin was not refereed to as Make up but medicinal nature and brought from the pharmacist. Women focused more on skin care and looking after their skin than make up. Women who wore make up were either prositutes or actresses as it was frowned apon for women to have 'painted faces.' If it was worn it would be very subtle and they moved away from heaving thick bases seen in earlier times as Queen Victoria thought painted faces were 'vulgar'. Having pale skin was what women wanted as if you had tanned skin you would be seen as the 'working class' working out in the sun all day. So pale skin meant you were rich enough not to work and you would indoors all day. 

 However make up was still available and pastes, powders and paints were used. These were made out of things such as, rice powder, zinc or ground pearl powder and were used to hide blemishes, some would even add red beet juice to the cheeks for a healthier complexion. All kinds of concoctions were created to make lip balms, eyeshadows, eye liners all applied subtly to the face. Although make up was around in those days i feel like when we read about Miss Havisham in great expectations she would not have been wearing it. If she did it would have seeped deep into her skin adding to the layers of dirt on her skin. Or it could be the other way round and she could be applying it in hopes that her love comes back to her?

Kate Tattersall. (2012). Early Victorian era make up.. Available: http://www.katetattersall.com/?p=3735. Last accessed 04/02/21014.

I really like these images by John Galliano. They really stood out for me. The sweatiness of the face, pale skin and heavy dark eye shadow under the eye, really gives a sense of how Miss Havisham would be looking. Even the veil, grey off white clothes and the accessories in the hair would also be a factor that Miss Havisham would have had. The finger wave in the hair would have started to become more common too. 

All these images i found on Pinterest whilst researching. Here is a link to my 'Miss Havisham' Pinterest board.  http://www.pinterest.com/lailahamidi/miss-havisham/