1930's

In theatre, plays and musicals take place in all different time periods. Being involved in hair and makeup design one needs to know what was popular during that time period. Just like the present day, there were different fashions from country to country and even city to city. Today, I did the hair and makeup you would see on a common girl from the mid 1930's. I started off by doing a lot of research, my primary goal was figuring out what was going on in the world and how that connected to what was fashionable. During the 1930's the U.S. was going through the Great Depression and people felt like they didn't have control over anything. Women wanted to go back to

a more womanly look, unlike the 20's when short hair and the boy silhouette was in fashion.  The women of the 30's wanted to feel like the women of the household with a more womanly silhouette and a little longer hair.

            For a daily look, women wore their hair swept back with a gentle wave to it and curls on the end. To get this look, use gel hair spray and a curling iron. Start out by curling the hair and make sure the curls are soft at the end. Then add a nice soft wave to the front and pin in place. They still did finger waves in the 30's, they just weren't as harsh and flat to the face as in the 20's. For an evening look take that hair and twist to the side hair. Then, add a low bun with some pins and keep it loose.

            For a woman's daily makeup look, I took a foundation, usually an olive color and set it in with some loose powder. Then, I added a soft pink blush on the cheeks. During the day many women just wore vaseline on their eyes for a nice flown and a little eyeliner, usually brown during the day with some mascara. For the lips, I used a reddish pink.  I started by adding the lipstick to the center lip and extending it out into defined cupids bow. In the 30's they wound extend the lip stick up to make a more heart shape. For a night look, I made the make up a little darker. I started off by adding a little more blush to the cheek and black liner to the  eyelid and a waterline on the bottom lid.  Since my model Jessie had brown hair, I added a purple which was a popular color for brunettes to use as eye shadow during the 30's. Then I put a dark brown eye shadow on the outer corners to darken the eyes and give it a nice evening look. In the picture I used a low cut back top which was a popular cut on dresses in the 30's. Tan skin was in and women wanted to show them off, so they wore dresses cut low in the back and wore their necklaces in the back instead of the front.

Tips for these looks:

1) Keep the makeup simple if you want it to be true to the time period during this time most women didn't have money for a lot of makeup.

2) Make sure you think "traditional womanly look" and do research so you understand what the women were trying to say with their clothes during whatever time period look you are going for.

Hint for next transformation: She is the heartbeat of the earth.