Elizabethan Beauty

My current understanding of Elizabethan Beauty:

So far my knowledge of what the typical Elizabethan beauty look is traditionally what Queen Elizabeth looked like. I think everyone in the era of her reign everyone wanted to look like Queen Elizabeth. The definition of beauty in the 16th century was very pale white skin, the hair line on the forehead would be extremely far back and would sometimes be shaved at the front to lengthen the forehead. High foreheads was classed as a sign of high intelligence, which is why Queen Elizabeths forehead was very large because she was known to be very intelligent and held a lot of wisdom and power. Their hair styles were very elaborate with different types of plaits, buns and up dos. Queen Elizabeth had light golden red hair which traditionally she wore up with pale white skin, this influenced the beauty and fashion of the 16th century to mimic the Queens beautiful look. 

Queen Elizabeth 1 the influenced beauty of the 16th century-

Painting displayed in the National Portrait Gallery:

Queen Elizabeth I ('The Ditchley portrait')

by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
oil on canvas, circa 1592
95 in. x 60 in. (2413 mm x 1524 mm)
Bequeathed by Harold Lee-Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon, 1932.

Explanation of portrait by the National Portrait Gallery:

The portrait shows Elizabeth standing on the globe of the world, with her feet on Oxfordshire. The stormy sky, the clouds parting to reveal sunshine, and the inscriptions on the painting, make it plain that the portrait's symbolic theme is forgiveness. The three fragmentary Latin inscriptions can be interpreted as: (left) 'She gives and does not expect'; (right) 'She can but does not take revenge', and (bottom right) 'In giving back she increases (?)'. The sonnet (right), perhaps composed by Lee, though fragmentary, can mostly be reconstructed. Its subject is the sun, symbol of the monarch.

I really like this oil painting that was created by the artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger as the stance and location that Queen Elizabeth is in really portrays herself and that it has a symbolic theme. The Latin inscriptions in the background of the portrait explains quotes about the type of person she was and how she responds to things and her purity. I feel the fact that she is stood on the earth creates a feel that at the time many people classed her as Queen of the world. I think the background of the portrait really shows a lot of colour and detail in the sky and also the world where she is stood. Queen Elizabeths clothes were always very over exaggerated with puffy shoulders and long royal dresses. Her dress and jewellery contains a lot of pattern and textural detail which stands out in the painting. I think that because the background of the painting is so busy with detail and colour that her dress had to be slightly more neutral and pale so that it didn't clash too much with the background. I feel this portrait can really help me when I'm designing make up and hair styles influenced by the Elizabethan beauty. I can use aspects of colours, style and texture from this painting to inspire my own future designs based on the Elizabethans to help me gather ideas to create the New Elizabethan look. 

Portrait photo and portrait description sourced:

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02079/Queen-Elizabeth-I-The-Ditchley-portrait?LinkID=mp01452&role=sit&rNo=10