The last Tudor monarch 1558-1603 (research)

       

        During the Elizabethan era the queen Elizabeth was a fashion icon to women and subject of admiration for men. Whereas other countries had Renaissance era - Britain and part of France were absorbed by Elizabethan era. This was the most exciting era in British history in terms of theatre, music, and even sward fighting changed into something more elegant and beautiful.
        Amongst classic ideas of this era were Shakespearian poetry, theatrical staging, social high ranking, strong patriotic individualism.

Queen Elizabeth's presence can be seen in all through the Shakespearian sonnets. (I found these refferenses on shakespearesmonument.com). In his sonnets there are many words which signify the Queen:

BEAUTY - she was Venus, goddess of Love and Beauty
DIAN - she was also Diana goddess of the Moon
FAIREST VOTARY - She was the "imperial Vot'ress" of A Midsummer Night's Dream
EVER THE SAME - as she wrote her motto in English
FORTUNE - she was associated with fortune
GODDESS - the divinely ordained goddess on earth
HEAVEN - she was associated with heaven
MARIGOLD - she used it as her flower
MISTRESS - "our Sovereign Mistress"
MOON - Cynthia or Diana, goddess of the Moon
MOTHER - she was wife and mother of her subjects
NATURE - she was associated with nature
PHOENIX - she adopted the phoenix as an emblem
PRINCES - she was the Prince of England
REGION - she was Elizabeth Regina
ROSE - her dynasty of the Tudor Rose began in 1485
VIRGIN QUEEN - she was Virgin Queen, vowing not to marry
WE - she used the royal "we" on official documents


Christopher Marlowe - (the Latin motto on this painting translates: That which nourishes me destroys me)

He was the pioneer of English tragedy and drama. Marlowe was the most daring and inspiring discoverer of the poetic literature. He first guided Shakespeare into the first path and right way of work.
The taming of a Shrew, Shakespeare's comedy has some passages in the play borrowed from Marlowe's works.
This play represents a comic male perception and views of how a woman should behave towards man; she should be courteous, humble, loyal and obedient. Katherina's character shows her disgust for such stereotyping as well as her rebellion against Elizabethan society's gender values. Direct reference of Queen Elizabeth I.
I loved the movie we've watched in the classroom.The video you can find on YouTube: BBC produced (2005) - Shakespeare Retold, The Taming of the Shrew (modern adaptation). Starring: Shirley Henderson as Katherine Minola, and Rufus Sewell as Lord Crick (Petruchio).

But here is short remake on the movie, music by Gwen Stefani, Sweet Escape

 

       The film ends with Kate's "speech of obedience" - which is most criticised part of the film. It comes across for our modern world as blatant affirmation of sexism of woman enslavement and her subservience before the male "lord". Such a great contrast to her true persona. Her mask-like face, strong in her views but fragile in appearance woman. She portrayed and styled as confident and powerful woman. Her hair is styled in a conservative yet messy bun with asymmetrical parting to the side. I found similarly interesting hair parting what Georges Charka (Lebanese haute couture fashion designer) created on his model:

 She has big bushy eye brows and lack of make up. Her style is also quite restrained. It consists mostly of knee length skirt and notch collar jacket that expose her neck and strictly heelless ballet pumps. I would not accept her obedience as true summary without thinking about what else this could mean. After all this is a comedy. I believe that Shakespeare was well ahead of his time and Kahterine's end speech could be an elaborate joke and expressing much greater meaning. Besides, ironically Katherine is an indirect portraiture of the Queen  Elizabeth who vowed to never get married. Perhaps this is Kathterine's/the Queen's way of playing game in battling men's nature and the nature of marriages. Moreover, I don't think Shakespeare himself believed that this couple equally matched or ever be together.

Music 

      The most popular song of the Elizabethan Era which was sung to the lower classes to ease their monotonous jobs was Greensleeves. I browsed through www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-songs.htm This particular song believed to have been composed by the King Henry VII for his second wife, and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn:

Here is some part of the song lyrics:

Alas my love, ye do me wrong
to cast me off discurteously:
And I have love you so long,
Delighting in your companie.
Refrain:
Greensleeves was all my joy
Geensleves was all my delight:
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but my Lady Greensleeves.
***

Back to the modern times

I just recently was inspired by the look of the Queen from "Snow white and the Huntsman":

I realise that this particular Queen is an evil one. Hence the character's attire is appearing dark and mysterious. It has a very high collar (similar to Elizabethan times) which shows her perfectly straight stance and almost chiselled posture. The collar has been layered with black crow's feathers all around it - love this idea.

This styling is really beautifully done. The character's make-up suggests coldness of the wearer. 

Silver-grey cool eyes, nude lips and pale yet radiant skin just with hint of blusher on the cheekbones. This gives that pretentious warmth to the skin. 

The hair is styled upwards and it has a plait at the front of the head. Her look is immaculate and magnetic. 

Similarly, the Queen from "Mirror Mirror":
White Peacock Feather?

I love her styling. Gold dress in particular: long bodice, big round shaped skirt, and very elaborate ruff made out of lace: