Kit Kat Girl Face Charts

These are some face charts I have done for my historical design of a Kit Kat Girl. They are definitely drafts of my final design as I am unsure of how to make them seem more androgenous which I want to approach to by a contouring method. I also am not sure of what shade I would use if I contoured as I want the face to be pale but don't know if contouring in a darker shade would take this away. I have a variety of shades and colours I can use for the lips and eyes and thought using a colour such as blue would be good to colour around the eyes as it was a popular colour in the era along with purple and green. The brown eye shadow in the first is inspired by the makeup the Kit Kat Girls wear in the 1972 film as some were wearing darker shades too. I don't think I'd like to go any darker than brown is if I used it for my final though just because black is too obvious for this type of makeup. I think I prefer the coloured eyeshadows in comparison as it creates more of a personality too to the character and that they are outgoing from instead always using black and brown shades. I would like to have a dark red shade for the lips as it is noted in my mood board and have so experimented with this onto my face sharts. Overall I am starting to get a picture of what I want for my final design but need some guidance on how to make the face more androgenous using contouring.

Where Have They Just Come From? (Historical Character)

The '1st Girl' was sitting at a table with another Kit Kat Girl before she approached Cliff. She had also been singing 'Don't Tell Mama' with the rest of the Kit Kat Girls and Sally Bowles on stage. The performance could have been the only or last act of the night at the club and so my character wanted to just relax and have a drink with her fellow Kit Kat Girls before approaching a man to flirt with.

Moodboard for Historical Design

This is my moodboard for my Kit Kat Girl Design. My design has to be a historical version so I thought it would be useful to add photos of actresses from the time period and take note on their hairstyles for my design.

When Is It? (Historical Character)

In Act 1 Scene 4 it is New Year's Eve 31st December 1929 but when the song 'Telephone Dance' starts it is then after the midnight countdown and is 1st December 1930. The scene is placed in the Kit Kat Klub and I reckon the dance is happening not too long after the New Year has come in so 12:15-12:30. This part of the scene is happening at the tables of the club, the dance floor and bar as when my chosen character the '1st Girl' is rejected by Cliff and goes straight to the bar.

Where are They? (Historical Character)

I have chosen Act 1 Scene 4 where the Kit Kat Girls are singing 'Telephone Dance' in the Kit Kat Klub and are asking boys to dance with them and by themselves drinks. This scene has helped me focus on one girl so that I can create and relate a story to her character. I have chosen the '1st Girl' because she is the one who 1st asks a boy (Cliff) to buy her a drink which indicates her confidence to start this round of the Girl's flirting with the men through out the song. She gets rejected but just shakes it off and walks back to the bar as she probably asks men to buy her drinks regularly and is used to being rejected every now and then. Then again it would seem that Cliff just wasn't interested as he was leaving straight after so this can't indicate anything more of a reason why he said no. I have chosen this scene because it interests me how in that time and place women would ask the men to dance and would flirt with them first whereas now days it is the opposite way round and men usually approach women first. This scene shows the confidence the Kit Kat Girls have and representation of how women behaved in this era of Berlin by flirting with men first.

Who Are They? (Historical Character)

I have chosen a Kit Kat Girl as my Historical design because I like the way the Girls represent and introduce everything that Berlin was in the 1930s era and I think it would be fun to explore this more and create a character that can represent Berlin altogether or even just a piece of it such as this is what the Kit Kat Club stands for.The Kit Kat Girls are the dancers of the seedy Kit Kat Club. Aswell as Emcee symbolizing Berlin's lifestyle, the Kit Kat Girls give the audience a full example of Berlin! Some of them are men dressed as girls with wigs and heavy makeup and the girls also have makeup on that makes them look androgynous. In the film 'Cabaret' the Girls have a style of basically looking close to a prostitute by showing off their lingerie, wearing stockings and short skirts. By choosing this character I can explore in depth what the nightlife entertainment was like in Berlin and what was so influential about this life. Throughout the musicals made of Cabaret there have been a variety of ways the Kit Kat Girls have been styled for the show. The images of the Kit Girls below in the film and different musicals of Cabaret also set different moods of what the Girls are like. Their are different types of clothes that they could be wearing but still represented in a sleezy or sexual way. Their style to me is as if they think they look attractive and maybe in those days that was attractive but now looking at their style they come off looking like prostitutes. I think the mood they portray in the 2nd and 3rd image is very musical and full of styles but in the 1st and 3rd image they portray ugly pretty which I think gives a better and more intriguing idea of who the Kit Kat Girls are.

Emcee

The character, 'Emcee' first appears in the musical 'Cabaret' (1966) inspired by 'Goodbye To Berlin'. He is the host of 'The Kit Kat Club' and opens the musical. His character gives the first impression of what Berlin in the 1930's is like, symbolising unfeltered sexual freedom. I think that Emcee comes off quite frightening looking as he reminds me of a ventriloquist doll and is very 'in your face' - those two things mixed together are terrifying! He comes off comedic to the audience but could also be noted as gender questionable which also shows the impressions of Berlin.

This image is the version of Emcee in the 1972 film 'Cabaret'. He opens the film as he does in the musical. His makeup to me resembles a ventriloquist doll/clown with his long thick fluttering eyelashes, rosy cheeks and red lips. I do find his character very eye catching because he has a striking presence in the film. He only appears in the scenes of the Kit Kat Club.

Who Are They? (Contemporary Character)

Sally Bowles is a character from the book 'Goodbye to Berlin'. Her character is based on a real person named Jean Ross who was a friend of the author Christopher Isherwood. Bowles character completely revolves around the life of how Berlin was in the time period - she loves sex and is shockingly open about it ad not at the best of times. She is a singer aspiring to be an actress who wants to be different even though realistically she is like the rest of the Berlin. During that era, red shades of nail polish were the most popular but Sally always fashioned green nails and this may have been to make her stand out more from the crowd. She tries to portray herself as someone with loads of confidence, but underneath she has a lot of insecurities.

'I noticed that her finger-nails were painted emerald green, a colour unfortunately chosen, for it called attention to her hands, which were much stained by cigarette smoking and as dirty as a little girl's. She was dark....Her face was long and thin, powdered dead white. She had very large brown eyes which should have been darker, to match her hair and the pencil she used for her eyebrows.' - quote from the book 'Goodbye to Berlin' of the description of Sally Bowles.

The 1972 film, 'Cabaret' is based off of 'Goodbye to Berlin'. Sally Bowles is played by Liza Minnelli which I think she portrays Sally Bowles really well. This version of her is how I imagine her to be - someone with an edgy haircut so that she stands out from the crowd as well as showing off her outgoing personality. Her eyelashes remind me of the one underlash that Malcolm McDowell wore in 'A Clockwork Orange' as Alex DeLarge because they are so long for Sally to make her eyes pop and stand out, as does the long underlash of Alex looks to make him stand out from his gang. When she is on stage performing she has a beauty mark on her cheek but offstage she doesn't. She also wears a chignon on the back of her head full of short curls to portray her stage character. In the film her fashion is of mostly wearing black with one other colour. She has a pale face, which was the trend of the 1930s Berlin, so maybe she wore a lot of black to make her look even paler. I also noticed in one scene she was holding an umbrella over her head and a huge shaded hat in another which she did to keep her pale complexion. Throughout the film I started to see her personality unravel and noticed she is very self centred and talks constantly about herself.

Summer Project Link

Here is a link to my Summer Project blog called 'Hide and Seek':

http://ashleighwardfindandseek.blogspot.co.uk/

Introduction

My new project is about Berlin in the 1930s especially focusing on the book 'Goodbye to Berlin' by Christopher Isherwood and it's adaptation 'Cabaret' by Bob Fosse. My final outcome is to choose a character and make the historical verison of them and also choose another character and make a contemporary version of them.
Berlin in the 1930s is a completely new topic to me as I never knew what was happening at these times there between the wars. Therefore the book 'Goodbye To Berlin', the film 'Cabaret' and Weimar Berlin are all new and I've never heard of them.
I'm hoping to find something inspiring in this project as I am learning how people lived outrageous lives, surrounding themselves with sex, alcohol and drugs! This could mean the makeup, hair and fashion is just as outrageous too. I'm hoping to keep up with the research this year so I have plenty of ideas that have been inspired for my final designs.