As You Like It

Due to Queen Elizabeth's influence in the hair scene, a lot of the 'upper class' hairstyles in plays were eccentric and difficult. This meant that they were able to gain the necessary attention at court. Mens hairstyles were almost always perfectly cut, either flattened, brushed up and held by gum, or even curled back. Through the length of the Elizabethan era, mens hair length slowly grew longer. It was also very common for the men to support beards, although they would sometimes have to shave them off if they needed to present themselves as a female.

 Wigs were also a very common practice in Elizabethan plays. When men became bald, they would often wear wigs in the colour of white or yellow. The wigs also showed a sense of wealth and were used for a lot of characters, although the comedic characters would often have weirdly shaped and over exaggerated hairstyles.

Makeup wise, pale skin was key. It showed wealth, and for 'women' it showed delicacy. Their were many ways in which this white skin was often achieved, most were poisonous. The most common way was through mixing lead and vinegar together to create 'Ceruse'. Once the paleness was achieved, a rich red colour was applied to the cheeks and lips, kohl was also often applied to the eyelashes to make them darker.

If a comedic character was the ending result, makeup was often painted on. A way of 'disfiguring' the face to make it funnier and recognisable. Some actors also wore masks to help put their character of choice across.




Most versions of this play during and slightly after the Elizabethan era, stuck to the original looks and visuals (the setting and props). But as time went on, play's began to either create more eccentric backgrounds, or begin to change the costumes to accompany the look of the times. In the Australian Shakespeare Company's version of As You Like It, their costuming was very different to that of the Elizabethan era. Giving it a modern take and aspect that younger audience members could easily be intrigued by. They also shortened the play, and made the songs included more of a lively dance style.

Makeup and hair wise, it was much simpler than that of Elizabethan times. They often had what we would call the 'no makeup' look. The only time they really paid a nod towards the older style was when they dress one of the men up as Touchstones future wife, who they had pressed a major amount of powder onto his face and added a very dark lipstick with a wig which stuck out every which way.