There has always been a symbolical dichotomy between blonde and dark hair: for centuries painters and writers considered the former as a sign of angelical beauty, while the latter usually pointed at wickedness and ugliness. In medieval literature blonde hair also hinted at high social status, while dark hair was traditionally reserved for women of lower rank and servants.
Medieval writers in Europe usually fantasised about blonde women (think about Petrarch's Laura or Boccaccio's girls in Ameto and Emilia in Teseida), and in literature characters with dark hair were usually evil. We will have to wait the 1500s to read about poets declaring their love to a dark-haired beauty.
If you like the symbolical dichotomy between blonde and dark hairstyles, you will find different (and very inspiring) ones (especially if you're working on a film, a play or a photoshoot with some connections with the medieval times and you want to develop this dichotomy) in the volume Personas 111 - The Art of Wig Making 2017-2020 by Japanese hair artist, head prop designer and wig maker Tomihiro Kono (河野富広). The book is out on Sunday on Konomad Editions.
Image credits for this post
Hair | Wig: Tomihiro Kono @ Julian Watson Agency
Photography: Sayaka Maruyama
Make-up: Chiho Omae, Nana Hiramatsu
Model: Cameron Lee Phan @ New Pandemics
Publisher: Konomad Editions
Comments