My Wig Designs

When designing my wigs, I kept in consideration my character and what I imagined them to be doing for the three different shoots:

Extreme - Going to a British festival.

Moderate - Styled for her everyday life in London.

Simple - Back in Kenya to visit her parents and the rest of the tribe that she came from.

Extreme Design

This design, like all of my designs, incorporates a lot of plaits.  The main feature in my designs, and that will continue through each, will be the plaited fringe that you can see on the forehead.  This is a design that the Maasai tribe use themselves, plaiting the hair forward over the face and then either tying with a leather strap or leaving them to hang loose.  I have chosen to use this element in my designs, because my character is originally from the tribe but has moved to London to live by herself, and the fringe is something that means she will always be a part of the Maasai people, no matter where she is in the world.

The rest of the design sees a top knot in the middle of the head with two thick plaits wrapped around it. The rest of the hair is loose down, apart from two other thick plaits that begin at the front of the head and are raised from the scalp.

Moderate Design

My moderate wig design includes the plaited fringe as well, with the rest of the hair being pulled back into a high bun.  For the moderate design, I have chosen to use the bun, as I think that they are quite a contemporary element of hairstyle, and I want to incorporate both contemporary ideas and traditional Maasai ideas into one hair design.

I have opted for some plaits, of different sizes, to go around the bun up to about halfway.  I have designed it in this way because I relate plaits to be quite tribal, as well and contemporary, so I thought that it would be good to use these to decorate the bun so that it isn't so plain for a moderate design.

Simple Design

Finally, for my simple design I have chosen to keep the plaited fringe but just leave the rest of the hair straight down.  This is because she is going back home to see her family and friends from the tribe who are all still quite traditional.  Therefore, my character keeps the plait incorporated to feel closer to them when she is back, and the rest of the hair straight down, so as not to stand out too much from the crowd when she is back with them.