[Step By Step Geisha Hairstyles
Luther Lazaro
For our 10th year anniversary celebration, 2 years ago, I wanted to produce a photoshoot and a short film that would hold a very powerful meaning. I titled it 'From Geisha to Goddess.' The goal was to show the evolution of young girls into womanhood, from an artistic perspective.
To commemorate the brand's original name, Geisha Ink, I worked on designing various modern-looking geisha makeup looks with the best selling products within the brand. It was important the style of makeup could be re-created by women who enjoy the simplicity and ease of use of the Amaterasu makeup.
For this project, I invited Ain Plunkett, a young and talented makeup artist from Vancouver to work on the tutorial. Ain was also the makeup artist for the entire photoshoot and film. Prior to the shoot, Ain asked if she could pick up some products to practice the looks. I was very impressed by how dedicated she was to her work.
Step 1: Ain uses our Liquid Brow Liner in Chestnut for her brows. If you watch the video carefully, you will notice that Ain applies the brow liner from the tail end of her brows and brings it inwards. We want to focus on creating stronger tail end brows, rather than super strong inner brows, to avoid looking too stern. She also uses a clean mascara brush to blend and soften the overall look. This step is optional.
Step 3: In the following step, Ain uses our legendary Liquid Eyeliner to apply a thin line on her lash line which she extends to create a cat eye effect. Once that is done, she goes back and thickens her entire liner look.
Step 4: On the bottom lash line, the Black Eye Pencil is applied to the outer lash line. This pencil is safe to use on the waterline however, for the purpose of this look, we want to create the illusion of larger eyes, so the instruction was to line the outer lash line rather than the waterline.
Step 5: To finish this look, 2 mascaras were used. The Ultra Volume Mascara was applied and then we finished with the Massive Length Mascara to further elongate the lashes and, due to its powerful curling effect, seal in the overall fullness throughout the day.
Less than a year after the shoot, my brother got married. I recommended Ain as the makeup artist for the wedding and needless to say, my sister-in-law and her mom were very happy with their makeup. I have referred some of my good friends to Ain and they too were super satisfied with her work. I highly recommend Ain if you are looking to book an artist for your next special event. You can reach her here!
The arts that geisha perform are considered highly developed and, in some cases, unique throughout Japan to the world of geisha. For example, the Gion district of Kyoto is the only district wherein the kyo-mai style of Japanese traditional dance is taught. This style of dance is taught solely to the geisha within the district by the Inoue school, with the school's former head, Inoue Yachiyo, having been classified as a "Living National Treasure" by the Government of Japan, the highest artistic award attainable in the country, in 1955.[5]
A number of terms are used to describe the profession and community that geisha both live and work in. Though each has its own distinct meaning and translation, some are used interchangeably to describe the geisha community on the whole, such as hanamachi and karyūkai.
In the early stages of Japanese history, saburuko (serving girls) were mostly wandering girls whose families had been displaced by war.[12] Some of these saburuko girls offered sexual services for money while others made a living by entertaining at high-class social gatherings.[13][14]
After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyoto) in 794, aspects of now-traditional Japanese art forms and aesthetic ideals began to develop, which would later contribute to the conditions under which the geisha profession emerged.[15] Skilled female performers, such as shirabyōshi dancers, thrived under the Imperial court, creating the traditions of female dance and performance that would later lead to both the development of geisha and kabuki actors.
However, some yūjo also performed theatrical plays, dances and skits; one such person was Izumo no Okuni, whose theatrical performances on the dry riverbed of the Kamo River are considered to be the beginnings of kabuki theatre.[17]
Following their inception by the shogunate in the 17th century, the pleasure quarters quickly became popular entertainment centres that developed their own additional forms of entertainment outside of sex. The highly accomplished courtesans of these districts entertained their clients by dancing, singing, and playing music. Some were renowned poets and calligraphers as well; the development of the cultural arts of the pleasure quarters led to the rise in oiran being considered to be the celebrities of their day.[citation needed]
Around the turn of the 18th century, the first geisha, or forerunners of geisha, performing for guests of the pleasure quarters began to appear; these entertainers, who provided song and dance, developed from a number of sources. Some geisha, who were something of travelling entertainers going from party to party, were men, who would entertain the customers of courtesans through song and dance.[17] At the same time, the forerunners of female geisha, the teenage odoriko ("dancing girls"),[18] developed, trained and hired as chaste dancers-for-hire within these pleasure quarters. Further still, some courtesans, whose contracts within the pleasure quarters had ended, chose to stay on to provide musical entertainment to guests, making use of the skills they had formerly developed as part of their job.[citation needed]
The first woman known to have called herself "geisha" was a prostitute from Fukagawa, roughly around 1750,[21] who had become a skilled singer and shamisen player. The geisha, who took the name of Kikuya, became an immediate success, bringing greater popularity to the idea of female geisha.[b] In the next two decades, female geisha became well known for their talents as entertainers in their own right; these performers often worked in the same establishments as male geisha.[23]
By 1800, the profession of geisha was understood to be almost entirely female, and was established as a distinct role in its own right; however, geisha were, throughout various points within the Edo period, unable to work outside of the pleasure quarters, being affected by reforms aimed at either limiting or shutting down the pleasure quarters. These reforms were often inconsistent, and were repealed at various times.[citation needed]
Once established as an independent profession, a number of edicts were then introduced in order to protect the business of courtesans and separate the two professions. Geisha were firstly forbidden from selling sex, though many continued to do so; if a courtesan accused a geisha of stealing her customers and business of sex and entertainment, an official investigation was opened, with the potential for a geisha to lose her right to practice the profession. Geisha were also forbidden from wearing particularly flashy hairpins or kimono, both of which were hallmarks of higher-ranking courtesans, who were considered to be a part of the upper classes.[9]
Despite their official status as lower-class entertainers, geisha continued to grow in popularity. While courtesans existed to meet the needs of upper-class men (who could not respectably be seen to visit a lower-class prostitute) and prostitutes met the sexual needs of lower-class men, this left a gap of skilled and refined entertainers for the emerging merchant classes, who, though wealthy, were unable to access courtesans because of their social class.
As the tastes of the merchant classes for kabuki and geisha became widely popular, laws introduced to effectively neuter the appearances and tastes of geisha and their customers were passed. This, however, had the adverse effect of leading to the rise in popularity of more refined and subversive aesthetical senses within those classes, further alienating courtesans and their patrons from popularity and contemporary taste; the introduction of laws on dress only furthered the popularity of geisha as refined and fashionable companions for men. As a result, over time, courtesans of both higher and lower ranks began to fall out of fashion, seen as gaudy and old-fashioned.[citation needed]
By the 1830s, geisha were considered to be the premiere fashion and style icons in Japanese society, and were emulated by women of the time.[24] Many fashion trends started by geisha soon became widely popular, with some continuing to this day; the wearing of haori by women, for example, was first started by geisha from the Tokyo hanamachi of Fukagawa in the early 1800s.
Though geisha returned to the karyūkai relatively quickly after the war, many had decided to stay on in their wartime jobs, considering it to be a more stable form of employment. Both during and after the war, the geisha name lost some status, as some prostitutes began referring to themselves as "geisha girls" to members of the American military occupying Japan.[9]
The status of geisha in Japanese society also changed drastically after the war. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, much discussion had taken place surrounding the status of geisha in a rapidly-Westernising Japanese society. Some geisha had begun to experiment with wearing Western clothing to engagements, learning Western-style dancing, and serving cocktails to customers instead of sake. The image of a "modern" pre-war geisha had been viewed by some as unprofessional and a betrayal of the profession's image, but as a necessary change and an obvious evolution by others. However, the incumbent pressures of the war rapidly turned the tide against Westernisation, leading to an effective abandonment of most radical "Western-style" geisha experiments.[d]
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