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Gerda: 'The Snow Queen' Shoot

A feminist fairytale?

By justwingit.kim .Published 6 years ago 4 min read
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Gerda looking for Kai

Hi guys!

We all have our favorite stories that emerge at Christmas time. A personal favorite of mine is "The Snow Queen." The BBC adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s most famous fairy tale is always watched in my house at this time of year. When the snow started falling where I live, on the tenth of December, I was determined to give you guys a very special snow day shoot, dedicated to one of my favorite heroines, Gerda.

Gerda

Gerda is the protagonist of "The Snow Queen." She is an admirable character full of empathy and love. The BBC adaptation of the story shows Kai as a homeless boy whom Gerda befriends. She cares for him and they become as close as siblings.

An evil mirror features in this fairy tale, one that smashes and should the splinters of mirror glass get into someone’s eye, it freezes their heart and causes them to be unable to see the good in themselves or others. A piece of the glass enters Kai’s eye and he turns aggressive towards Gerda. Despite this, Gerda continues to care for Kai, and when he goes missing she is determined to find him.

Gerda goes on a magical journey to find him, braving many terrors and having to find her way through difficult situations to save her friend. What I love about this fairy tale is that, although written in 1844 when women in society were very much dependent of men, this young girl is the heroine, not the damsel in distress. Hans reversed the typical gender roles of who saves who and gave this courageous young girl a chance to think on her own, to thrive and succeed in adventure, making her a role model for young girls over the years, getting them to dare to want for adventure too.

Other Women in the Tale

Hans Christian Anderson didn’t just give Gerda qualities so ahead of her time, but also the Princess in "The Snow Queen." The Princess was looking for a companion, a prince. But she was determined that he should match her in wiles and intelligence. I love this because I feel too often in fairy tales were young girls just depicted as wanting to “fall in love” or willing to be “swept off her feet” by the first man she met, this Princess wanted someone who she could connect with in an intelligent way, love as an equal and happily share her life with. Though a small part of the story, it still gave another aspiration for girls to look too. Gerda and the Princess, I believe, are hidden feminist gems in this well-loved fairy tale.

The Look

I wanted my interpretation of this character to still have her sense of adventure but modernize her slightly and show her practical means through her appearance—whilst not losing the well-loved fairy tale style of her character.

Layering two dresses, one with white puffed peasant sleeves and one plain patterned red dress, with grey woolen tights, knee high socks and tough boots, I gave her the fairy tale peasant look whilst keeping her dress length modern and practical, imagine running through the forest in a floor length skirt!

The Makeup

Sometimes less is more. I love this character because she is young, fearless and loving without measure. In this case, a smoky eye and glossy lip would not do. I wanted a heightened natural look, enhancing features such as eyelashes and rosy cheeks without making me look too old for the character.

  • I used the Chanel LE TEINT ULTRA TENUE ULTRAWEAR FLAWLESS FOUNDATION as my base, it gave great coverage and lasted well in the snow.
  • I gave the impression of longer and fuller lashes (characteristic of heroines in fairy tales) by lining my lashes with the KIKO magnetic eyeshadow in Over the Taupe, with an angled brush, winging out the ends for a subtle girlish flick. I used Fairy Drops waterproof mascara to give my lashes lots of volume and length without the need for false lashes, this also worked well in the cold conditions of the photoshoot.
  • The main feature was the rosy cheeks, again typical of fairy tales. I used a mix of colours from the Makeup Revolution blush palette to create the rosy cheeks. Against the stark white of the snow, they brought my character to life. I used the palette to give my lips the same just bitten rosy effect.

Justwingit.kim

I hope you guys have liked this shoot as much as I’ve loved doing it! Gerda is such an amazing character and I’m so happy that I got to share why with you, as well as transform myself into her for a day. If you guys want to see more articles and shoots like this, please let me know! Maybe give me some more character ideas to look into and I’ll do my best to do your favorite characters justice too.

Below is the gallery of the photo shoot, and a few little blooper videos. Enjoy!

Also please don’t forget to follow @justwingit.kim on Instagram, and to check out the NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL linked here.

Thank you so much guys, have a great Christmas!

Twitter: @justwingit.kim

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About the Creator

justwingit.kim .

An off-blog blogger with a passion for makeup, theatre and living honestly. Articles include makeup advice for performers, product reviews and honest/embarrassing life stories that I want to share with you.

Instagram @justwingit.kim

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