Atlanta International Schools Production of 'Alice in Wonderland': Mad Hatter's Make up

The Mad hatter needs to look not only happy but crazy at the same time. Johnny Depp's look incorporated the happy and approachable with bright colours (e.g. orange hair, eye shadow) and the crazy with the bright orange hair. 


I think the Mad hatter for Atlanta International Schools production should incorporate some of the same aspects. However, instead of orange hair, he should have orange lips (Figure 1). The lipstick used in figure 1 is good because it lasts for a long time and doesn't fade off like most lipsticks.

Figure 1: Mac Cosmetics Pro Longwear Lipcreme in 'Good to Go to Shop'. 


He should still have wild hair, however, instead of orange it should be a more common colour like brown. This simple feature will make the make up stand out more. It should be brown because the white face would be too much if his hair were to be a lighter colour like blonde. The white complexion is important because it brings out the bright colours used on the eyes, lips etc. 


Instead of the dark plum colour used under his cheek bones, he should have a brighter colour like the one in figure 2. The colour on his cheeks needs to be brighter due to the less dramatic hair colour. It wasn't as necessary in Johnny Depp's look because his hair was bright orange. However, with a common colour like brown the make up needs to be brighter.

Figure 2: Mac Cosmetics Blush in 'Bright Fuchsia'


Because this is a theatre production and we don't have the luxury of cameras and close ups, the white eye lashes would be pointless. They wouldn't be able to be seen by the audience and they would drown out the rest of the make up around the eyes and make his eyes less visible to the audience. Instead he should have dramatic black eyelashes. They should be long, think and dramatic like the ones in figure 3. In order to get this type of drama one usually uses fake eyelashes. Fake eyelashes would probably be the best idea for the Mad Hatter because everyone else on stage will be wearing the maximum amount of mascara possible. The Mad Hatter needs to go further than everyone else on stage.

Figure 3: Fake Eyelashes


A colour that goes really well with brown hair is crystal blue. Therefore, a good idea instead of green contacts would be crystal blue contacts like the ones in figure 4. Eyes like these will be seen from the back row of the LPAC. The black eyelashes would make them pop.

Figure 4: Crystal Blue Contacts


Finally, we should keep the concept of multiple colours around the eyes. This makes him look happy and crazy at the same time. He would look more approachable with lots of bright eye shadows as apposed to a dark smokey eye. Therefore, we should do something like the style of figure 5. This look incorporates bright colours and looks almost like a rainbow. However, in our look we should switch the green and the blue around as we have blue eyes and not green. In order to get a look like this we would need to use extremely pigmented eyeshadows. In Johnny Depp's look, the eyeshadows are matte which is usually preferable for stage makeup. However, the shimmer in this look may look interesting on someone that is supposed to look 'out there'.

Figure 5: Eyeshadows