The other day I got the confirmation that I will be performing in the Dallas Burlesque Festival at the House of Blues on Friday, January 21, 2011. That day will be my 4th anniversary as a burlesque performer. Seems a lot longer than that. I’m doing my signature number and the very first number in my repertoire, the Siren.

However, I think it’s time the Siren costume got a bit of a facelift. I’m going to revamp the pieces of the costumes. More rhinestones. New knickers. New gloves. It will be a work in progress.

Then again, all burlesque costumes are working progresses.


The Siren gown

You want how much for that??

I’ve been thinking about corseting again. I did it a few years ago; wearing my corset for 4 hours a day, 3 to 4 days a week and training my waist. That’s put me back in the mood for shopping for corsets. I have the usual places that I got to get mine custom made. But there is not place in Dallas to find these delicate objects.

I walked into Gregory’s at Northpark after seeing a couple of their corsets displayed.

I fondled the white brocade corset with lace trimming and an oddly placed chain. The boning was plastic and flimsy. There was nothing exciting about it. I could have every easily replicated this myself.

The Cadolle corset I was fondling at Gregory's. (Who ever put the image of this corset on the Gregory's website obviously put it up-sidedown.)

“These are made by Cadolle, the first French company that made bras,” exclaimed the salesgirl excitedly.

I glanced at the price tag. If I were sitting down, I would have fallen out of my chair. I had to do a double take…

$1,145.000? For that?! I chuckled.

For the price of that corset, I could have an entire burlesque costume made for me. Complete with rhinestones. Or two pairs of Louboutins. Or a pair of the largest ostrich feather fans. Or have my corset-makers custom make 4 steel-boned corsets, exact to my measurements.

Don’t get me wrong, Cadolle makes exquisite lingerie. But after a little digging around on the internet for similar corsets from the brand, I don’t see where it justifies the high price tag from Gregory’s. My conclusion is highway robbery.

Ah, but Gregory’s is not selling to someone like me. They are selling it to someone that without a second thought or question, drop the credit card for it and a few other things in the store. Ignorance is bliss.

I’ll stick to my custom corsets.

Here's looking at you, kid....

I go through hair phases. A few months ago I was achieving the Brigitte Bardot just-rolled-outta-bed hair do. Now it’s finger waves and pin curls. It has a lot to do with all the 20’s era movies that I have been watching as of late. Easy Virtue, Godsford Park, Chicago, and the Great Gatsby.

I’ve also been reading a lot about the flappers who propelled the fashion style. They were the rebels of the prohibition, women of easy virtues and loose morals. They drank, they smoked, they slept around and they were unapologetic about it.

They wore their hair in bobs, finger waved or Marcelled. They rejected the curvaceous hour-glass figures and corsets in favour of boyish structured frocks. Dark rimmed smoky eyes and deep wine pouts drawn into cupid’s bow. The Charleston was all the rage during this time of the jazz age. The flappers kicked their feet to the music with wild abandon, shocking the conservative generations before them. I’ve always wanted to be a flapper.

My great-grandmother used to tell me stories about “hanging out” with Elliot Ness and attending all those “wild” parties. My eyes would glaze over every time she talked about her younger days. My aunt always told me I was born in the wrong era. No kidding.

One evening recently, before Christmas, I was inspired to do my makeup a la Clara Bow, smoky plum eyes, dark berry lipstick drawn with slightly exaggerated cupid’s bow and tight pin curls. I topped my curls off with a raspberry felt beret. Louis (my partner in crime) and I walked into Nosh for dinner. He walked behind me and when we got to the table, he leaned over and said, “People are staring at you.” Not surprised.

What surprises me though is that you don’t see more of it here in Dallas. But then again, it’s not easy pulling off dark lipstick without looking too goth. And who wants to sit around for hours getting the pin curls down to bouncy curly-qs? And who wants to sit in front of a mirror making sure the cat eyeliner is even, perfect and Marilyn Monroe approved? And to spend an extra minute to put on those fluttery false lashes? And who wants to waste time making sure the seams on the stockings are straight against the gams?

I do. All of it.

I am finally connected….to Netflix.

So I finally broke down and joined Netflix. The first movie I watched, by suggestion from my milliner friend Kim, was Easy Virtue, starring Jessica Biel. I am not a huge fan of Jessica, but after watching the movie, I really liked her for the role. She plays a widow Grand Prix driver, who falls in love and marries the heir to a near bankrupt estate in the British country side, to the dismay of his mother and sisters. Hilarity and drama ensues when the new couple visits the estate for a few weeks. The movie takes place in the late 1920’s and the costumes were magnificent!

I am inspired to buy a cloche and take up smoking filter-less cigarettes. Enjoy the photos:

Eye Candy

Eye Candy