Poison Ivy costume - photos!

Earlier this year i made a Poison Ivy costume for Australian burlesque performer Amelie
This month, Amelie teamed up with the incredible Matchless Snapshots for a photo shoot, and i'm so happy with the results!

The costume consists of an emerald green silk dupion corset, in a high-backed underbust style with garters.  The corset is embellished with custom-made embroidered lace leaves (made in metallic green & black thread) which have been beaded using Swarovski Jet bicone beads.

The Bra has a light nude base with emerald silk cups and is entirely covered with black french lace to give a delicate touch to an otherwise severe costume.  I also made a pair of matching lace french-cut panties and embellished both the bra and panties with Swarovski flat-back rhinestones in Jet, Emerald and Vitrail Green.

Worn under the corset, bra and panties is a pair of pasties and a C-string with the same embroidered lace leaves as the corset - all designed to give the appearance of near-nudity..  Very saucy!

Thank you to my gorgeous client / Model / Hair stylist / Makeup artist: Amelie
and to Rachel at Matchless Snapshots in Victoria, Australia for her incredible photography!

A costume fit for a (burlesque) Queen!

A HUGE congratulations goes out to Australia's Imogen Kelly for being crowned "Reigning Queen of Burlesque" at the Burlesque Hall of Fame 2012 in Las Vegas last weekend!This is a huge honour in the burlesque world, you could say it's like winning the award for Best Picture at the Oscars! 

I am delighted to say that Imogen was wearing costume pieces made by me underneath her extravagant feathered costume, head dress and boa (not made by me). 
For Imogen, I made a Bra and Panty set covered in baby pink beaded fringe with Swarovski rhinestone embellishment:

The bra was front-fastening, and the Panties had a keyhole at the back for a cheeky peek-a-boo effect.

Worn under the Bra and Panties was a Dlite G string with matching Pasties and a Sandrina (a classic burlesque costume style - essentially an underwire Bra without cups). 

Each item was made in a medium beige lycra and heavily embellished with Swarovski rhinestones in the following colours: Crystal, Light Rose, Light Rose AB, Rose, Rose AB

I'll post a link to Imogen's award winning performance as soon as it's available online!  In the mean time, go and check out some of her other acts on youtube: www.youtube.com/user/Imogenkelly/videos  and visit her website: www.imogenkelly.com.au

Miss Burlesque Australia 2012

It's been a while since my last post - but i have a good excuse, i promise!

I've been a busy little beaver over the past few months, making costume pieces for five entrants in the Miss Burlesque Australia 2012 extravaganza.

This year i created pieces for Bunni Lambada, Briana Bluebell, Dezzie Damned, Alyssa Kitt and Amelie - and i'm very proud to say that the girls have done extremely well in the competition!

New South Wales:
Briana Bluebell - First place - Miss Burlesque NSW
I made a royal blue silk corset for Briana, which she embellished herself to match the costume she made.

Bunni Lambada - Runner up - Miss Burlesque Sydney
For Bunni, I made a sparkling costume in shades of peach and apricot.  The outfit consisted of an underbust corset, halter bra, panties, G string, pasties, sheer gloves and hair accessories.

South Australia:
Dezzie Damned - First place - Miss Burlesque SA
Miss Damned was performing a vampire-themed act, and i made her a deep red velvet costume - Long fishtail skirt with matching bodice, worn over a nude satin & black lace corset with matching pastie and G string. All pieces were heavily embellished with Swarovski flat-back crystals and beads in Jet, Siam and Silk.
I also made Dezzie a lace mask/headpiece trimmed with feathers - here's a photo of the mask before i began beading the front.

Queensland:
Alyssa Kitt - First place - Miss Burlesque QLD
Alyssa performed a tribute to Jenny Lee, so i made her a chiffon panel skirt with matching pasties, a feathered headpiece and a G string with sparkling Swarovski crystal bead fringe.
I have no work-in-progress pics from Alyssa's costume, so here's a little video of the beaded fringe as i was making it - please excuse my dye-stained hands and the muffled rockabilly in the background haha!

For Alyssa's second costume, i made a sheer mesh underbust bodysuit which she embellished herself to match her black satin suit.

Victoria ... This weekend!
And finally I made Amelie a Poison Ivy themed costume, with an underbust corset, bra, lace panties and matching ivy C-string and pasties.
The pieces were embellished with custom-made green metallic lace ivy leaves and beaded with Jet Swarovski crystal beads. 

Emerald silk & fuchsia lace corset

I came up with the idea for this floral-themed corset after seeing the gorgeous beaded flowers made by a talented local artist, Kate Venables (a former RNZB ballerina no less!).

The corset is a deep emerald green silk dupion backed with english coutil and lined with fuchsia silk satin.  The pattern was drafted by me, and is a 21" waist underbust style with a high back and petal-shaped lower edge.

The lace was dyed (in the microwave!) a vibrant shade of fuchsia and carefully hand-stitched to hide any visible shaping.  I adore the look of lace over bright colours, so this was a real pleasure to make.

Both the corset and the bra are embellished by hand with hundreds of Swarovski beads (fuchsia, tanzanite, purple velvet) and hot-fix crystals (volcano, fuchsia, meridian blue).  The beaded flowers were made especially by Kate in shades of purple, lilac and fuchsia.  She stitched them to the corset and bra (and the matching fascinator) along with a trim of braided cord in the same shades.  (Please excuse the poor quality of this image, it was taken on my phone)

The high-waisted knickers are made from a lovely piece of powernet with a floral design woven into it.  I dyed the fabric to match the lace, and was really happy with the result.  The knickers are embellished with Swarovski hot-fix crystals in fuchsia, just to add a little sparkle.

Thank you to the following people for making this outfit look good:
Photographer - Alessandro Saponi
Makeup artist - Olivia Wild
Hair stylist - Bex @ Willis York
Beaded flowers - Kate Venables

Silk & lace corset set - Pumpkin, violet and black

This corset set is one of two I made for a Fashion Week event this year.
There's just over 100 hours worth of work in them, after embellishing the outfits with hundreds of hand-stitched Swarovski beads and hot-fix crystals.
Photos don't pick up the sparkle effect very well, so here's a quick video of the pieces laid out before the show:

This corset is a 23" underbust style (pattern drafted by me) with four suspenders.  The base is English coutil with silk dupion (pumpkin/gold shot) outer fabric and fuschia silk satin lining (fused and backed with drill).  The bindings are hand-stitched silk dupion.
The corset features external bone casings (coutil covered with silk) and has a combination of flat and spiral steel bones.
The entire set is embellished with Swarovski beads (Jet, purple velvet), flat back hot-fix rhinestones (Hyacinth, volcano, jet) and black bugle beads tracing the lines of the lace.

The Bra is 10D and features a velvet bow in the center front, and the panties are black french lace with jet Swarovski detail.  (Please excuse the poor quality, this photo was taken on a phone)

 There is also a matching fascinator, made by Blackwidow Designs.  It is covered in silk with lace trim, with feathers and a velvet bow and is embellished in the same way as the corset.

This set was recently worn by burlesque producer extraordinaire Jac Bowie for the recent (and final) tour of the Australian Burlesque Ball.
I'll post photos of the second corset shortly!

Photographer - Alessandro Saponi
Makeup artist - Olivia Wild
Hair stylist - Bex @ Willis York

Exciting plans!

2012 is looking pretty spectacular from here..

As some of you may know, i've spent the past four years working at a special effects workshop making creature suits, prosthetic limbs, armour... all manner of crazy projects.

When you take the long hours that are common in the film industry and add long hours in evenings and weekends making costume pieces for my own clients, the result is a very tired Flo and some late deliveries.
I've made the decision to leave my "day job" at the end of this year to focus 100% of my attention on my showgirl clients - although it certainly doesn't mean i'm leaving film for good (it's far too addictive, i'll be back in the workshop making monsters and aliens in no time).

So, what's in store for January?
I have some really gorgeous lingerie in the planning stages - they're vintage showgirl styles but made for today's performers, so they're strong and durable (and machine washable!!).
I also have a range of ready-to-wear corsets which i can't wait to make available on my website.  You know me - they'll have strong colours, sparkling embellishments and pretty silhouettes ;)

Another thing i'm looking forward to having time for is photo shoots!
Free time has been a bit of a luxury this year, so next year i'll be making a serious effort to photograph more of my work before it's packed up and sent away to performers all over the world.

Speaking of photo shoots - Here's a gorgeous image from a recent shoot with photographer Alessandro Saponi, model Anneke Hoek, MUA Olivia Wild & Hair stylist Bex Brent (Willis York).
The main fabric is a lush deep emerald silk dupion with hand-dyed lace overlay.  The lace is covered with Swarovski beads and hot-fix crystals in fuschia, meridian blue, violet and deep purple.  The adorable beaded flowers were made especially for this corset by Kate Venables.

 

I'll be posting more photos from this shoot in the next few days!

For my first post - new photos!

I had time today to sit down and look at the proofs from a photo shoot i did last weekend with NZ burlesque performer (and NZ's first 2011 BHOF entrant!) Miss La Vida from Auckland. 
The photographer was Amy Jacobs (Wgtn NZ) and the makeup artist was Emily-Jane Appleton Sturrock.

I couldn't be happier with the results, there were too many fantastic images to choose from!  Here's a sneak preview:

I love the iridescent sheen of the navy blue fabric, it really catches the light beautifully.
You can't really tell from the photo, but there are a few hundred Swarovski crystals around the hem and sleeves, as well as trimming the front edges of the robe.
Miss La Vida is also wearing a deluxe Dlite G string in a Medium Nude shade, covered in Swarovski crystals (Light Colorado Topaz - a very good nude colour).

We also photographed Miss La Vida with the double layer Prima ostrich fans which i made for her earlier this year.  Each feather is tipped with 5 clear Swarovski crystals, and the staves are glossy black inlaid with clear crystals. The sparkle that reflects off these fans is gorgeous!

I'll be posting the best photos from the shoot on my website next week, click here to visit my photo Gallery