Trailer Trash! Prohibition Speakeasy - Dancing, Acts, Songs, Burlesque and Vintage Costumes!

I'm very sorry for the lack of regular posting lately, I've had rather a lot on my plate with moving house and finishing up the final parts of my PhD so there wasn't so much time left for blogging!

Any who, FINALLY here is my post on Trailer Trash! The Prohibition Speakeasy Special.

I won't talk about what I wore as I put a post here last week, but the night was so packed with acts, music and dancing it was tricky to sort out all the photographs from the night.

I arrived just in time to see the first act singer Laura Luard serenade the crowd with some relaxed vintage tunes

From there various acts took to the stage every twenty minutes or so. There were several dance based performances, with a pretty 'serpentine' dance, an exciting tap routine from the Sugarbeats and a Charleston routine provided by lindyhoppers.co.uk. The music for the evening was great too! I especially enjoy electroswing so the tunes were very suited to my taste, but with my injured foot it was slightly torturous not to dance the whole night away. I couldn't help myself however and was a little naughty and managed to squeeze in a few dances without resulting in too much suffering the next day.

There was also some unusual burlesque from Coco Deville with a vintage clown theme and a vintage tableau performed by the Trailer Trash Troupe.

 As ever there were two performances by Trailer Trash's co-founder Miss Kitty Peels. Stepping the danger and style up a level both performances were double acts, the first a hoop arial performance and the second a double rope performance. Both acts were outstanding as usual, but for me the hoop act was my favourite of the evening, from the elegant 'alcohol induced' swinging from the hoop to the arrest of the performers at the end. It was great.

As far as costumes were concerned the event had a really different feel to the other Trailer Trash! events I have been to, I think it was the infusion fo the vintage style that meant we didn't see any exotic cardboard creations or any face paint, but there were a huge array of sharp suits, beautiful dresses, hair feathers and brogues.

Here are some of my favourite outfits of the night:

For the big finale before Nick Hollywood's DJ set our host Helen Day introduced the finalists of the costume competition (right). The winner was the young lady in the yellow dress who seemed very flattered to be even in the running. There was also another treat of a dance competition, it ended up being a strange contest between two lindy hoppers showing their skill and a couple of non-hoppers dancing with a different style. The competition was won by a landslide with the mysterious gentleman (yes that was what he claimed his name was) amazing the audience with his unique keyboard miming style.

Overall the night was good fun, but it did have a distinctly different feel to the usual Trailer Trash! events.

The next event is a Hip Hop Block Party on the 25th of May which promises to be, again, very different (one of the main reasons I love Trailer Trash!) however I am leaving Brighton before then so I won't be at Trailer Trash for a while.

It is one of the nights out I will miss the most after I have left Brighton and when I return to visit, I will certainly be trying to time it so I can sneak into Trailer Trash!

Vintage Events: Brighton's Blind Pig Returns - Burlesque, Poles, Electro-Swing, Flappers and Frolicks!

After my interview with Carolyn Watt the lovely lady behind Blind Pig I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the latest event, tentatively titled ‘Blind Pig Returns’.

It promised to be an extravagant affair with music, dancing, burlesque, pole dancing and a live band all in the beautiful settings of the Proud Brighton Ballroom. This is just a quick overview of the event and some piccies, but if you want you can read a detailed review of the previous Blind Pig event you can do so here!

The event primarily caters musically for fans of electro-swing and with that in mind I chose to wear a vintage-style dress made by Pearl Lowe for Peacocks. Although it is more of a 50s shape I felt the lace styling would befit a modern speakeasy and well I just love the colour red, so why not! I also wore a pair of black brogues that are made for dancing! I also had a lot of fun with my hair this time too, after curling it I managed to pin it up in a sort of faux flapper look that I felt worked quite well. That is, if you can judge success by the fact it didn’t all fall down by the end of the night!

 This was also the first event that I had the opportunity to really test my new SLR and those performers really gave me a challenge! Here are a few of the acts:

Burlesque duo The Big Bad Wolf and Acacia Blue displayed a cheeky, comedy burlesque act…

Miss Bombshell entranced the audience with a athletic pole routine.

There was also an unusual double pole routine from Miss Steel and Ethan. I personally have never seen and act like this! I have always felt that pole work looks strenuous enough without having to worry about someone else accidentally kicking you in the face.

Then the wonderful Cherry Bella gave a burlesque and fire act to finish the night’s entertainment.

Then the party really got started...

The band This Is Laura played a short set before the DJ started spinning some more ‘clubby’ swing tunes.

This Is Laura       ...and I couldn't help wonder if the resident DJ was a fan of Star Trek TNG?

I also managed to get a few cheeky snaps of some of the best dressed of the night. A fantastic group of ladies who had all made the effort to dress the part and a  gentleman in what was EASILY the finest suit of the evening – I even managed to catch a still of Miss Doherty of the Vintage News team reporting on the night. I may have even fumbled my way through a very embarrassing interview with the news team too...

So that’s it for today! I’d apologise for all the pictures but I know that’s why you’re here :D

Bye for now!

Vintage Events: ZOMG! Its the #ZOMGbloggersbash or 'The Night of a Thousand Bloggers!'

 Well! What an event... and also my first venture into the real life side of blogging.

The ZOMG Blogger Bash was held as part of the launch of the ZOMG lipstick made by Rockalily in collaboration with Zozo of the London Lipgloss. I received my invite a few days earlier and was very lucky to get a space right at the last minute. But since I live in Brighton it's easy to travel to London at short notice - so off I went!

Like almost everyone talking on twitter I agonised over what to wear, not wanting to be too dressy or too casual. In the end I opted for a VoH pencil skirt and red blouse as this would be comfortable and a little bit retro-style (also, that pencil skirt is A-MA-ZING!)...

But I need not have worried as there were bloggers from many niches on the net, from vintage lifestyle superstars, rockabilly girls, stylish beauty bloggers and hip fashionistas the outfits, styles and blogs were as diverse as the ladies (and gentlemen) in attendance.

The event itself was held at the Distillers pub in Smithfield and it made a fitting venue with its old style charm.

Top Left: ReeRee, Rubyyy Jones and Pip Jolley 

And our hostesses ReeRee from Rockalily and ZoZo from London Lipgloss provided lots of entertainment...

This included a full display of the Rockalily lipstick collection. I only regret that I couldn’t buy a lipstuck while I was there - I'm now agonising over whether to buy Rockette Red or Roulette Red!

Loverly Lippie

I also spent a bit of time chatting Retro Chick about Historical Sauces. The Sauces aim to bring a bit of vintage glamour and history to events with their portable vintage reading room, styling advice and vintage dressing up (which of course gets huge approval from me!). It was a really nice display and I finally got to have a look inside Vintage Hairstyling book that I have had my eye on for a while (and it looks like it may be worth the price).

Historical Sauces: Missy Vinatge, Glamourologist and Retro Chick

From there I managed to speak a bit to Perdita form Perdita Pursuits about mixing indy chic with vintage and LandGirl1980  who posts lovely things about history, books and vintage style. Both were very lovely and although I was very nervous to start off with they made me feel a bit more confident.

I also spent a fair amount of time watching people decorating cupcakes courtesy of Temptations Creations before I built up the nerve to try one. Although my cupcake may not have been the prettiest it was certainly tasty with a glorious combination of strawberry icing and white chocolate drops (and a flower to match the one in my hair).

There was also a popup studio for having pinup pictures taken, maybe even while trying on the beautiful bonnets provided by Little Miss B or the lovely loungewear supplied by Betty Blue's Loungerie (I have to add that their red robe is really stunning!) Here I had a chat with EpiphannieA a friendly beauty blogger.

Little Miss B's hats, Betty Blue's items and the Rockalily lipstick canvas

Finally with a bit more confidence I got to speak to several other ladies including Elena, Betty Leopard amd L Figment (on a side note L had her hair done so its worth checking out her postings for that!) and the ladies from Illamasqua and Collectif about bloggers bingo, blogs, hair, cosplay, dresses and getting the courage to introduce yourself to new people.

To conclude the evening there were two burlesque performances, the first by Rubyyy Jones who performed in a way I’d never seen before! A sort of comedy, modern approach in a vest and jeans and miming a cyber striptease for a webcam to Goldfrapp's Ooh La La - It was rather funny and incrediably naughty! Claps and whoops all aroud.

Rubyyy Jones

The second performance was Miss Banbury Cross who embodied all the elements of a classic 50s bomshell and performed her champaigne strip to delight us. Being at the front had its pros and cons for this performance, although I felt I got some good snaps, she should perform with a warning sign to say if you are sitting in the front row you will get WET!

Miss Banbury Cross

There were also loads of prizes given away at the end of the night for the bloggers bingo, sadly none for me, but it was certainly a learning experience and helped me come out of my blogging shell. I’d certainly recommend this kind of event to any blogger.

I would just like to say thank you to ReeRee and Zozo for the invite and for putting on the event, it was amazing! 

I only wonder when my next event will be!

Vintage Events: An interview with Blind Pig Brighton's organiser Carolyn Watt

Hush hush! It’s a Dresscapade exclusive!

Today we have a rather special interview with Carolyn Watt, the lady behind Blind Pig, Brighton’s only burlesque-pole-dancing-speakeasy!

Carolyn is especially welcome here as she is not only a performer but a textiles student with a passion for making her own costumes. I met Carolyn for a chat at the yummy Redwood Coffee House on Trafalgar Street and we had a chat about how she came to be running Blind Pig, her performances and some of her favourite costumes:

FD: So how did you get into organising Blind Pig?

C: Well originally it was as a fundraiser for our final year degree show for textiles that we’re putting on in June. But it was at a time when all of the BA students were still on their placements and it was up to the ten masters students to get started. And in my head I though, this is the only night I know how to put on, mostly due to my experience performing and it’s the kind of night I like.

Unfortunately the other students felt like it wasn’t making quite as much money as we’d hoped so I decided that this event is the first one that’s not going to be a fundraiser, more of a side project for myself.

FD: That’s a quite impressive side project! I guess what I’d like to know is how you got into textiles?

C: I’ve always liked textiles, fashion and costume. I worked on fine art in Edinburgh and started to get more into textiles and applied for Brighton and continued working on it there.

FD: And what about performing and making costumes?

C: I started pole dancing in Edinburgh, doing a course with my friend, then continued when I moved to Brighton. The person that was teaching me here suggested that I should perform at a night that they run (FD: Sirens if you’re interested) so I started doing that and gradually got more and more involved in making my own costumes and making them more dramatic.

Later on I’d did a placement in New York and started working with silks as I didn’t have my pole! From that I became involved with some circus groups in London and got really into it and started helping out with costuming for them. So my work has started heading more towards costume design now. Particularly specialising in aerial costumes. Particularly adapting fabrics and designs for performances to reinforce your clothing and stop it wearing out, all my silk costumes have a little hole on my back where it rubs away. I’ve also been working on adding padding in costumes in certain places as performing can hurt…

Carolyn performing at the O2 in London

FD: It must be quite a work out!

C: Yeah. Laughs

FD: So of the costumes you’ve made for performances do you have any favurites?

C: One of my favourites that I made was for a Black Swan pole dance. So for that I made a basic white tutu with a really beautiful white corset, but underneath I had black tassels and a mini black tutu that was completely hidden. I got my friend to do amazing Black Swan makeup – Its definitely one of my favourites.

Black Swan Pole Performance

I also did a silk rope performance for Greenwich Circus festival where I worked with three other girls dressed as fairies, two good, two bad. This costume was my first real attempt at knitting support panels for body control and extra panelling to stop the costume wearing away. So I really loved those costumes too!

Fellow performer Kirsty wearing the 'evil fairy' costume as part of a show at the Greenwich circus festival

FD: I was also wondering if you had a person or era that inspires you?

C: In terms of Blind Pig I just love flappers! I went to a Charleston day while I was in New York and I think that’s where it all started in my head. Everyone was dressed up and it made me feel like I was in the Great Gatsby or something and I loved reading that when I was younger.

Personally though I just love the 50s, because of the silhouette, that Christian Dior, New Look, hour glass style.

Mad Men's Betty Draper in 'New Look' chic and The Artist's Peppy Miller as a 20s flapper

FD: They're very contrasting looks.

C: Yes I’m torn between the corseted hourglass and the straight up and down flapper look. So yeah, completely contrasting!

FD: The speakeasy nights and electro swing have really taken off, especially in Brighton- but I guess its something you can easily dress the part for.

C: Yeah even if you don’t’ want to go all out you can still get the accessories, the feathers, the pearls and join in. It’s a bit naughty and carefree too.

FD: So do you have any thoughts on what you want to be when you grow up?

C: I do a lot of different things, obviously I run this night but I love performing pole and performing on silk ropes too but I’d love to get into freelance costume design as well, I teach burlesque and pole too… and maybe even silks eventually.

FD: So a bit of a portfolio career then?

C: Yes, while I’ve been at Uni I’ve been trying to do as much free work as possible and hopefully someone will pay me for it eventually (Laughs). I’m also so glad I had the opportunity to work on Blind Pig, it helped a lot to work on it under the fundraising umbrella, it made me feel more secure to just go for it.

FD: Speaking of Blind Pig - You had a mixed line up last time, including a male pole dancer, what can you tell us about the line up this time?

C: Oh yes Ethan (FD: the pole dancer mentioned above) is back! I’m quite excited about the line up this time, I don’t just want to show burlesque but a bigger variety including pole dancing so we can show other ways it can be done. We also have a double pole performance. Which is going to be more acrobatic and a bit more unusual. We have Cherry Bella doing fire again. We have four pole acts and four burlesque acts, one of which is a comedy burlesque husband and wife double act. Then we are going to have a band too - with some upbeat gypsy swing when the acts finish so we can get everyone up dancing. Finally the DJ to take us into the night!

FD: The variety you have is a really entertaining combination!

C: Its good if you don’t really know burlesque, it means there are lots of different things so there’s something for everyone. That’s what makes it exciting. Oh that and the fire…

FD: And the entertainment fits quite well with the Speakeasy theme…

C: Burlesque is linked to the vintage thing so sometimes seeing pole is surprising. Pole has far more of a stigma attached to it, but it can still have that vintage appeal- depending on how its done. But done in the right way it can be quite confidence boosting. I’d recommend it to everyone.

Blind Pig Returns takes place on Friday the 3^rd of February at the Proud Brighton Ballroom at 10:30pm.

Tickets are available online or at To Be Worn Again in the North Laines.

You can also follow Blind Pig on Twitter for more updates @BlindPig1920

Vintage Events: Blind Pig - Brighton's Fabulous Fundrasing Speakeasy

Held at the beautiful and chic Proud Brighton Ballroom the Blind Pig is an event that mixes burlesque cabaret and dancing to the tunes of an electro-swing speakeasy.

Blind Pig takes its name from the prohibition era Speakeasy where owners of bars and clubs would charge guests to see a novelty animal while serving a complimentary alcoholic beverage- thus exploiting loopholes in the anti-liquor laws.

This piggy however was created for a different purpose. The night was conceived as a fundraiser for students at Brighton University studying Textile Design, their aim being to provide funds for their end of year degree show.

When asked about creating the night, Carolyn, one of Blind Pigs organisers stated:

“Many other year groups/disciplines hold fundraising nights and I wanted ours to be different, appeal not just to the student market and also be something I could continue with after graduation. Burlesque and dance is all I know and I wouldn't know how to put on another type of night! I wanted to make it accessible to a younger audience who may not have been to such an event before and have a mixed audience of all ages and backgrounds.”

Photo Source: 1 and 2 Lucid Photography and Blind Pig. 3 FD.

Some of the acts

I felt that this attitude of the organisers was certainly reflected in the wide range of attendees. The opulence of the Brighton Ballroom provides a perfect back drop for the speakeasy stylings of this event, with its deco mirrors, trendy bar serving sumptuous cocktails and its beautiful domed ceiling.

The event itself started quietly with most guests seated around the bar and table areas, but as the place filled up the acts came thick and fast! The show sessions consisted of around four or five different burlesque based acts- ranging from a male pole dancer (correct terminology?) to a pasties sporting fire eater. The acts themselves came in two blocks and began almost as the doors opened so DON’T BE LATE! Numbers were announced by compere Kat Frost and separated by perfectly selected and mashed electro-swing songs by DJ Gareth Jones.

Compere Kat and DJ Gareth

After the show portion of the night had finished the dance floor opened for a fine selection of tunes playing until the wee hours of the morning.

All in all the night ran very smoothly, with rapid turn around of acts, a vibrant buzz of attendees and still enough room to Charleston (…just!).

Photo Source: Lucid Photography and Blind Pig

Well dressed attendees!

My favourite act of the night was a lovely fan dance by Cherry Bella with seemless movement and a beautiful traditional performance.

Cherry Bella

Many of the organisers of the event were also performers at the show, and their enthusiasm for their art was clearly evident. This is the 4^th event that they have held at the Brighton Ballroom and hopefully they will keep Blind Pig going long after they graduate!

In my time as a lindy hopper I have had the opportunity to attend and even perform at a few Speakeasy type events, and always enjoy dressing for the part. With this in mind I asked Carolyn about Blind Pig's attitude to costumes:

“I think people love to dress up, with this sort of theme it's quite easy as well. You don't have to go all out, just a few accessories can make you feel the part. It is always great when people do go all the way of course! It definitely helps with the mood and atmosphere, if people put the effort in before the night starts then you know they are up for a good night!”

Photo Source: Lucid Photography and Blind Pig

The era of the feathered headband

Just looking around the venue you could see that many people shared this sentiment, the popularity of the feathered headband and dicky bow-tie was clear although some extra special outfits were also seen. My personal favourite costumes were a couple dressed as and RAF officer and a 20s siren.

Photo Source: Lucid Photography and Blind Pig

Dressing Fancy indeed!

It was exceptionally difficult however to get many good photographs at the event as the lighting and quick movement was simply more than my little camera could handle. However their resident photographer Simon Callaghan at Lucid Photography more than made up for my incompetence, taking some fantastic shots during the evening (they can be found here)!

Photo Source: Lucid Photography and Blind Pig

My fiance and I

The Blind Pig will return in the new year, but the exact date is still hush hush- you never know who may be watching!

But you can find out more here or follow on @BlindPig1920 on twitter for the latest updates.

There'll be another post on my costume for this event following shortly...

Happy Dresscapades!