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!

A Monochrome, Black and White, Flapper Costume for Trailer Trash! Prohibition Speakeasy

For the Trailer Trash! Prohibition Speakeasy I had a strange time trying to decide what to wear and I felt that the main issue I was facing was that age-old dilemma:

Vintage or Costume?

Now I like both of these things a lot (as you may be able to tell from my blog) and while I acknowledge that each has its place in my life this theme provided the unique challenge of a vintage themed costume party.

With so many options to choose from too! From Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot or the glam of speakeasy parties in Boardwalk Empire or Great Gatsby I wasn't left wanting for inspiration. 

In the end I decided on a sort of hybrid costume part of which was a vintage (1980s I believe) black lace dress I have spoken about before here. But to give it a more costume-y feel I decided to accessorise the dress with white tights, white face paint and black and white feathers to try and give the allusion I was a flapper from a silent film.

So to begin with I put my hair up in that faux 20s short style, I then painted my face, neck and the tops of my shoulders using Snazaroo in white. It was quite tricky to get a good covering all over and it was very time consuming! But I think a bit of patience paid off.

I painted over my eyebrows and lips to help keep the covering even and then drew them back on using black eyeliner (special thanks to Mac Fluidline again!). I then painted my lips with a black lipstick from Miss Sporty. I was surprised by how well it lasted but I think this was mainly because of the white base on my lips and the fact I didn’t eat and or drink much (for a really good guide to black lipsticks check out L’s blogpost on the wide array out there).

Coupled with some brogues, black gloves and a string of pearls I thought the outfit was starting to look okay, but for the icing on the cake I made a board in a vague style of the silent movies saying ‘Can I take your picture?’ so I could try and put together an image gallery of costumes for my blog (post to follow soon).

Cosplay Events: Trailer Trash – Brighton’s Premier Fancy Dress Club Night Cabaret!

For anyone that reads my blog, you will know that I am a huge fan of the Brighton Komedia club night named Trailer Trash!

Trailer Trash! Is a club night that neatly combines music, circus acts, themed cabaret, popcorn and above all that FANCY DRESS!

My love affair with this night goes back to their second event Trailer Trash! Presents Tarantino.

This night was the first time I had ever attended anything like this. Glammed up usherettes handing out free popcorn, people dancing, movie clips and host Rosy Carrick ordering everyone to pay attention to the stage acts while dressed as a rather naughty version of Elle from Kill Bill. The evening had a wonderful range of acts from burlesque routine as a Geisha, a singer in the style of Alabama from True Romance, an all female recreation of Stuck in the Middle from Reservoir Dogs and areal circus acts from Kitty Peels.

Tarantino, Fabienne and Butch, me dancing and some of the acts (event images from here)

I attended the event with my friend Sadie and we had a great time, her dressed as Gogo the schoolgirl killer and I as Fabienne the hapless girlfriend of Butch in Pulp Fiction (of 'Zed's dead baby' fame). My favourite moment was when re-enacting the Jack Rabbit Slim's Twist Contest from Pulp Fiction! Which we won by the way ;D

With that one evening of wonders Trailer Trash! became something of a tradition for me – aided by the two free tickets we won as part of the Twist Contest, but also the announcement of the next theme Comic Book Flicks.

Trailer Trash! Presents Comic Book Flicks

Being the complete nerd I am I couldn’t resist this event as a theme. I outlined my costume in a previous post here but was so excited by the sound of it that I rallied my friends from work to team up for the event.

Group Shot!

Part of the group made X-men movie themed costumes while others included Sailor Moon, Wonder Woman, Captain Kirk, Robin and myself and Sadie as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

Photos courtesy of Marcel Volker

The event was just as good as the first, with a Harley Quinn burlesque dancer, a musical act featuring the Joker and Rosy hosting in a phenomenal Tank Girl outfit.

I've said before that I actually managed to win the costume contest at this event, which ensured my attendance at the next one...

Trailer Trash! Presents Vampires Vs Zombies

Vampires vs Zombies seemed like a perfect theme for a belated Halloween event. As someone who doesn’t normally like Zombie films I decided to attend as a Vampire – Seline from Underworld (you can see my blog post about it here). This time the gory Trailer Trash Troupe were dressed as the undead, sporting signs reading Vampires Suck and Zombies Are Shit. Meanwhile the host handed out bloody guts (or possibly spaghetti, I hope it was spaghetti…) to the willing  Zombie attendies and introduced acts. The acts including a great Lost Boys burlesque and a fantastic aerial act to the intro tune of True Blood, but the night was made by the grand finale of a Vampire vs Zombies showdown to the tune of Michael Jacksons Thriller!

Seline, me as Seline and antics from the evening (image sources here)

Over the Christmas break I managed to miss the New Year Pirates of the Carribbean Special so I was more than ready to return to Trailer Trash! For their Baz Luhrmann event the following March.

Trailer Trash! Presents Baz Luhrmann

Dressed as an ‘undressed’ Can-Can girl from the El TangoDel Roxanne number form Moulin Rouge! I again managed to encourage a large group of friends to attend. My fiancé wore the fake 'tache of the NarcolepticArgentinian to match my costume while many other outfits included variations on the Can-Can theme. But my friend Marcel as Drover from Australia complete with duck-billed platypus was one of my favourites!

Trailer Trash! Was then on hiatus for a year… but when it returned it was up to the usual tricks with a fantastic Sci-Fi theme! 

Trailer Trash! Presents Sci-Fi Apocalypse 

With costumes from Star Wars, The Matrix, Blade Runner and The 5^th Element all thrown into the mix the choices seemed endless. In the end I plumped for a Rachael from Blade Runner costume (as seen here) simply because I already had the dress and her face was on the poster. I think this event was my personal favourite of all that I have attended, partly because the theme was broad enough to really get the crowd involved (and believe me they were!!) but also because the act quality was fantastic. The performance of the Diva from the 5th element with an acrobatic Lee Loo on the silks in particular, but other great acts were a belly dance from Princess Leia to Britney's I’m a Slave 4 U and a frightening cabaret performance from the 50 foot woman.

Photos from my blog post and Ashley Clark photography

Unfortunately that has been it for my Trailer Trash! experience. Work commitments and bad timing meant that I missed their last two events David Lynch and Vegas but a slightly freer timetable has meant that I will be attending the next event.

Trailer Trash! Presents Prohibition Speakeasy Special

The next event is the Speakeasy special, with vintage dancers, style, gangster glamour, electro-swing and more.

I terms of costume planning, any regular readers of my blog will know I have attended several of this type of event (and I have a gallery of my flapper appearences to follow shortly) so I have decided to go for something a little different.

Here’s a clue...

I’ll post after the event to let you know how my costume turned out and hopefully with some pictures form the event itself.

Trailer Trash! Presents Prohibition Speakeasy Special is on Friday the 23rd of March at Komedia Brighton - tickets available here.

Hopefully I’ll see you there!

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!