Lates at Life and a costume inspired by Magenta from Rocky Horror

Howdy everyone!

Waaaaay back around Halloween (where did November go?!) I went to a Late event at the Centre for Life in Newcastle. I used to work there and worked a couple of the late events back in the day so I know how much fun they can be and I really wanted to see the exhibition they have going on right now so it was a double bonus of awesome.

Because it was Halloween it was also a dress up event and as I was travelling light visiting home I decided to work on a variation of my Wednesday Addams dress that I featured in this post.

I changed it up by adding a retro style apron to make it into a sort of retro-chic version of Magenta from Rocky Horror (although Rocky Horror is pretty retro...). I used face paint for paleness and I curled my hair, although it was a bit damp so the fullness fell out pretty quickly :(

 We had a good opportunity to look around some of the exhibits (which had changed since I worked there) and we did get to look at the Body Worlds exhibit which was absolutely amazing! Although we were not allowed to take any pictures so sadly I can't share any images. Mind you the Bodyworlds exhibition has been extended so if you're in the North East it is well worth a look.

Being a Biologist I love getting my hand on a microscope.

And my favourite exhibit that I can share was this giant book showing the DNA sequence of the X chromosome. The idea is that each of those giant books is one piece of human DNA and you have all the books in every cell in you body. It really helps you to see how much information is carried in our bodies!

I also got my hands on a chalk board before the place got busy... heh heh... and since I've been obsessing over Sailor Moon Crystal I had to draw Sailor Moon. Not that she's very spooky.

 We also saw a planetarium show, which I can't show you either, but after that we finished there we got to prance around in a smoke machine while listening to some choice tunes.

Oh and here are a few extra shots of the outfit:

Dress: Vintage

Apron: Home made

Boots: Clarks (borrowed from my mother)

Vintage Events: Swing Ninjas Album Launch Party at The Mesmerist

Hi there folks, sorry for the delay in this post I’ve been rushed off my feet at work!

Anywho, last week I went to the Swing Ninjas album launch party at The Mesmerist pub/bar in Brighton. (This post contains a few artistic shots... mainly me learning to play with the aperture settings on my camera...)

The Swing Ninjas are a three-piece jazz band based in Brighton and play fantastic gypsy jazz and swing. Their album is a mix of covers and original tracks and features guest performances on vocals from the ladies at Swinging in Heels and some additional help from a bit of double bass and clarinet for the evenings performance.

For those of you thinking of a trip to Brighton any time soon, the Ninjas play at The Mesmerist every Wednesday evening.

I wore a 1940s style red polka dot dress for the event, but forgot to have any pictures taken (possibly letting the point of this blog slip my mind) but fortunately someone else did (taken from the facebook page for this event) along with it is the best picture I could find of the dress from a swing tea party a little while back. I apologise for my terrible dancing face... it would seem I was having a good time and that left me incapable of looking glamourous!

There was a lot of dancing to be had, with a large space to be filled with Lindy hoppers spinning. I didn’t get much dancing during the evening as I’ve been having a bit of a flair up of arthritis recently but I was able to catch pictures of many of the other dancers.

There was also a Charleston dance provided by the Brighton Lindy Hoppers:

Accapella performances from Swinging in Heels were a treat for the ears:

There was also a fire breathing fan-dance burlesque act from Miss Billie Rae if the Ninjas' tunes weren’t enough to get you excited.

I’d highly recommend the album for those that like that kind of thing, or for those looking for something to dance to.

More pictures (and uncropped versions of these) will be added to the facebook page here very soon, give it a like and tag whatever you like.

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!

Cosplay: London Super Comic Convention - Cosplay Gallery

The London Super Comic Con was a great place for cosplay!

So this will be a fairly wordless post where I have pictures of some of the cosplay I managed to catch on film...
(Feel free to email me if you are in any of these pictures and I can link to a web-profile or twitter etc. or if you want a copy of the picture)

Marvel Cosplay
Marvel heavily dominated the costumes, especially X-Men and Spiderman but it was nice to see quite a few different versions of Captain America and really high quality efforts for the Fantastic Four!

Special mentions go to- Loki for a very well made costume and for keeping in character! Lizard for even adding claws to his shoes, Glactus and The Thing for construction efforts and the Black Cat for managing to walk around all day in those boots! Phew!

Clockwise from top left: Captain America Super Soldier, 1940s Cap, Gambit, Rogue, Mr. Fantastic, Galactus, The Thing, Rogue, Lizard, Black Cat (?), Gentleman Venom, Black Cat, Spiderman, Logan (Wolverine)

Clockwise from top left: Mexican Deadpool, Rogue, Loki, Valkyrie, Scarlett Witch, Jubilee, Winter Soldier, Dare Devil, Rogue, Domino and Deadpool

DC Cosplay

For DC there were quite a few of the typical mix of Harley Quinns, Supergirls, Catwomen and Jokers (although I did not see one Superman!) but some nice appearances of the Earth 2 Flash and some great variations on classic DC and DCnU!

A personal favourite was New52 Supergirl, her costume was spot on and looked fantastic- even the slightly strange boots.

Clockwise from top left: The Joker, Harley Quinn, Earth2 Flash (by Saranga of Pai Blog), New52 Supergirl, Catwoman, Batman, Supergirl, Flash, Cheetah, Wonder Woman and Scarecrow

Other Cosplay

Although London Super Comic Con was mostly DC and Marvel characters, some other well known characters, most pf which have featured in comics at some point showed up too.

It was nice to see someone as famous as Kermit come to visit the convention he was really great and chatted to everyone and was very happy to pose for a picture for me as well as with Stan Lee. I'm not sure if the Brain Slug was technically cosplay but I loved it all the same!

Clockwise from top left: Lara Croft, Stormtrooper, Duke Nukem, Hellboy, Kermit, Brain Slug and She-Ra

My Favourite
Last but not least is my favourite costumes from the event, and ironically, they were the first guys I came across standing in the queue for Stan Lee at around ten minutes after the convention opened.

I think as a group they had all the bases covered, the biggest characters from Marvel, DC and IDW and although they were simply styled costumes a lot of detail had gone into the construction. I loved that each one was a different shape, and how they were all painted in a different style. Lets just face it- these guys were cool!

Left to Right: Optimus Prime, Batman and Iron Man


So that's it for the cosplay gallery, I'll be back later with a little piece about Retro-Cosplay.

Until then...

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