Today
Miss Polly Rae is lucky enough to work with William Baker, Kylie Minogue's stylist for whom the cost of rhinestones is no issue for her West End Shows (although it still makes her swoon!) but for her other shows the costumes are down to Polly.
Polly's first bit of advice is that you don't need to spend a lot of money - but you do need to be ready to devote your evenings to hot-gluing and trimming! Whilst it's not possible to skimp on some items - for example a high street basque will not give yout the defined hourglass shape of a good quality corset - it is possible to transform cheap high street lingerie and shoes into showstopping costumes.
Barnet and Lawson just off London's Oxford Street is Polly's haberdashery of choice where their basement is an Aladdin's cave of sparkly trims.
Polly's stockings of choice for peeling, whether on stage in the West End or the East End are our stretchy
Retro Seamed Stockings which are far more affordable than fully fashioned and 'ping' off the foot with far more control than expensive
Fully Fashioned Nylons.
From my personal experience I've learn't how seriously professional burlesque artistes take their costumes. Last year we took
Slinky Sparkles to perform in Las Vegas and instead of painting the town red spent her days rhinestoning her costume (you can never have too many rhinestones!) Although Polly says that trims and rhinestones are 'icing' to your act, turning up in a untrimmed high street lingerie really is a no no.
