Burlesque/Vintage Costume Designer: Stephanie Ludwig

Stephanie is a one of my role models for sure! I was her intern 2 years ago, and she showed me a world filled with rhinestones, feathers, and pasties. 😀  Her work is tantalizing and she used to dance with Hop Swing & A Jump back in the day!

I asked Stephanie to share her story about how she came about making costumes, here is piece from my interview with her:

I was inspired to make show/dancer costumes after I saw a really terrible burlesque show in 1999. The dancers’ costumes were falling off at all the wrong times, besides looking really cheap and badly made. I was attracted to the idea of reverse engineering – making clothing to meant to peel off effortlessly and the fact that I coud work with fun materials like sequins and beading. I kept the idea in the back of my head until I finally contacted a burlesque dancer to offer my costuming services. She encouraged me to just join her troupe and make costumes for myself, which I did. My first costume was a pearl bead embellished bra and belt, which I still love. I’ve made many costumes since – my favorite burlesque costumes are the Marie Antoinette piece and the blue satin corset outfit.

Wearing History Patterns

I like to sew. I may not be great at it but there is something very satisfying about sewing a garment yourself from scratch. And I really love making reproduction clothing of the 30s and 40s from original or vintage repro patterns.  This means you can have authentic looking garments from the era that are easy to care for and that can be thrown in the washing machine, unlike like original vintage pieces.

Seems that sewing is becoming a dying art amongst the young ladies of today, which is why I love to keep my hand in. I have taught myself over the years and you can only really learn by doing. It’s also nice to have a bunch friends in the vintage scene that sew and a few that even have their own line of patterns for sale. One my favourite lines comes from Wearing History, which is run by my friend Lauren Maringola. She is an amazing seamstress and you can see many of the pieces in her line made up on her site.

I have made several garments from her patterns and they fit like a dream and are very easy to put together in most cases. I am an intermediate sewer so haven’t tried the more advanced ones yet. My next project is a pair of 1930s beach pajamas to take to Thailand with me. The thing I love about WH patterns is that they are based on original patterns with some tweaking to make them easier to make. They also come in many sizes which is a real bonus. She even has hat patterns 🙂

You can check out Wearing History Patterns here: http://wearinghistorypatterns.com

New Aris Allen oxford wingtips in white

Aris Allen have finally added a new mens shoe to their existing line. As dancers have seen, the white captoe is so very popular with male swing dancers the world over but I know a few guys  who have long wanted to see an all white shoe in a wingtip style  – and now here it is.

You can find them here www.dancestore.com/Aris-Allen-Mens-All-White-Wingtip-Oxford-Swing-Shoes/productinfo/140-WH/

Necks Tuesday…fine bow ties

I ran across an article about the vendors at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island and found a write up about Necks Tuesday. What a great name for a tie store!! Necks Tuesday are a New York maker of hand finished bow ties which come in silk, fine wools, cotton and cashmere and have a very sharp vintage look, unlike many modern bow ties.

I also like the fact that they are not too loud and come in more muted shades, which allows them to be worn with most of the suit and shirt colours you find in a modern man’s wardrobe. Great to see some nice vintage repro being made for men. Here are some of the ties available.

 

You can find them at http://neckstuesday.com/

 

 

Prada goes 1930s…

I was looking through a bunch of old vintage shoe ads that I have collected over the years and have always wished that a pair of these, my favourite amazingly colourful shoes from the 1930s, would turn up on ebay.  I have seen one or two pairs come up for auction in 12 years on ebay but they are so rare.

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Then I came across these shoes by Prada from their summer collection, looking uncannily like the the shoes from the old Sears ad! They are a lot higher in the heel but definatley have a 1930s influence. Check them out!

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