Swing Fashionista

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.