Burlesque Tips: Tricky Costumes!

I'm sure you all know how important it is to practice in your costumes over and over again! I've been dealing with some tricky costumes lately and have some good advice.
It's true, sometimes taking off your clothes isn't as easy as it seems!

I know it's a pain to keep getting dressed and undressed sometimes... Keep your practice sessions short to avoid frustrations or practice half the time with costume, half the time pantomiming the costume removal so you can focus on your dance steps too!

You never know what will go wrong so it's best to practice often in full costume to find those problems and see if you can fix it. For instance, you may notice a skirt that once fit well is too big or small. Or if you wear a corset it makes your waist smaller and your skirt now sags below your corset or slides right off over your hips! Or you may notice a zipper is too tricky or velcro sticks to your fishnets. isn't best to get those problems out of the way before taking the stage?

It can be hard to take clothes off over your head. As you pull it over it could get stuck on earrings, jewelry, or ruin your hair. Because of this, I prefer clothes that slide off over my hips or can be opened with a zipper, buttons or snaps, but that's my own personal preference.
If you do pull your clothes off over your head, it's been pointed out to me that the easiest way to do it is to cross your arms, grab the bottom hem and guide it gently and slowly up and over your head and hairdo!

Buttons, hooks, snaps, and velcro cause pose problems as well! They can hook to other items of clothing as you try to discard. For this reason, don't drop your clothing near your body, hold it out to the side and drop it and be careful when swinging clothing near your body if it has one of these items on it!

Some tricky zippers can be fixed with a little bit of oil on a q-tip but be very careful not to stain your fabric with it. You can also attach a tassel or a charm to your zipper pull so it's easier to find while onstage.

Ties can be tricky too! Silky ribbon is easier to untie but also has a tendency to slip and not stay tied. If you use a silk ribbon make sure it's still knotted and everything is in place before you get on stage!

May I suggest avoiding using safety pins when possible. It's so easy to loose it during a routine and you could drop it and it could hurt the people performing after you!

 Practicing also gives you good ideas for covering those problems that can arise when you're on stage. If you are practicing and something gets stuck, keep going as if you were on stage and try to cover up the problem as gracefully as possible! You'll get some creative ideas and can go back and examine the problem later and see if it can be fixed.

Don't be afraid to ask a cast member or audience member to join you on stage to help you get out of a costume malfunction. There are a lot of ways to play it up as though it was all part of the act.

The audience doesn't know your routine. If you are having problems with an item, act like you were teasing them about removing that particular item. You can come back to it later or even leave it on.

If all else fails, make a joke of costume blunders! Play up the struggle them punish or scold the offending item once you are finally free!

Sometimes no matter how much you prepare, something you never expected goes wrong!

One time my foot slipped out of the strap on my sandal that goes over the top of my foot.
The sandal laced up my leg and that part stayed secure of course. A quick glance down gave me no quick solutions on how to drop my fans and remove the shoe before my music ended so I had to finish my routine with my sandal dragging behind me like a ball and chain. After I got off stage I tried to figure out what happened and was baffled. I couldn't recreate the problem and it's never happened again!

I could write a novel on this subject but it's something to revisit later. Good luck with your costume adventures!