big, blonde and beautiful

after a morning with the king, we are heading over to baltimore! another musical that picked up a tony award for best costume design is hairspray. 

Hairspray

hairspray is a musical with music by marc shaiman, lyrics by scott wittman and shaiman and a book by mark o'donnell and thomas meehan, based on the 1988 john waters film hairspray. the songs include 1960s-style dance music and 'downtown' rhythm and blues. in 1962 baltimore, maryland, plump teenager tracy turnblad's dream is to dance on the corny collins show, a local tv dance program based on the real-life buddy deane show. when tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight. she then launches a campaign to integrate the show. hairspray is a social commentary on the injustices of parts of american society in the 1960s.

the musical's original broadway production opened on august 15, 2002 and won eight tony awards out of thirteen nominations. it ran for over 2,500 performances and closed on january 4, 2009. hairspray has also had national tours, a london west end production and numerous foreign productions and was adapted as a 2007 musical film. the london production was nominated for a record-setting eleven laurence olivier awards, winning for best new musical and in three other categories.

since the musical is set in the 60s, one can only expect a number of diverse trends. it was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the period. in the middle of the decade, culottes, box-shaped pvc dresses and go-go boots were popular. people were dressing in psychedelic prints, highlighter colours and mismatched patterns. the hippie movement late in the decade also exerted a strong influence on ladies' clothing styles, including bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye, and batik fabrics, as well as paisley prints.

'run and tell that' 'you can't stop the beat'.

fash'on... BAM!

barely there...

for those who are familiar with broadway, you would have heard about broadway bares. nope, not my opening post. anyway, broadway bares is the 'inspiration' for this week's theme actually. i know, it's ironic that for a fashion blog, the idea to feature the clothes of musical theatre came from a production that hardly has any clothes on. therefore yes, not every theatre production creates grandeur through costumes and fashion, some are memorable from the lack of clothes.

Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS

well, broadway bares is part of a greater movement called broadway cares / equity fights aids. broadway cares / equity fights aids is an american non-profit organization, headquartered in new york city, new york. it is the theatre community's response to the aids crisis. by drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the theatre community, on broadway, off-broadway and across the country, the organization raises funds for aids-related causes across the united states. since its founding in 1988, it has raised over $175 million for critically needed services for people with aids, hiv or hiv-related illnesses.

broadway bares is an annual burlesque show fundraiser for the organization, founded by jerry mitchell in 1992. broadway dancers and actors perform striptease dances for the audience at the roseland ballroom in new york city for two shows only in June. it combines the naughtiness of burlesque and the razzle-dazzle of broadway. the broadway bares events had raised $5.5 million as of 2010.

before you go into the 'there he goes again, featuring naked bodies to get a couple more hits' again, i actually find a production like broadway bares highly interesting because it is a style of theatre, though raunchy, highly entertaining. after all, the theatre is a space for our imaginations to run free and let's all admit it: sexuality and sensuality sells!

so at the end of the post, i am going to leave you with a flood of g-strings, thongs, lingerie and body paint. (not posting videos here because they are a tad too 'interesting'... but you can find most of them online.)

broadway bares xxii: happy endings

Reed Kelly as Evil Queen

broadway bares xviii: wonderland

Matthew Morrison

broadway bares xx: strip-o-poly

Snooki: Boardwalk

Vanessa Williams

hope you enjoy the tongue-in-cheek costumes of broadway bares!

fash'on... BAM!