Honey Wilde: Vintage and My Performing Life

Retro Chick is taking a well earned holiday, but never fear, she has arranged some fabulous guest bloggers to keep you entertained.

Today’s post is by Honey Wilde , an established UK burlesque performer with over 170 performances since her debut in 2008.

She was named as one of the top 100 burlesque practitioners worldwide for 2010 by 21st Century Burlesque. Her feelings about vintage are much the same as her feelings about burlesque – look fabulous, be entertaining and always check your teeth for lipstick before smiling for an audience.

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Burlesque is often associated with vintage, partly because of the revival of the type of burlesque that draws its influence from stars of the “Golden Era” of the 1940s and 1950s.

Fabulous glittering figure-hugging gowns, feather-trimmed chemises, perfectly bounced curls and plump pouts…as drawcards for burlesque these images are very powerful and I am only one of many burlesque performers who were at least partially drawn to burlesque because of the associated fashion. The photo below shows the 1950s style bullet-bra lingerie set from What Katie Did which I wore for my very first burlesque act in 2008

However, the first vintage piece I ever bought was long before I began my burlesque career and was very far away from any kind of glamour. Way back in 1996 before vintage became fashionable, I was at university in Auckland, New Zealand, and most of my everyday looks around campus were crafted from selected pieces from charity shops, or “op shops” (short for “opportunity shops”) as they’re known there. It was all mostly 60s and 70s pieces because that’s what you could buy cheaply! This led to some interesting fashion decisions on my part, including teaming a burgundy velveteen jacket with burgundy Lee cords and an awful lot of baggy grey “old man” trousers. Unique or tragic? Very difficult for me to say looking back, I’m just laughing too hard…

Brown featured heavily in my wardrobe of the time as well, which is probably why I avoid it now. I wish I had a picture of me in my favourite brown pinafore dresses with yellow and brown geometric patterned chiffon sleeves, brown tights and blue and yellow platforms, as a heartening comparison for those moments now when I despair that I’m just not quite pulling a look off. My boyfriend at the time used to accompany me in his father’s flared cream suit with a huge-collared paisley shirt. At the time this wasn’t at the edge of cool, it was just a bit weird.

Fast forward through a thankful upgrade of my sartorial choices, my relocation to London in 2002 and to 2007 and the start of my passion for 50s wiggle dresses with my purchase of this dress from Beyond Retro in Soho, London.

I adore this dress. It’s seen hen parties, film sets, after-gig bashes and countless burlesque and cabaret events and does me proud every time. I find a lot of the stock in Beyond Retro is from the 70s to more recent times and therefore a bit modern for my (post brown-phase) tastes, but with gems like this one, a large range and a great supply of good-quality shoes, it’s definitely worth a visit.

Another fabulous source of post-gig and gadding-about dresses is A Dandy In Aspic

Peter, the proprietor, has one of the best eyes for shape and size I know, and will find you something that not only fits you but also properly suits you. Here’s a pic of me with my chap Edwin Flay (actor, escapologist and enthusiastic vintage suit connoisseur!) wearing a black 50’s dress and lovely 60’s suit from Peter’s shop at the Chap Ball in 2010.

I’ve also found that over time, pieces which I bought fully intending to wear them off-stage have somehow become costumes. I blame the constant financial battle that I have as a self-employed small business owner (why buy a new costume when I can adapt something I already have?) and the fact that often my default reaction to something pretty is “ooh, that’ll look good on stage!” Such has been the fate of a pair of white split-crotch Edwardian bloomers from Snooper’s Paradise in Brighton and a black 50s beaded jacket from Radio Days in Waterloo, London, both of which have ended up being key to my “Citizen Wilde” act (warning: the link is to footage of a burlesque act which contains partial nudity – NSFW!). Below is a photo of the jacket in action, and a photo of the bloomers and jacket together.

Note: the extra sparkle you see on the jacket are the result of body glitter rather than being part of the original design. I can’t prevent this given the amount of shows I do and the amount of body glitter I go through (it permanently coats most objects in my life including my chap, poor man), but fortunately it adds a bit of extra glitz under stage lights!

The disadvantage to using actual vintage pieces as costumes, of course, is the amount of damage I do to them just from constant use and travel. The lovely vintage bowler hat in the pictures above was bought intact from a P&A London Vintage Fashion Fair at Hammersmith Town Hall some years ago, but after being stood on, sat on and crushed in suitcases, the crown has almost completely detached from the rim and I have to replace it with a cheaper modern equivalent.

With this in mind, I am determined that my latest vintage piece will never see a stage, except perhaps in the future when I am accepting some fabulous award. I have a black silk/satin mix 1920s floor-length dress with long lace sleeves bought from Snoopers Paradise for the completely bonkers bargain price of £28. It only has two small areas that need to be fixed, both seams, and has the most gorgeous full skirt! This is the first 20s-style loose dress that I’ve owned as the style doesn’t do much for my curves so I may get it altered in the future, but in the meantime I’m going to gather material at the waist, cinch with a vintage brooch and grab the first invitation to a classy ‘do that I can find. I’ll also have to carefully choose underwear – my chap describes the dress as “a bit Elvira” – but then again, I’m not exactly shy at the thought of showing a little flesh. It does rather come with the job.