Burlesque: Redefining the Representation of Women

BURLESQUE: REDEFINING THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

An analysis of burlesque subcultural style and its potential

to create alternative social roles for women

LAUREN VASSALLO

A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF DESIGN (HONOURS)

UNSW ART & DESIGN

MARCH 2015

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Surname or Family name: Vassallo

First name: Lauren Other name/s: Fay

Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: MDes (Hons)

School: Design Faculty: UNSW Art & Design

Title: Burlesque: Redefining the Representation of Women. An Analysis of burlesque subcultural style and its potential to create alternative social roles women.

Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE)

This thesis explores the expression of women’s social roles in burlesque subculture in Sydney, Australia, between 2010 and 2015. The analysis reflects on the gender roles available to women in burlesque via bricolage, described by media theorist and sociologist Dick Hebdige, and on twenty-first-century subcultural fashion in relation to gender, as discussed by Theresa Winge, Claire Nally and Helen Reddington.

Resurgence in the popularity of burlesque in Sydney since 2005 has generated new questions about gender roles available to women. Through my case study of burlesque performers and my experimentation with fashion silhouettes in use in Sydney’s burlesque scene, I contribute to this debate and explore the ways in which bricolage explains previously overlooked aspects of burlesque adaptations of gender stereotypes in a contemporary context.

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ABSTRACT

This thesis explores the expression of women’s social roles in burlesque subculture in

Sydney, Australia, between 2010 and 2014. The analysis reflects on the gender roles available to women in burlesque via bricolage, described by media theorist and sociologist Dick Hebdige, and on twenty-first-century subcultural fashion in relation to gender, as discussed by Theresa Winge, Claire Nally and Helen Reddington.

ORIGINALITY STATEMENT

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work, and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person or substantial proportions of material that have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.

Signed

Date 8 September 2015

‘I herby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1985. I retain all proprietary right, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.’

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Date 8 September 2015

AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT

‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’

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Date 8 September 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Katherine Moline. My thesis would not have been possible without her guidance, encouragement and support. Katherine’s dedication to my thesis and research went beyond the requirements of a supervisor, and her wealth of knowledge and insight played a pivotal role in the success of my project. I feel privileged to have had Katherine as a lecturer throughout my university degree, and I will be eternally grateful for all the assistance she has given me.

I would like to express my gratitude to the four case-study participants—Bunni Lambada, Memphis Mae, Bella Louche and Rosie Rivette—who gave so willingly of their time and shared so openly their knowledge of their craft. Without their assistance, my thesis would not have been possible. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the wider burlesque community, including Gigi Vine; photographers Ashley Savins, Hayley Rose, Dusk Devi and Leslie Liu; and makeup artists Katya Lonsdale and Emma Lee Court.

Thank you to Wendy Monaghan for her thorough editing of the thesis. Wendy Monaghan Editing Services edited this thesis, and editorial intervention was restricted to Standards D and E of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice.

A special thank you, as well, to my mother and father, Rhondda and John Vassallo, for their love and support throughout this journey. Thank you to my siblings, Sarah, Rebekah and Jonathan Vassallo, for helping me to keep on track and never lose sight of my goal. Finally, to Lucie Sandoe, Megan Lau, Alina Kaye and Carly Hush, whose friendship and support were invaluable during the years of my candidature.

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT 2 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT 3 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 4 AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 LIST OF FIGURES viii GLOSSARY OF TERMS x INTRODUCTION 1

Research Statement 1 Study Rationale 3 Theoretical Framework 5 Methodology 6 Research-‐led Practice 7 The Significance of the Study 9

1 BACKGROUND 10 1.1 Defining the Terms of the Study 10 Classic burlesque 1.2 Fashion silhouettes and textile design 15 Neo-‐burlesque 1.2.1 16 1.2.2 18 1.3 Conclusion 22

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 24 2.1 Subcultural theory as defined by Dick Hebdige 24 2.2 Subcultural style and body style 26 2.3 Style of bricolage 29 2.4 Production versus consumption 31 2.5 Subcultural ideology 35 2.6 Conclusion 38

3 CASE STUDIES and ANALYSIS 39 3.1 Defining the case studies and their significance 39 3.2 Limitations 406

Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In

3.3 and performing gender 41 3.4 Bella Louche, the MacGuffin and body style 46 3.5 Memphis Mae: a punk interpretation of burlesque production 52 3.6 Bunni Lambada: gender blending, bricolage and dichotomies 58 3.7 Conclusion 62

4 RESEARCH-‐LED PRACTICE 65 4.1 Introduction to the research-‐led practice 65 4.2 Design development of burlesque garments 65 4.2.1 Rosie Rivette 66 4.2.2 Bella Louche 69 4.2.3 Memphis Mae 73 4.2.4 Bunni Lambada 77

5 FINAL DESIGNS 80 5.1 Rosie Rivette 80 5.2 Bella Louche 83 5.3 Memphis Mae 87 5.4 Bunni Lambada 92

6 CONCLUSION 96

7 FIGURES 100

8 REFERENCES 152

9 APPENDICES 156 Appendix A: Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel B Arts, Humanities & Law Ethics Approval 156 Appendix B: Case-‐study Interview Transcripts 157 Rosie Rivette 157 Bella Louche 173 Memphis Mae 189

Bunni Lambada 211

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1

Figure 2 Bunni Lambada, Red Fan Dance, 2013 ...... 100 Figure 3 Sally Rand Interior performing her signature fan dance, 1934 ...... 100 Figure 4 The Backroom, Interior , 2012 (a)...... 101 Figure 5 The Central Backroom, Sydney , 2012 (b) ...... 102 Figure 6 , front page, 2014 ...... 102 Figure 7 Bunni Lambada (untitled) 2012...... 103 Figure 8 Bunni Lambada, Red Tease, 2013 ...... 104 Figure 9 Bunni Lambada, Shimmy Shimmy Shake, 2013 ...... 104 Figure Bunni 10 Lambada, Gone with Red Tease, the 2012 ...... Wind 105 Figure 11 Bella Louche, Coco Chanel , 2012 ...... 106 Figure 12 Memphis Mae, , 2013 (a)...... 107 Figure 13 Memphis Mae, Coco Coco Chanel Chanel, 2013 (b) ...... 107 Figure 14 Memphis Mae, , 2013 (c) ...... 108 Figure 15 Memphis Mae, Sexy Coco Little Chanel, Geisha 2013 (d) ...... 108 Figure 16 Victoria’s Secret, Mrs Rivette , 2012 ...... 109 Figure 17 Rosie Rivette, , 2014 ...... 109 Figure 18 Dita Von Teese, 2006 ...... 110 Figure 19 Dita Von Teese, 2006 (b) ...... 110 Figure 20 Rosie the Mrs Riveter ...... Rivette 110 Figure 21 Rosie Rivette, Purple Mambo, 2014, before the performance ...... 111 Figure 22 Rosie Rivette, Mrs Rivette , 2014 ...... 112 Figure 23 Rosie Rivette, , 2014, opening sequence...... 113 Figure 24 Rosie Rivette, Mrs Mrs Rivettette, Rive 2014, first burlesque routine (a)...... 114 Figure 25 Rosie Rivette, Dream of , You 2014, first burlesque routine (b)...... 115 Figure 26 Bella Louche, Booty Swing , 2012 ...... 116 Figure 27 Bella Louche, Booty Swing, 2013 (a)...... 117 Figure 28 Bella Louche, Booty Swing, 2013 (b)...... 118 Figure 29 Bella Louche, Booty Swing, 2013 (c) ...... 119 Figure 30 Bella Louche, Army of , Mae 2013 (d)...... 120 Figure 31 Memphis Mae, Army of Mae, Miss Burlesque Australia 2014 (a) ...... 121 Figure 32 Memphis Mae, Army of Mae, Miss Burlesque Australia 2014 (b)...... 122 Figure 33 Memphis Mae, Let it Rain , Miss Burlesque Australia 2014 (c) ...... 123 Figure 34 Memphis Mae, Let it Rain, 2012 ...... 124 Memphis Mae, , 2014 ...... 125 viii

Figure 35

Figure 36 Memphis Mae The and Ring Bella Master Louche, 2014 ...... 126 Figure 37 Bunni Lambada, Ned Kelly , 2012 ...... 127 Figure 38 Bunni Lambada, Ned Kelly, 2014 (a)...... 128 Figure 39 Bunni Lambada, Ned Kelly, 2014 (b)...... 129 Figure 40 Bunni Lambada, Ned Kelly, 2014 (c)...... 130 Figure 41 Bunni Lambada, Ned Kelly, 2014 ...... (d) 131 Figure 42 Bunni Lambada, , 2014 (e)...... 132 Figure 43 Initial design development of fashion silhouette for Rosie Rivette ...... 133 Figure 44 Example of a conversation -‐ non directional print, ‘Gold Fish’, 1950s...... 134 Figure 45 Elle Sasson, Abigale -‐ flamingo print fit-‐and-‐flare dress, 2015 ...... 134 Figure 46 Chicken-‐print repeat design, 2015 ...... 135 Figure 47 Final chicken-‐print repeat design placed in the bodice pattern ...... 136 Figure 48 Bead-‐looming process and creation of the bodice design, 2015...... 137 Figure 49 An example of a fitting -‐ with case study participant Rosie Rivette...... 137 Figure 50 Initial stage of design development for Bella Louche ...... 138 Figure 51 Fabric and embellishment design development ...... and sample 139 Figure 52 Illustration of second stage of design development for Bella Louche (a) ...... 140 Figure 53 Illustration of second stage of design development for Bella Louche (b) ...... 141 Figure 54 Illustration of the third stage of design development for Bella Louche ...... 142 Figure 55 Initial design development of Memphis Mae costume ...... 143 Figure 57 Final illustration for Memphis Mae, ‘Miss Anarchy’, 2015 (a) ...... 144 Figure 58 Design of the Queen Elizabeth II s-‐ bodice and cros stitch pattern ...... 146 .... Example of the making process of Memphis’s corset, -‐ including the cross stitch portrait Figure 59 of Queen Elizabeth II ...... 147 Detail of the design development and making -‐ process of the cross stitch portrait of Figure Queen 60 Elizabeth II and the application of crystal embellishments ...... 148 ...... Initial illustrations and design development for Bunni Lambada: Madonna/whore Figure 61 dichotomy ...... 149 .... Fabric manipulation experiment with leather and a hole puncher to produce a portrait Figure 62 of Bunni Lambada ...... 150 Figure 63 Artist unknown, Madame Clofullia in ‘The Bearded Lady of Geneva’, 1853. .... 151

Final design and illustration for Bunni Lambada, ...... ‘The Bearded Lady’ 151

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Act Another word used within the subculture to mean a performance that is created with a theme. An act is between three and six minutes long.

Classic One of the most frequently used terms when describing burlesque burlesque performance, classic burlesque closely replicates historical representations of the art form from the mid-twentieth century.1 Key features of classic burlesque include glamorous costuming, corsets, and ostrich-feather fans, and it is often performed to slow music arrangements.

Neo-burlesque The modern adaptation of classic burlesque, often involving a stronger visual narrative representing a point of view such as a political statement or a social commentary.2 A neo-burlesque performance could include comedy, circus skills, gender bending and puppetry.

Nipple tassels Design features on the centre of pasties. Nipple tassels can be made from fabric, upholstery tassels and beading. They become part of the performance when the performer jiggles her breasts to rotate the tassels in a circular motion.3

Merkin A pubic wig, which originated as a cover for the genitalia when the area was clean-shaven. Burlesque performers have adapted the pubic wig, often embellishing the covering with fabric, crystals and other found objects such as cassette tapes or flowers.

Pasties The most frequently used costume item in burlesque performances, as it covers the nipple area, thus allowing the performer to not be naked on stage. Pasties are usually of a circular shape and are often of an elaborate design relating to the aesthetic style of the main garments. Crystals and sequins are heavily featured in the design of pasties, as well as many unconventional materials.

1 Jo Weldon, The Burlesque Handbook (New York: Harper Collins e-books, 2010), 35. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid., 56. x

INTRODUCTION

Research Statement

This thesis explores women’s social roles in burlesque subculture in Sydney, Australia, between 2010 and 2015. The analysis reflects upon the performance and representation of gender stereotypes and the roles available to women in burlesque. It argues that while descriptions of burlesque performance as, ‘elusive, marginal, resilient and absurd’ are apt, important issues connected to gender and identity are at stake.4 The analysis explores burlesque through subcultural theory via bricolage—a concept described by media theorist and sociologist Dick Hebdige.5 The term bricolage is understood here as the process of appropriating, from other social classes, objects such as clothing with which to create new social identities. Hebdige’s adaptation of the concept of bricolage is supplemented with recent scholarship that expands on his ideas on subculture and fashion in terms of gender, particularly Theresa Winge’s Body Style.6 Another is Claire

Nally’s research on gender roles for women and the ‘Madonna/whore dichotomy’.7 The dichotomy Nally describes refers to the division of roles available to women in much of popular culture—either an innocent girl with a strong moral grounding or a loose woman who publicly displays her sexuality. When applied to women both within and outside the subculture of burlesque, this dichotomy leaves little room for variation. I suggest that the transposition of the fashion of burlesque from the 1950s to the present era is a form of bricolage with which women explore and subvert gender stereotypes, such as the Madonna/whore dichotomy described by Nally.

4 Terrie Waddell, “Trickster-infused Burlesque: Gender Play in the Betwixt and Between,” Australasian Drama Studies 63, (October 2013): 96. 5 Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (England: Routledge, 1979). 6 Theresa M. Winge, Body Style (Oxford: Berg, 2012). 7 Claire Nally, “Grrrly Hurly Burly: Neo-Burlesque and the Performance of Gender,” Textual Practice 23, no. 4 (2009): 621–43. 1

The resurgence of burlesque in Sydney since 2005 has generated new questions about gender roles now available to women. Although an examination of all aspects of the renewed interest in burlesque performance is beyond the scope of this thesis, it can be argued that it has coincided with an extended period of conservative governments that have rewarded women for assuming the traditional role of homemaker and mother with tax benefits such as the Baby Bonus (2004–2014).8 The Baby Bonus which was introduced by the Howard government, but continued to be implemented by the Labor government that followed, was perceived as a need to increase the numbers of babies born to balance out the aging population. Ultimately the coverage of the Baby Bonus had an impact on its generation of women in childbearing years, as it increased social pressure on women to conceive and become homemakers and place our social worth solely as mothers. At the same time, the New South Wales State government amended the Liquor Act 20079 which resulted in the City of Sydney encouraging hotel owners to open small bars, creating local venues attracting a wider demographic; meanwhile both state and local government policies focused on activating the inner city of Sydney with more events and venues. This confluence of factors led to an increase in the number of venues available for performers to showcase their work and in greater audience numbers participating in burlesque subculture. The outcome has been greater discourse about burlesque performers and performance, the position of burlesque in the Sydney entertainment scene and the concept of burlesque as merely stripping for money. In this thesis, I contribute to this discourse through my research on fashion silhouettes and

8 Michael Klapdor, “Abolishing the Baby Bonus,” in Budget Review 2013–14, Research Paper no. 3, 2012–13, Parliament of Australia, 2013. http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/Bu dgetReview201314/BabyBonus. 9 Australian Legal Information Institute, “New South Wales Consolidated Acts, Liquor Act 2007 – Sect 4, Defintions,” http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/la2007107/s4.html#licence. 2 design in Sydney’s burlesque scene via a series of costumes extending bricolage and expanding burlesque critiques and adaptations of gender stereotypes in the contemporary context.

Study Rationale

The research presented in this thesis arose from my participation, since 2009, in burlesque subculture as the persona ‘Betty Belle’. I have a strong interest in gender roles in the burlesque community and the way in which these roles have the potential to test and/or reinforce gender definitions in the twenty-first century. A multi-disciplinary designer, my formal training has spanned fashion, textile design and graphics media, and I work as an organiser of burlesque events across Sydney and as a design educator.

In these contexts, I have observed how participants in the subculture and those outside the subculture—often women—project various personas through their clothing choices and arrangement of garments on the body. My research has particularly focused on my observations as creative producer for The Pin Up Parlor, which produces burlesque events for which performers develop personas of exaggerated gender to present onstage.

Offering a variety of entertainment, The Pin Up Parlor performances include vaudeville, cabaret, comedy, circus and burlesque acts reminiscent of vaudeville acts of the 1950s.

One example is Bunni Lambada’s adaptation of burlesque pioneer Sally Rand’s ostrich- feather fan dance of the 1930s (see Figures 1 and 2). In my research-led practice and this thesis, I pose questions about gender stereotypes expressed in mainstream understandings of burlesque, and I propose a series of garments that embody the implicit and nuanced commentary on gender by burlesque performers, commentary that may not be immediately apparent to people outside the burlesque community.

My experiences of the models and personas of gender created by women within the burlesque subculture prompted this research. Much of the mainstream interpretation, such as that in newspapers, news reports and films, misrepresents burlesque as overtly sexual entertainment for men. An example is the 2010 movie Burlesque 10 featuring

Cher and Christina Aguilera, which dramatised the burlesque scene as a glamorous occupation requiring little training. The general spectator perceives burlesque as a physical performance involving the removal of clothing. For a burlesque performer, however, burlesque includes both the creation of a narrative to entertain the audience and the creation of a persona with which to explore gender roles for women.

In contrast to the popular misunderstanding of burlesque as solely a strip show, this research explored burlesque as a series of practices connected to clothing, garment design and gender. In a series of research-led studio experiments with garment design and construction, I investigated the subtle silhouette changes to historical references in retro garments, the clothing’s relationship to the body, and the subsequent representation of the almost-naked body in burlesque performance. The aim of my research was to reflect on the ways in which gender stereotypes appropriated from history are reproduced, sometimes reinterpreted and, at times, subverted in burlesque. It is worth noting that Annie Blanchette has made similar observations of the Canadian

Burlesque scene, and its pertinent to note that despite the differences between

Australian and Canadian society, her observation made in 2013 are relevant when exploring the resurgence of the new burlesque subculture. 11 The interest in the resurgence of burlesque has also been by Kaitlyn Regehr in her discussion on the rise of

10 Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc., Burlesque, accessed October 2, 2014, http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/burlesque/. 11 Annie Blanchette, “Revisiting the “passée”: history rewriting in the neo-burlesque community.” Consumption Markets & Culture 17, no. 2 (2014): 158-184. 4 recreation burlesque in 2011.12 The scholarly interest in burlesque, both within the

Australian and Canadian subculture, during the same time period of 2010 – 2015, contributes to the validity of the research topic.

Theoretical Framework

The meaning of style has been extensively explored in subcultural theory across diverse fields. In his book Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige discusses style in relation to the study of subculture, and his book has been the basis of many contemporary studies. 13 In his analysis of subcultural style, Hebdige discusses

‘bricolage’ as a vehicle for creating style, opposes production to consumption, and discusses ideologies reflected in subcultural practice. These topics have been included in critical academic discourse concerning subcultural practices ever since the publication of Hebdige’s work.14

The way in which meaning is created and established within subcultures—a theme of particular relevance to my study—is addressed by Hebdige in his theory of ‘style as bricolage’. 15 Hebdige notes that bricolage is a theoretical framework, originally developed in the field of anthropology. He describes how early cultures used bricolage, adapting items from their surroundings to communicate without the written word.16

12 Kaitlyn Regehr, "The Rise of Recreational Burlesque: Bumping and Grinding Towards Empowerment." Sexuality & Culture 16, no. 2 (2012): 134-157. 13 Geoff Stahl, “Tastefully Renovating Subculture Theory: Making Space for a New Model,” in The Post- Subcultures Reader, ed. David Muggleton and Rupert Weinzierl (Oxford: Berg, 2003), 27. 14 See for example: Stuart Hall and Dick Hebdige, Resistance through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post- War Britain (London: Hutchison, 1976); Steven G. Jones, “Understanding Community in the Information Age,” in Cybersociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and Community (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1995); Ken Gelder and Sarah Thornton, eds., The Subcultures Reader, (London and New York: Routledge, 1997); Ian Bogost, “Comparative Video Game Criticism,” Games and Culture 1, no. 1 (2006): 41–46. 15 Hebdige, Subculture; the Meaning of Style, 102. 16 Ibid. 5

Developing his theory, Hebdige claims that bricolage is a means by which subcultures develop styles through fashion—past and present. From this perspective, bricolage is apparent when subcultures borrow objects and artefacts from other cultural groups and transform them with ascribed meanings relevant to their specific community. In certain cases, these appropriations change or subvert the original meaning of the object, artefact or commodity. For example, elements of burlesque make-up, such as red lipstick and black eyeliner, are not exclusive to the subculture but are fashion elements, which are exaggerated and often subverted in burlesque performances. To inform my theoretical framework for the case-study research and the design of new burlesque garments, I drew from Hebdige’s research into subcultures and the current debates on gender in fashion, burlesque and feminist discourse. My aim was to bring a critical perspective to the progressive and retrograde aspects of the social roles available to women as expressed in recent performances in the Sydney burlesque community. I chose to explore the theory of bricolage as opposed to one of mimicry, as I contend that the four case-study burlesque participants are not aiming to reproduce performances of the past but to redefine performances for women in a range of contemporary contexts.

Methodology

My research objective—to explore how gender stereotypes for women were reproduced, adapted and subverted in burlesque garment and textile design between 2010 and

2014—draws upon a number of methodologies. From my documented observations of burlesque performers during my master’s candidature, I selected four performers and developed case studies to tease out particular insights on how gender is performed by these women. In keeping with the convention among burlesque performers to use an alias when participating in events and performances, my studio practice of developing 6 new garments for the performers reflected on each case study’s alias and their created persona. The garments I developed reference the deployment and adaptations—that is, bricolage—of fashion silhouettes, textile designs and textile embellishments in performance apparel.

In addition, I interviewed the selected burlesque performers and reflected on their understanding of the social roles for women in contemporary burlesque. The case studies have contributed to my research-led practice, which comprises four garments

(one per performer) which express aspects of their particular performances of gender roles that are often overlooked. The case-study sample was selected because of their active participation in the burlesque community. In their performance and dance routines, each wears corsetry produced in a traditional manner, for example, and they model their hairstyling and accessories, such as feathers, after historical antecedents.

Research-led Practice

I define ‘research-led practice’ as a form of practice with which practitioners in the creative arts can critically reflect on their professional expertise via the implementation of research skills. Rather than ‘practice-led research’ defined as advancing and contributing original knowledge about a field, or ‘practice-based research’ defined as research that includes a creative work regarded as an original contribution to knowledge, I see research-led practice as a productive strategy with which practitioners can gain insights about aspects of their practice that are tacit or that may be taken for granted. The key difference between research-led practice and practice-led or practice- based research is that research-led practice actively includes skills development in established methodologies, such as case-study analysis. Learning new research skills 7 encourages candidates to reflect on their assumptions and their understandings of their field from new perspectives.

My research objective was to question and challenge the existing interpretations of burlesque subculture as a continuation of outdated gender stereotypes of women. I aimed to challenge these interpretations, creating fashion silhouettes and designing garments that would represent not only a bygone era but also the narrative created by participants in the subculture in the context of 2015. To exemplify this aim, my experiments focused on the manipulation of materials in ways other than their recommended application. For example, juxtaposing components to highlight that the garments represent not only the gender roles created by the wearers but also the associations and stereotypes of the media utilised. I see such juxtapositions as a form of bricolage. Examples of the material bricolage experiments I undertook as part of the research include distorting leather to represent the fabrication of silk; creating a repeat textile design out of embellishment materials, such as beading, without a supporting fabric; and using the traditional technique of cross-stitch design to embellish a fitted corset. The garments I designed as a result of my research reflect on and are evidence of my analysis of the case-study interviews, the textile fashion silhouettes of the 1950s and the way in which Sydney burlesque participants have adapted these elements in the last five years.

By using a variety of applications for the embellishments, the garments respond to contemporary and mainstream fashion norms. By researching burlesque, my aim was to develop a better understanding of subcultural lifestyle choices, discover whether such choices may represent more than simply following a fashion trend or style, and whether

8 key defining factors regarding burlesque’s representation of the female form could, in fact, reflect the views and values held by women outside the confines of the burlesque subculture.

The Significance of the Study

This study contributes to design knowledge about how garment and textile design communicate cultural norms and shifts regarding gender roles in the twenty-first century. Via a comparative case study of four contemporary burlesque performers, the research describes the gender roles expressed in the performance character’s apparel and reflects on how the performers reproduce, reinforce or interrupt female gender stereotypes.

1 BACKGROUND

1.1 Defining the Terms of the Study

Participants in the Sydney burlesque community have adapted more than the style of the

1950s in the new millennium. The long and varied history of burlesque can be dated back to the late sixteenth and seventeenth century, both in the United Kingdom and the

United States, which saw notable performers of the time Lydia Thompson and Pauline

Markham, creating theatre performances that represented exaggerated femininity and masculine sexuality.17 Burlesque has gone through many distinct changes; such as theatre in its original form, to that of striptease in the 1920’s, to the emergence if the new burlesque neo-burlesque in the 1990’s.18 The Australian burlesque subcultures origins can be seen in the vaudeville shows of the twentieth century. As Jonathan

Bollen notes in his discussion of mid-twentieth-century Australia, the closure of theatres during this time, due primarily to advancements in technologies such as television and radio, contributed to a decline in the availability of live performances.19 Burlesque was introduced to the vaudeville stage setting to entice audiences back to the theatre, resulting in an increase of this performance style during the 1950s.20 Similarly, the rise of burlesque performances in Sydney between 2010 and 2014 coincided with technological advances, such as hand-held devices, increased availability of pay-TV channels and the ability to download movies almost instantly. This expansion of media entertainment coincided with the New South Wales Government legislation that allowed small bars to apply for a liquor license from 2007, resulting in an increase of

17 Alexis Butler, “Re-Vamping History: Neo-Burlesque and Historical Tradition.” Canadian Theatre Review no. 158, (2014): 44-46; Regehr, "The Rise of Recreational Burlesque: Bumping and Grinding Towards Empowerment." 137; Terrie Waddell, “Trickster-infused Burlesque: Gender Play in the Betwixt and Between.” 97. 18 Butler, “Re-Vamping History: Neo-Burlesque and Historical Tradition.” 44. 19 Jonathan Bollen, "Don't Give up the Strip!: Erotic Performance as Live Entertainment in Mid- Twentieth Century Australia.," Journal of Australian Studies 32, no. 2 (2010): 126. 20 Ibid. 10 venues across Sydney. With a mass of new bars opening their doors, many targeting specific subcultures, age demographics and alcohol preferences, a new era in Sydney’s cultural nightlife began. Patrons were no longer limited to hotels or bars offering a generic atmosphere. Both periods when burlesque performances experienced a boost— the 1950s and the 2000s—were politically conservative times, and burlesque offered entertainment in multiple settings and across a broad range of venues, stages and bars.

In a bid to distinguish themselves from each other, many venues have showcased a number of entertainment options. For example, throughout the years of my research,

The Standard on Oxford Street, Darlinghurst supported various subcultural groups, hosting several burlesque shows, art exhibitions, and musical events featuring bands or

DJs and a variety of musical genres. . Another example was The Backroom in Sydney’s

Kings Cross, a space so heavily decorated with vintage items such as chairs, tables, photographic imagery and lighting that it resembled a vintage store as opposed to a

Kings Cross nightclub (see Figures 3 and 4). During the period of my research, The

Backroom held burlesque events on a monthly basis, enabling a large array of subcultural groups to see performances in venues previously unavailable.21 At a time when online media experiences seem endless, whether on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter or live streaming directly to our smart phones, it is possible that the increased interest in live entertainment is the consequence of the saturation of this media in our daily lives and a desire for more human interaction.

21 The New South Wales Government, in an effort to curb alcohol-fuelled violence, amended the Liquor Act 2007 in 2014, creating ‘lockout laws’, which prevented clubs from admitting patrons after 1am. As a result, The Backroom was unable to sustain patron numbers, and it closed in October 2014. The Standard has also implemented changes to its live performances, turning what was previously its music/performance room into a bowling alley, allowing only musical bands to perform in the space. The new laws, the true effects of which have yet to be seen, have affected the availability of venues that are able to host live performances in Sydney. 11

As the Australian burlesque community has continued to grow, it has attracted media attention and received recognition as an art practice. This recognition has been influenced, in part, by the promotion of events, including the Australian Burlesque

Festival and Miss Burlesque Australia. Promotion for both of these events invited the public to see a range of performers across Australia in any given week. Performers

Dolores Daiquiri, Rosy Rabbit, Chaz Royal and Sapphira founded the Australian

Burlesque Festival in 2010, and the festival has toured annually to Melbourne,

Tasmania, South Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory, the Australian Capital

Territory and Sydney.22

Miss Burlesque Australia, founded in 2009, operates not only as a competition but also as a platform for showcasing the most-advanced innovative forms of performance within the burlesque community. This event has proven to be important to the subculture as a whole; every year it attracts increased media attention, creating a platform for performers to gain recognition not only in Australia but also overseas at events such as the London Burlesque Festival and others held in various cities throughout Europe. These efforts have resulted in the formation of the Australian

Burlesque Association, which is ‘dedicated to the research, collection and celebration of the burlesque performance art form throughout Australian history.’23 The archives and documentation of the Australian history of burlesque, although limited at this stage due to its recent emergence, exemplifies one model for documenting current burlesque practices that may extend the life of burlesque beyond that of a mere trend.

22 Australian Burlesque Festival, accessed November 21, 2013, http://australianburlesquefest.com/. 23 Australian Burlesque Association, “The ABA Manifest”, accessed November 29, 2014, http://www.australianburlesque.org/. 12

Despite the popularity of the current burlesque subculture continuing to grow, its publishing capabilities have been limited to several niche street magazines, such as

Deadbeat Magazine, Femme Fatale and its representation in street press such as The

Brag, MX and Central Sydney (see Figure 5). These publications are largely community run and self-funded. Deadbeat Magazine, for example, is a quarterly that covers all aspects of alternate subcultures, such as hot rods, pin ups, tattoo art and popular/lowbrow art.24 While these publications have been successful for the burlesque community, some more than others, they often represent women in sexualised poses with or on motor vehicles, with less focus on the women’s achievements in burlesque than I consider desirable.

Individual members who seek out opportunities to perform as their chosen persona, whether for the burlesque community or for larger audiences outside the subculture, usually manage their own promotions for the show or performance. This is exemplified by Rosemary Farrell in her interview with Australian burlesque performer Madam P. in which she describes performances in the twenty-first century as ‘new burlesque’25 and that these performers have given themselves the name of ‘do-it-yourself (DIY) performers’26, in which they are the creators of solo acts paid for by venues hosting burlesque evening. Like the case-study participants, Madam P.’s acts reproduce many aspects of a classic burlesque routine such as costuming, while also addressing the rise in neo-burlesque performances through her use of current popular music juxtaposed against comedy and the use of a historical references of the 1950’s.27 The use of self-

24 Deadbeat Magazine, accessed November 21, 2013, http://deadbeatmag.com/. 25 Rosemary Farrell, “DIY Australian New Burlesque in 2000s: An Interview with Madam P.,” Australasian Drama Studies 63, (October 2013): 111. 26 Ibid. 27 Ibid., 112. 13 promotion can be seen as a way to allow for fewer generalisations to be made regarding the goals and stylistic decisions of the performer when the information is received within the community. Performers and producers largely use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr for self-promotion. Although these platforms enable immediate access to subculture participants, they have limited capacity in terms of reaching out to new audiences.

The number and range of current burlesque events in Sydney City can show the resurgence of the burlesque subculture in Sydney since 2005. The following list provides a scoping of events that bring together the larger burlesque community as well as interested people from outside the subculture.28 They include events presented by Mr

Falcons Presents Burlesque, The Peel, Black Cherry, The Pin Up Parlor and Gallery

Burlesque.29 All of these events began within the last 10 years: Mr Falcons Presents

Burlesque in 2012, The Peel in 2010, Black Cherry in 2006, The Pin Up Parlor in 2010 and Gallery Burlesque in 2009. All five offer performances in genres of both classic burlesque and neo-burlesque, with some differences. For instance, Mr Falcons Presents

Burlesque performances are presented in a tiny room above a small bar that opened its doors in Glebe in 2011. It has a small stage and seating for 50 people. The Peel at Slide, a lounge and cabaret bar on Sydney’s Oxford Street, has an open-stage format for new acts to gain experience and is often their first opportunity to appear on stage and perform to a live audience. The Pin Up Parlor, which holds shows at venues across

Sydney, most recently a six-month summer series at Hotel Steyne in Manly, is reminiscent of vaudeville, with show formats that take a cross-disciplinary approach to

28This is not a definitive list of events or performances offered around Sydney. These events are included here because they have a varied performance nature, they are monthly or quarterly events and they continue to succeed within the subculture. 29 With the exclusion of Gallery Burlesque, all of these subcultural events were founded and run solely by women. 14 performance, featuring burlesque, pinup, circus performers, aerialists and vocalists.

Gallery Burlesque focuses on neo-burlesque performances and is known for its cutting- edge approach and acts that often feature strong political statements.

Black Cherry has been able to cohesively bring together many of Sydney’s subcultures, including but not limited to punk, rockabilly, burlesque, psychobillies, and mods.30

Black Cherry supports the differences between the subcultures in an environment that celebrates alternative lifestyles. The Black Cherry community prompts one to think with a critical perspective about the standards of gender and beauty promoted in the media and to consider the choices available for living differently. For instance, tattoo imagery on women, common in the subcultures represented at Black Cherry, is successfully challenging stereotypical ideas about femininity.

1.2 Fashion silhouettes and textile design

The burlesque subculture has taken considerable stylistic direction from women’s fashions of the 1950s, both on and off the stage. Through my participation in the subculture, I have documented and observed the distinctive looks created by the participants. In this section, I discuss the stage costumes and the distinguishing features of both classic burlesque and neo-burlesque performances and performers and provide examples of these looks via a visual enquiry of burlesque participants in Sydney between 2010 and 2014.31

30 Black Cherry, accessed November 21, 2013, http://www.blackcherrypresents.com.au/club/index.html. 31 The visual documentation of the burlesque subculture and the use of photographic imagery has received Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel B Arts, Humanities & Law ethics approval, approval number 12 158. Please see Appendix A for formal notification. 15

1.2.1 Classic burlesque

The burlesque aesthetic encompasses many varying stylistic choices because the influences of burlesque cannot be defined by one specific origin. Claire Nally observes that burlesque ‘hinges on a nostalgic appraisal of women’s roles and indeed apparel’.32

This is not to say that contemporary burlesque merely reproduces historical women’s roles. Instead, I contend that critical appraisal is part and parcel of the current directions in burlesque performance. That is to say, contemporary burlesque relies heavily on interpretations— some subversive—of nostalgia for traditional femininity and represents these interpretations through costume and makeup. As a result, contemporary representations of burlesque can be perceived in a number of ways.

The signature features of classic burlesque costumes are corsets, waist cinchers, lingerie, gloves, suspender belts, seamed stockings, ostrich-feather fans, pasties and nipple tassels. The corset is a significant identifier of a classic burlesque performance costume and has been adapted from the design of its predecessors. Cotton or silk with a stiffened fabric as a base is stretched over steel or plastic boning, replacing the silk and whalebone structures of early corsetry. A zipper is often used for the front fastening of contemporary corsets, allowing for easy removal, and eyelets and ribbon lacing are used to tighten the back of the corset. Claire Nally observes: ‘As much as the corset represented both liberation and confinement in its historical manifestation, so does its modern equivalent engage with both control and rebellion.’33 In relation to classic burlesque routines, the control and rebellion noted by Nally can be seen in the amount of skin the performer chooses to show during the act and the often well-founded perception that the burlesque performance aims to rebel against norms of socially

32 Nally, "Grrrly Hurly Burly: Neo-Burlesque and the Performance of Gender." 636. 33 Ibid. 16 acceptable behaviour. Corsets come in a variety of shapes. Those most frequently seen within costuming include the following styles:

• the waist cincher, which curves under the bust with a finished curved edge on

the hip line

• the under bust, which scoops under the breasts, allowing a bra to sit easily on

top

• the demi corset, which runs the entire length from bust to hipline

• the full cup, which emphasises the breast shape, with a scoop detailing in the

front to accent the cleavage line

• the demi scoop, which has a shape similar to the full cup but is less revealing.

An example of typical burlesque corsetry can be seen in the costuming of Bunni

Lambada. Figure 6 shows how the traditional methods of corset making have been applied to an under-bust design with a scooped lower edge as a design feature. A monochrome colour palette has been used with a silk fabric, a zipper front, which makes the corset easier for the performer to remove, and a laced back. Design features include bow-like lace appliqués at the right and left hipbones, with Swarovski crystal detail hanging between lace appliqués to create a loop pattern. The bra has been constructed in a similar manner, with flesh-coloured stretch fabric forming a halter neck. The same flesh-coloured fabric is used in a matching pair of gloves. Both the bra and the gloves have been embellished with circular flatback crystals. This type of detailing is very popular in burlesque costuming; it not only sparkles in the light and highlights the shape of the performer’s body but it also allows easier visibility for members of the audience at the back of the room.

An accompaniment to the classic routine is often the fan dance, where the performer uses two large-scale ostrich-feather fans to conceal her body as she removes her clothing. This type of dance routine is typically set to slow music as the performer teases the audience with what is hidden between the fans. As mentioned in the

Introduction, Bunni Lambada’s homage to Sally Rand (see Figures 7, 8 and 9) involves performing with large feathered fans while wearing a 1920s-inspired flapper dress and an oversized headpiece. The garments are all in the same shade of red and embellished with crystal and bead detailing. As she progresses through the stages of the routine,

Bunni removes the dress and headpiece to reveal a fringed bra and panties. In the final stage of the routine, she removes the last pieces of the garment to reveal an under-bust bra with red fringing, a sheer G-string with crystal detailing and fringed straps, and circular sequined pasties.34 Like the routine itself, the costume represents the three stages of the act: the opening introduction, the middle tease and the final reveal—the latter concealed with the fans.

1.2.2 Neo-burlesque

Neo-burlesque has allowed a new generation of performers the opportunity to push the boundaries of classic burlesque performance. As Sherril Dodds observes, neo-burlesque performers create alternative sensory experiences for how the female body can be valued and consumed, both on stage and in everyday life.35 This is because neo- burlesque allows performers more-creative expression and provides a platform from which to explore themes such as women’s gender roles, using techniques such as comedy and storytelling. This has allowed experimentation with less-constrained

34 Due to the near-naked body, the photo representing stage three of the routine cannot be displayed in this thesis at the request of the performer. 35 Sherril Dodds, “Embodied Transformations in Neo-Burlesque Striptease,” Dance Research Journal 45, no. 3 (2013): 78. 18 costuming while still referring to classic burlesque performance apparel of the past.

When garments such as corsets are altered and positioned in a different context, the costume’s meaning can be subverted. That which was once a sign of restraint is now a symbol of empowerment.

An example of subverting a costume’s meaning can be seen in Bella Louche’s act, Gone with the Wind, based on the 1939 movie. The performance is broken into three visual segments. First, Bella walks onto the stage wearing a large-scale version of a dress from the civil-war period, representing the main character of the movie, Scarlett O’Hara. The costume emulates an opulent dress from the 1860s, with a tightly fitted corset and billowing floor-length silk skirt, which sits over a hoop. There is a dramatic shift in the music during the second sequence; a loud siren mimics the start of battle and Bella removes her skirt. She reveals that the skirt lining is printed with images of corpses and blood, representing the death and destruction of war. When Bella performs the final sequence to the Kanye West song ‘Gold Digger’, she wears a bright-purple corset featuring design details indistinguishable from classic burlesque costuming (see Figure

10). The corset is detailed down the centre front in bright-yellow lace and flatback crystals along the scooped edge of the bust. Fringing decorates the purple hoop frame of the skirt. At first glance, the traditional aspects of classic burlesque could mislead the audience into thinking it is just another strip show. However, through the motifs on her garments, Bella’s performance is a critique of the American Civil War and the social context of the movie Gone with the Wind. My research-led practice shares with Leah

Leash, the designer of Bella Louche’s Gone with the Wind costume, a strong interest in social critique via burlesque costume design. However, my costume designs analyse the

19 social roles available to women in the twenty-first century rather than comment on historical social contexts.

Another neo-burlesque performer, Memphis Mae provides a visual critique on the life and work of twentieth-century fashion designer Coco Chanel (1883–1971). Memphis wears garments synonymous with the late designer: a fitted pencil skirt, a black scoop- neck top, multiple layers of long pearls and a classic Chanel jacket with three-quarter sleeves in off-white cotton fabric with a black herringbone weave highlight (see Figure

11). Other signature features of Coco Chanel appropriated by Memphis include

Chanel’s red lipstick and short-cropped black hair. In an exaggerated representation of the designer, Memphis walks on stage with three lit cigarettes in her right hand. To the left of the stage is an oversized perfume bottle of Chanel No. 5 (see Figure 12), and to the right is an easel with layers of paper resting upon it, each containing a fashion illustration. In the second sequence of the act and with each removal of a piece of clothing, Memphis dramatically walks across the stage to the easel and rips off a layer of paper to reveal a new fashion illustration mirroring her appearance on stage (see

Figure 13).

Each page on the easel and the corresponding removal of clothing symbolises a change in the role of women during Chanel’s life as a designer. Chanel’s contribution to fashion is often seen as leading shifts in women’s fashion, and she is widely regarded as a woman who fought for her place as a designer in the male-dominated fashion industry of the time.36 From this perspective, I interpret Memphis Mae’s removal of garments as

36 Catherine Driscoll, “Chanel: The Order of Things,” Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture 14, no. 2 (2010): 139; Sherril Dodds, “Embodied Transformations in Neo-Burlesque Striptease.” 78. 20 symbolic of the removal of gender stereotypes projected not only on Coco Chanel but also on all women who sought less-restrictive garments in fashion apparel. In the closing sequence of the act, Memphis removes the last pieces of clothing to reveal pasties and a G-string, both embellished with the Coco Chanel logo; the final fashion illustration on the easel is that of a naked woman (see Figure 14). I see the final illustration of the naked form as homage to the modern woman stripped bare of the repression of the past, and the logo embellishments as a representation of the woman

Coco Chanel, who was herself controversial in her time but whose convictions rarely wavered. At the same time, the burlesque performance draws attention to the double- edged nature and contradictions of the fashion industry in casting women in stereotypical fantasies branded with a fashion designer’s name. A contemporary example of this can be seen in the lingerie label Victoria’s Secret and their appropriation of cultural heritage, rebranding it as fantasy. In their 2012 collection,

Victoria Secret created a design called ‘Sexy Little Geisha’, which soon attracted a backlash from the Asian community resulting in Victoria Secret eventually pulling the design from production. 37 The advertising for the ‘Sexy Little Geisha’ lingerie incorporated common stereotypical associations with Asian culture, such as chopsticks in the model’s hair, a paper fan and the obi-style waist detailing over the sheer black lingerie teddy (see Figure 15). The contention surrounding this garment was not only about the lack of respect for the cultural origins of the geisha, but also the trivialisation of history to sell erotica and fantasies to consumers.

37 Jenna Sauers, “And Here We Have a ‘Sexy Little Geisha’ Outfit From Victoria’s Secret, ” Jezebel (blog), September 26, 2012, http://jezebel.com/5946583/and-here-we-have-a-sexy-little-geisha-outfit- from-victorias-secret. 21

1.3 Conclusion

The burlesque subculture in Sydney is multifarious yet shares common goals: to communicate via conceptual storytelling and to create a positive representation of the art form. As these examples of Bella Louche and Memphis Mae show, the contemporary burlesque scene in Sydney is reflexive. Through specifically designed garments and props styled for their stage acts, burlesque performers make explicit critical commentary on the social conventions of gender roles available to women. This aspect of burlesque performance is rarely commented on in popular media accounts or indeed in scholarly accounts of burlesque. Rather, burlesque is usually perceived as another form of female objectification, with commentary focusing on the negative stereotyping associated with contemporary burlesque. As design historian Sue Prichard notes:

In the twentieth century, the increasing importance of fashion worlds in other countries,

of fashion leaders in media culture, and of subcultures centered on leisure activities, has

made the relationship between clothing choices and fashion more complex.38

One difficulty with researching fashion in burlesque is finding an explanatory framework that provides sufficient scope for understanding the complexity of feminist critiques of gender stereotypes in a performance modality associated with female oppression. To make sense of the exploration and adaptation of gender roles available to women in contemporary burlesque, the following chapter describes a theory of subculture proposed by social anthropologist Dick Hebdige and recent revisions of

Hebdige’s theory of subculture in contemporary feminist writings by Theresa Winge,

Claire Nally and Helen Reddington. This theoretical framework as revised by feminist writers, was selected for its relevance to current redefinitions of gender roles for women

38 Sue Prichard, ed., V&A Pattern: The Fifties, (London: Victoria and Albert Museum Publishing, 2009), i. 22 and supports my commitment to document female participation within burlesque subculture. I believe bricolage accounts for the complex aspects of burlesque that have previously been overlooked.

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 Subcultural theory as defined by Dick Hebdige

The meaning of style within subcultural theory has been of interest to researchers in various fields, including fashion, music and body modification.39 Dick Hebdige’s book

Subculture: The Meaning of Style was ground breaking in its exploration of three different subcultures of the 1970s: punks, mods and Teddy boys. This chapter explores the themes of subcultural creation and their connection with the meaning of clothes as defined by Hebdige. Of foremost relevance to my research on burlesque subculture is

Hebdige’s theory of ‘style as bricolage’.40 Hebdige explains ‘bricolage’ as a theoretical framework that was originally developed in the field of anthropology by Claude Levi-

Strauss to describe how so-called primitive cultures adapted items from their surroundings to communicate socially modified codes without written words.41 He defines it further by claiming that bricolage is a means by which subcultures develop styles through fashion—past and present.

A second key theoretical construct I apply from Hebdige’s analysis of subcultures is his theory of subcultural modifications to practices of consumption as creative acts. By this,

Hebdige means that regardless of a person’s class, social status, subcultural beliefs or style choices, each subculture’s consumption of products, such as fashion, helps define the subculture’s visual style as a means to create community.42 The use of consumption

39 Matthew P. Brown, “Funk Music as Genre: Black Aesthetics, Apocalyptic Thinking and Urban Protest in Post-1965 African-American Pop,” Cultural Studies 8, no. 3 (1994): 484-508; Keith Nurse, “Globalization and Trinidad Carnival: Diaspora, Hybridity and Identity in Global Culture,” Cultural Studies 13, no. 4 (1999): 661-690; Victoria Pitts, “Body Modification, Self-Mutilation and Agency in Media Accounts of a Subculture,” in Body Modification, ed. Mike Featherstone (London: Sage, 2000) 291-303. 40 Hebdige, Subculture; the Meaning of Style, 102. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 24 is relevant when identifying as a subcultural participant and aids in distinguishing subcultural communities from others. Hebdige discusses the role that style plays for men and women in everyday life. He recounts how clothing choices can be a synthesis of available finances, working life, personal taste and significance of choice for the wearer. The decisions that the wearer makes when choosing their personal style will fit within the ‘codes and practices’ of a subculture.43 By ‘codes and practices’, Hebdige means a set of guidelines that allow participants to gain an understanding of the projected meanings of garments for a particular subculture and to identify other participants of that subcultural community.44 When examining burlesque subculture,

‘projected meaning’ can be defined as the associations and connections that performers want audiences to make during a burlesque show.

Third, Hebdige explores subcultural ideology, which he defines with reference to Louis

Althusser’s description of ideology in the context of political and cultural institutions:

Ideology is indeed a system of representation, but in the majority of cases these

representations have nothing to do with ‘consciousness’: they are usually images and

occasionally concepts, but it is above all as structures that they impose on the vast

majority of men [sic], not via their ‘consciousness’.45

By this, Althusser means that ideology is more than a conscious awareness of tangible surroundings. In a subcultural groups setting, ideology can be defined as a set of unconscious ideas that inform one’s participation in the community. In terms of style,

Hebdige argues that subcultures explore their fashion choices through bricolage, a technique that adapts fashion looks of the past in ways that give them new meaning

43 Ibid., 103. 44 Ibid., 100-01. 45 Louis Althusser, For Marx (London: Verso, 1969) quoted in Hebdige, Subculture: the Meaning of Style, 12. 25 when placed into a new context. The subculture’s use of consumption also comes into play, as the ideology is expressed through the selection of objects and their associated meanings shared by that subculture. Following Althusser, Hebdige concludes that ideology is an unconscious process that organises subcultures. 46 In burlesque subculture, participants can be placed in categories based on their chosen performance style: classic or neo-burlesque. Both performance styles use similar objects, such as feather fans, corsets and lingerie, but their meanings differ depending on the context of the narrative that the performer constructs with the items. When a subculture has two defining features, both neo-burlesque and classic burlesque, the unconscious ideology holds together the disparate items and their associations.

I contend that this ideology can be twofold. First, the ideology can be the physical act itself: the art of the tease and the removal of one’s clothing. Second, the ideology can also be the subcultural participants’ interactions with each other and their involvement with the greater burlesque community. Subcultural members are influenced by each other’s use of consumption, and they make style decisions based on these interactions.

2.2 Subcultural style and body style

Dick Hebdige and Theresa Winge share similar viewpoints on subcultural style.

Hebdige views subcultures as separate communities formed through their participants’ commonalities, which he refers to as ‘the meaning of style’, while Theresa Winge refers to her viewpoint as ‘body style’. Aligned with Hebdige, Winge contends that all subcultures manifest visual ideologies. 47 However, Winge analyses urban tribal

46 Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, 12. 47 Theresa M. Winge, Body Style (Oxford: Berg, 2012), 1. 26 subcultures through their use of body modifications, such as piercings and scarification.

Her interpretation is informed in part by the work of Hebdige when she contends that

‘the body’s appearance reflects identity, politics, ideology, and lifestyle’, further asserting that ‘the body becomes a representation of a subculture’s visual and material culture and ideology.’48 However, differing from Hebdige, Winge perceives the body and flesh as an important component in the identification of a subculture’s style, and she argues that the way in which the body is styled is as significant as a subculture’s codes on fashion. In comparing Hebdige and Winge’s viewpoints, I contend that the body is not just a carrier of burlesque style expressed in garments; the body itself is a catalyst for defining the subculture. The body therefore is a defining factor in which the creation of subcultural style, not only exists on, by which I mean the tangible items of clothing that dress the body, but also exists in the body, in terms of the unconscious ideology of the individual and their relationship with the subculture and other subcultural members.

In addition to Winge’s view of the role of the body when defining subcultural style, a clear account is needed of the role of the body when defining gender. Feminist theorist

Judith Butler explores this notion in her book Gender Trouble: ‘Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort of being.’49

By this, Butler means that the sex of the body—male, female, or intersex—cannot define gender; rather, it is the repeated involvement with the rituals of gender in a cultural context over a period of time that creates gender identification. Butler’s theory

48 Ibid. 49 Sara Salih and Judith Butler, eds., The Judith Butler Reader, (United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell , 2004), 91. 27 can be applied to burlesque subculture, where participants embody the ideology of gender roles in the subculture in numerous ways. For example, with the increasing number of male participants in burlesque performances, male participants identify their performances as ‘boylesque’ and perform in venues with female burlesque acts. In a subculture that has been built on the female form since its inception, male participants in boylesque share ideologies similar to those of their female counterparts and perform acts involving complex storytelling and the art of the tease.

To assist in understanding a clear definition of gender, postcolonial theorist Sara Salih explores Butler’s theory of gender as performative:

If gender is a ‘doing’ rather than a ‘being’, a verb rather than a noun, it is not an action

that is done by a volitional agent who is free to select her/his gender ‘style’. Instead, the

subject is ‘done’ by gender; it is the effect rather than the cause of a discourse which is

always there first.50

In the case of burlesque, the discourse on gender is the performance itself, and this has enabled both female and male subcultural members to redefine the meaning and perception of femininity and masculinity and to help create new gender roles within burlesque communities. The gender of the body changes its meaning as the flesh becomes pliable in the creation of performances that reflect on gender stereotypes. With boylesque, men are no longer cast as the objectifying observer, and instead become participants in performances that rework aspects of male and female roles, which are traditionally opposed according to Western cultural norms.

50 Ibid. 28

2.3 Style of bricolage

In relation to the burlesque subculture in Sydney between 2010 and 2014, bricolage can be viewed in a number of ways. The appropriation of the style of original burlesque fashion and the adaptation of objects via bricolage, both for stage and within burlesque social settings, enables the creation of different meanings to support the persona/identity of an individual. I contend that close attention to the performativity of gender roles in burlesque reveals how this subculture is creating new interpretations of gender identity and not merely nostalgic re-creations.

When observing burlesque subculture, I find different ideological viewpoints coexisting in the use of bricolage in performative style. For example, some participants who define themselves as classic performers seek inspiration from the nostalgic history of classic burlesque, using bricolage such as feathers, gloves and rhinestones, while others respond directly and creatively to current events by using objects from the past and placing them in a new context. Claire Nally also refers to the style of bricolage when describing the current regeneration of the nostalgic days of burlesque. According to

Nally, ‘Nostalgic desire, the attempt to replicate a prior period of history, or even to model oneself on starlets and performers from the 1920s through to the 1950s, has its roots in retrosexuality.’51 According to the Urban Dictionary, retrosexuality is the adaptation of the lifestyle, fashion and sexual practices of the 1940s—and I would argue

1950s—into the daily lives of women in contemporary society.52 Retrosexuality can be seen in the recent neo-burlesque performance Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In by Rosie

Rivette, in which she creates a 1950s housewife persona (see Figure 16). After returning

51 Nally, “Grrrly Hurly Burly: Neo-Burlesque and the Performance of Gender.” 632. 52 Urban Dictionary Online, s.v. "retrosexual woman," defined by Magnolia Blossom August 9, 2010, accessed September 12 2014, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Retrosexual%20Woman. 29 home from the factory after the end of World War II, Mrs Rivette investigates her newfound independence through sexual exploration. The performance costume features a 1950s fashion silhouette of full skirts, a crinoline, curled hair and pearls. An area of investigation within the case studies, discussed shortly in Chapter three, reflects on the connotations of oppression within burlesque and questions whether burlesque is replication of nostalgic retrosexuality or whether performers develop their own forms of bricolage to create personas for current contexts.

The interpretation of burlesque as a retrograde, demeaning or oppressive practice for women was recently opposed by the producer of the Australian Burlesque Festival,

Priscilla Tonkin. Speaking to The Canberra Times, Tonkin said:

I think it’s a very powerful statement where no one touches you … you’re in control of

what you show and when you show it. Taking off a corset and bra and gloves can be

interpreted as symbolically discarding what society has enforced on us. There are

powerful components to owning sensual energy.53

From the perspective of this thesis, when subcultural participants consciously designs their act (by which I mean their physical movements onstage and their costuming) with the aim of telling a specific story, the body becomes part of the whole rather than a single component. When the body is displayed perfomatively, it limits the indiscriminate interpretation that all performances objectify women for the sole purpose of the sexual arousal of others. Instead, burlesque performers can be understood as the agency in control of the act, deciding the terms of the reveal and projecting how they intend this reveal to be understood. This does not necessarily mean that everyone will understand the ideology of the subculture merely by watching a performance nor that arousal will not be experienced by an observer. My point is that the intention of selected

53 “Seduction,” The Canberra Times, June 4 2011, 2. 30 examples of burlesque are primarily to question and challenge gender roles as prescribed by dominant social conventions, rather than create sexualised content purely for entertainment value.

Another example of bricolage can be seen in the recent adaptation of the merkin.

Originally a wig of pubic hair, the merkin is now used as an additional embellishment in burlesque costume design. The New South Wales licensing laws require performers in venues across Sydney to cover the bikini line; however, they are permitted to reveal their nipples. Further nudity can result in events being shut down and the venue and performer fined for public nudity. The merkin is used to cover the pubic region only and is often only adhered to the body using tape or adhesive.

2.4 Production versus consumption

A defining characteristic of all subcultures is consumption. Hebdige believes that it is what the subcultures do with the objects of consumption that distinguish them from each other and that these objects communicate different messages about each subculture’s lifestyle choices and place in society. Helen Reddington concurs but identifies in Hebdige’s work an absence of recognition of female participants in, for example, the punk subculture of the 1970s. Reddington contends that in scholarly documentation of the time, there is an almost deliberate exclusion of women’s involvement in the creation of punk, including in Hebdige’s work.54 The absence of women is indeed notable in Hebdige’s work on subcultures, in that his only reference to women is the perspective of a male participant’s girlfriend. Reddington investigates

54 Helen Reddington, “‘Lady’ Punks in Bands: A Subculturette?” in The Post-Subcultures Reader, eds. David Muggleton and Rupert Weinzierl (Oxford: Berg, 2003), 239. 31 what she views as the missing elements from discourse on subcultural theory and suggests that several oversights in Hebdige’s original study must be adjusted for in contemporary discourse.

Hebdige tends to simplify subcultures by placing them into distinct categories based on style, class status and geographical location. Reddington disputes the rigidity of these classifications, defining three areas she believes are lacking in Hebdige’s original research. In her view, Hebdige’s fails to include accounts of female creators, such as musicians, who contributed to the creation of subcultures such as punk. The omissions to which Reddington refers include ‘a subculture of production’ in which female participants created their own subcultural objects and ‘micro subcultures’, which

Reddington claims occurred outside the class status and geographical locations on which Hebdige focused. 55 These three areas of female participation observed by

Reddington—creation, subcultural production and micro subcultures—are relevant to this analysis of recent burlesque subculture in Sydney.

First, given that burlesque is constructed by female participants, an account of a range of female creators and performers is included in Chapter 3 of this thesis. There I describe performers’ acts and reflect on their perspectives regarding the gender stereotyping of women in burlesque, their use of bricolage to redefine burlesque performance in a modern context, and the role of their body in the creation of performances and its relation to costuming. My analysis of these burlesque performers includes reflections on the coded critiques of mainstream society that underlie their preferred fashion silhouettes, tattoos, makeup and hairstyles.

55 Ibid., 245-49. 32

Reddington’s second area of interest—the subculture of production—is relevant to burlesque and indeed to my own practice as both a producer of burlesque events and a designer of burlesque costumes. Reddington’s viewpoint is shared with other scholarly researchers. For example, women’s studies professor Doreen Piano agrees that women of the punk movement were under-documented and unacknowledged for their participation in the subculture. Piano approaches subcultural theory from a feminist ideology, which she exemplifies with the ‘riot grrrl’ movement. Two ways in which the riot grrrls were able to recontextualise subcultural practice, and which are relevant to my argument, are the alternate roles they created for women and the way in which they altered the meaning of production and consumption.56 Piano states:

The inroads made by these early feminist punks in creating alternative positions for

women within subcultures, paved the way for the development of sustained feminist

subcultural activities which the riot grrrl movement consolidated, both through its own

communication network and through media attention … riot grrrl helped enact a broad-

based shift of women’s subordinate position within punk subcultures from consumer or

observer to that of producer.57

Piano’s description of the under-documentation of female producers makes the achievements of the riot grrrl subculture all the more profound. By recontextualising women’s roles within punk subculture, riot grrls enabled a generation of women to increase their agency in producing the subculture rather than passively consuming it. In relation to the notion of production and consumption, Piano refers to production as creative practice and emphasises the contributions of women as producers. Piano’s thesis challenges the connotations of the stereotype of masculine domination and

56 Doreen Piano, “Resisting Subjects: DIY Feminism and the Politics of Style in Subcultural Production,” in The Post-Subcultures Reader, eds. David Muggleton and Rupert Weinzierl (Oxford: Berg, 2003), 253. 57 Ibid., 253-4. 33 feminine subordination in some subcultures and echoes my own experiences of burlesque since 2010. I discuss the themes of production involved in the bricolage in my costume designs in Chapter 4, where I focus on the creation of garments that give new expression to the persona of the burlesque performer and highlight the productive capacities of a number of women involved in burlesque.

Reddington’s third area of interest—micro subcultures—is also pertinent to my research on burlesque. While Australian urban centres such as Sydney and Melbourne each have a burlesque industry, each is customised to suit its geographical location. For example, burlesque clothing in the two cities varies according to the specific urban environment.

An example of this can be seen in the rockabilly and burlesque Australian fashion label

Route 66. Route 66 originated in Melbourne before opening a Sydney store on Crown

Street, Darlinghurst, in the 1980s. Before the recent closure of the Melbourne store, the clothing ranges available in the two cities differed significantly. This was due to the commitment of Route 66 to support the local designers in each city. Second, micro subcultures can be viewed as the formation of subcultures configured from a central community. By this, I refer to the intersections between different generations of burlesque performers and the invisible hierarchies that have formed over the years among them. It is also important to note that multiple strands of micro subcultures are formed through performance style and preference, such as classic and neo-burlesque, as well as political performances, and others that rely heavily on fetishism, such as bondage, in the forms of bricolage.

2.5 Subcultural ideology

Finally, Hebdige discusses the way in which clothing choices are made based on available finances, working life, personal aesthetics and taste, and the significance of the available resources to the wearer. The decisions that the wearer makes when choosing their personal style fit within the ‘codes and practices’ of the subcultural context, discussed earlier in this chapter.58

In contrast to Hebdige’s analysis, burlesque writer Jacki Willson challenges the stereotype placed on women through visual representation. In her words, ‘Yes some images do degrade, but this should not prevent women from being able to represent their experience as sexual beings.’59 The visual representation of women could be considered offensive in burlesque, when the performance is designed solely for a male audience and when its purpose is to represent a woman in a degrading situation without control. Both of these characteristics can be seen in the work of Dita Von Teese, arguably the most identifiable burlesque performer of the twenty-first century. In 2006,

Von Teese released a book divided into two. One half is titled Burlesque and the Art of the Teese; the other half, accessible by flipping the book over, is titled Fetish and the

Art of the Teese.60 In the first half, Von Teese focuses on the showgirl aesthetic of burlesque performance with visual documentation of her elaborate costuming. As

Waddell states, ‘Von Teese raises the awareness of gender performativity via feminine excess.’ 61 Further explaining that Von Teese achieves this through the nostalgic

58 Hebdige, Subculture; the Meaning of Style, 100. 59 Jacki Wilson, The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics of the New Burlesque (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2008), 55. 60 Dita Von Teese and Bronwyn Garrity, Burlesque and the Art of the Teese / Fetish and the Art of the Teese (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2006). 61 Waddell, "Trickster-infused Burlesque: gender play in the betwixt and between." 104. 35 representation of the 1950’s pinup aesthetic62 or as I conclude the recreation of the classic burlesque persona. In the first half, Von Teese is shown wearing a traditional corset with suspender belts and a bra, both heavily embellished with embroidery and rhinestones. She holds pale-blue ostrich-feather fans and her thigh-high stockings are embellished to match her corset. This look is identifiable as a classic burlesque costume

(see Figure 17). 63

The second half of Von Teese’s book, as its title would suggest, is highly sexualised, showing her in both dominant and subordinate role-plays. For example, in one image,

Von Teese is shown tied up in bondage ropes, her facial expression one of distress (see

Figure 18). Her hair, makeup and costuming is stylised—curled hair, red lipstick, a corset and thigh-high stockings—but the overall message of the image is very different from the classic burlesque image in the first part described above. The classic burlesque image is glamorous and exuberant, whereas the other is sexualised and demeaning in its representation of women as subjugated. Both images are created by the same performer but not necessarily for the same audience, and both are created to receive different outcomes from the viewer. Of particular interest to this thesis is the fact that she purposely distinguishes the two aspects of her Dita Von Teese persona.

The two role-plays by Von Teese illustrate in part what social science and art historian

Claire Nally’s calls the ‘Madonna/whore dichotomy’ in the division of roles available to women in much popular culture. Nally describes the limited roles available to women and argues that the female persona is only available in two forms. She refers to a newspaper article that describes the resurgence of burlesque-inspired fashion, as seen on

62 Ibid. 63 Ibid., 43. 36 the catwalks and in mainstream fashion adaptations. Nally describes the current fashion options for women as either smocks typically worn to religious rituals, such as a child’s christening, or clothing that accentuates the female form. 64 She argues that the

‘juxtaposition of the infantile and the tease is a clear replication of the Madonna/whore dichotomy’.65 By this, she means that the gender-role stereotypes available to women limit women’s opportunities; if women dress flamboyantly they are considered whores, and if they dress modestly they must be moral citizens. Women are thus reduced to being either ‘completely moral’ or ‘completely immoral’. That a woman can be a combination of both is what my research seeks to elucidate in the context of burlesque performance. The very premise of the Madonna/whore dichotomy as evidenced in the two images of Dita Von Teese discussed above is, I suggest, key to burlesque performances. From the perspective of this thesis, burlesque artists tactically create personas in the micro subculture of the burlesque scene to question gender roles that reduce women to caricatures of the Madonna or the whore.

Extending the Madonna/whore dichotomy further, Nally implicitly takes up the issues of degradation raised by Willson and, in a similar way to Hebdige, argues that a subculture should be evaluated in context. In her article ‘Grrrly Hurly Burly: Neo

Burlesque and the Performance of Gender’, Nally defines her perspective as

‘postfeminist’, in that she explores the contradictions in second-wave feminism and aims to investigate what she calls ‘a situated critique which is part of and influenced by feminism’, while also ‘reconsider[ing] feminist tenets’.66 From this perspective, she contends that the meanings of burlesque performance and its fashions cannot be

64 Nally, "Grrrly Hurly Burly: Neo-Burlesque and the Performance of Gender." 621. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibid. 37 interpreted by mainstream adaptations because they misrepresent the values and codes in use in the subculture. While mainstream brands, such as Victoria’s Secret, adopt basic fashion elements of burlesque, such as feather boas, pasties, seamed stockings and corsets, they have transformed them into nothing more than a costume for living out a sexual fantasy.67 When removed from their original context, these items of clothing and their associated meanings are employed to emphasise sexuality, resulting in burlesque subcultural participants seeing the meaning of these objects devalued and overtly sexualised.

2.6 Conclusion

In the following case studies, I apply aspects of Hebdige’s original analysis of subcultural style supplemented with recent commentary on burlesque style and its meanings according to Reddington, Winge and Nally. In the next chapter, I provide an account of selected burlesque performers, and I interpret their costumes in terms of the ways in which they challenge and adapt female gender stereotypes according to the themes outlined discussed in this thesis, including bricolage, production versus consumption, and subcultural style.

67 Ibid., 622. 38

3 CASE STUDIES and ANALYSIS

3.1 Defining the case studies and their significance

This chapter describes the case studies of selected performances and interprets their refutation of female gender stereotypes in burlesque. The case studies are based on descriptions of selected costumes and performances by four participants of the burlesque scene in Sydney, interviews with the participants about their understandings of their performances and costumes, and reflections on the coded practices the acts and costumes express when viewed through the lens of theories of subcultures by Hebdige and his interlocutors. The aim of this chapter is to tease out the implicit critiques of gender stereotypes available to women through these burlesque performances and costumes and to identify key themes that informed my research-led practice, which comprised the design and construction of performance garments, described in the next chapter. As discussed in the Introduction, the case-study participants were selected because of their current participation as members of the burlesque subculture performing within Sydney and their individual performance styles broadly representative of contemporary burlesque.

The research interviews with case-study participants, and the use of photographic imagery as supporting documentation of burlesque subculture, received approval from the Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel B Arts, Humanities and Law, number 12

158.68

68 See Appendix A for formal notification. 39

3.2 Limitations

The case studies, based on my analysis of close descriptions and visual documentation of selected costumes and performances and my interviews with participants, are framed by the theories put forward by Dick Hebdige, Claire Nally, Helen Reddington and

Theresa Winge (see Chapter 2). The practice based focus of this research means that I explore the meanings made by selected burlesque performers about the objectification of women’s body in burlesque acts. As noted by performer Kaitlyn Regehr, research on striptease and burlesque are commonly preoccupied with the problematic of sexual display and histories of female objectification.69 Rarely are these studies engaged with the views of burlesque performers as I have sought to undertake in this thesis. It is also important to note that in some feminist discussion on neo-burlesque, questions remain about the potential for sexual liberation of garments associated with lingerie, such as garters and corsets, despite the critical stance of much neo-burlesque performance.

Space constraints do not permit an in-depth discussion of how burlesque can be contextualised across varying scholarly research areas. For analysis of the topic in these terms see Kay Siebler 70 As this research focuses on the burlesque subculture in Sydney during 2010-2015, with case studies conducted with four participating performers, the interview responses and subsequent analysis does not represent the full spectrum of opinion or debates on this subject. The opinions shared by the case study participants may not represent a comprehensive analysis of viewpoints of other members of the greater burlesque subculture, both in Sydney and abroad.

69 Regehr, "The Rise of Recreational Burlesque: Bumping and Grinding Towards Empowerment."136. 70 Kay Siebler. “What’s so feminist about garters and bustiers? Neo-burlesque as post-feminist sexual liberation,” Journal of Gender Studies (2014): 1-13. 40

A second qualification I would like to make is that as the greater burlesque community in Sydney is larger than the scope of my research, I comment only on my direct interaction with the subculture and the case-study participants’ burlesque performances and interviews to which I had access.71 A third observation of the scope of the research is that as my position within the subculture is one of producer, not performer, I do not have firsthand experience of performing burlesque on stage. I have overcome this limitation, first, by working closely with my case-study participants to document their experiences within the subculture and, second, by drawing on my perspectives as a viewer of performances over the past eight years.

3.3 Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In and performing gender

The first persona I discuss is that of Rosie Rivette, who has performed within the burlesque subculture since 2011. Her work satirises the connotations of glamour in burlesque via her comedic representation of female gender roles that play on the tensions between decorum and sexiness in traditional perceptions of beauty. Her

72 persona was inspired by Rosie the Riveter (see Figure 19), a character created by

Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in the United States in 1942 and displayed on an advertising poster to encourage women who were already working in their factories during World War II to remain in their positions during the war years.73

Much scholarly debate has surrounded this image because in recent years it has become a symbol of feminism and girl power. However, the image was not as widespread as

71 This is governed by the principles of the Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel B Arts, Humanities and Law. 72 Gwen Sharp and Lisa Wade, “Sociological Images: Secrets of a Feminist Icon,” Contexts 10, no. 2 (2011): 82. 73 James J. Kimble and Lester C. Olson, “Visual Rhetoric Representing Rosie the Riveter: Myth and Misconception in J. Howard Miller’s ‘We Can Do It!’ Poster,” in Rhetoric & Public Affairs 9, no. 4 (2006): 534–35. 41 commonly perceived; in fact, the Westinghouse Company only displayed the image internally and did not use it for commercial promotion as is often believed.74 In a headscarf and blue work shirt with rolled-up sleeves, Rosie the Riveter has become a symbol of women’s empowerment and an icon of popular culture. The burlesque performer Rosie Rivette has modelled her persona, both physically and metaphorically on that of her namesake (see Figure 20). As with all case-study participants in this study, I refer to Rosie by her alias.

Like that of her namesake, questions can be asked about the intended meaning attached to Rosie Rivette’s created persona. Rosie does not reproduce stereotypes; instead, she aims to break ‘them. Her acts challenge audience expectations that the purpose of burlesque is glamorous sexual titillation and what Rosie describes as ‘submitting to a stereotype or objectification’. Rosie’s use of comedy is exemplified in routines such as

Purple Mambo (2012), an act that contrasts the self-consciousness of burlesque with the ridiculous (see Figure 21). As gender-studies scholar Annie Blanchette notes in her observations of the Canadian neo-burlesque scene, ‘Absurd humour is often used as the basic, justifying narrative for neo-burlesque striptease routine.’75 This absurd humour, with its over exaggerated movements to create comedic valve, is a signifier in Rosie’s performances. In Purple Mambo, Rosie glides onstage dressed in a purple sequined floor-length gown while dancing the mambo, a Latin dance traditionally performed by a male and female pair, characterised by its fast footwork and the dancers’ sexy movements, dictated by the beat of the music. At the changing of musical beats, Rosie shifts between sultry moves and aggressive pelvic thrusting, creating both the masculine and the feminine aspects of the traditional dance and representing both the male and

74 Sharp and Wade, “Sociological Images: Secrets of a Feminist Icon.” 82–83. 75 Blanchette, “Revisiting the “passée”: history rewriting in the neo-burlesque community.” 172. 42 female on the stage. This contrast is also seen in her routine of Mrs Rivette, which juxtaposes glamour with domesticity. By showing the multiple layers of a character in her performances, Rosie’s acts encourage the audience to question preconceived notions and highlight many aspects of gendered roles.

Rosie recently explored her appropriation of Rosie the Riveter as an emblem evoking the empowerment of women. In her one-woman show titled Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night

In, which was included in the Sydney Fringe Festival in September 2014, she presented the creation Mrs Rivette, an exaggerated representation of a mid-twentieth-century housewife. In the opening scene of the show, Mrs Rivette is introduced as a woman who spends her days alone baking cookies. The inference is that as she has lost her husband in a freak accident when he fell into a pasta-making machine at Luigi’s Buenos

Pasta Factory, her cookies will remain uneaten. This introduction sets the tone of her created persona, and Mrs Rivette appears onstage dressed in a 1950s fashion silhouette, with a high-waisted flared skirt, a white fitted shirt, a set of pearls with vintage cat-eye glasses and a curled grey wig (see Figure 22). To recover from the loss of her husband and a sense of helplessness, her character experiments with her sexuality and is motivated by the ghost of her husband, who apparently communicates with her through her radio. For example, he encourages her to masturbate with everyday household objects, such as a rubber ducky and a pearl necklace. In one scenario, Mrs Rivette auditions for a burlesque show, having never done so before (see Figures 23 and 24). As her character tries to striptease to the song ‘Chick Habit’ by April March, interlaced with snippets from Bettie Page in ‘Teaserama’, her awkward movements shift between embarrassment and delight, which causes the audience to laugh. Wearing a costume of old-fashioned underwear, including high-waisted beige underpants and a dowdy stretch-

43 cotton bra, Mrs Rivette is far from the ideal of burlesque glamour. The frumpiness of the character is foregrounded when, rather than flinging her garments into the audience after she removes them, she stops and folds them neatly before placing them on a chair.

Rosie understands her created personas as reminiscent of glamorous showgirls and influenced by the comedic female impersonator Barry Humphries perform Dame Edna

Everage. Theatre researcher Anne Pender describes Barry Humphries as, ‘among the most influential male to female burlesque entertainers of our time,’ and

‘Humphries…provided an extended satirical attack on a range of targets and defined an

76 era of peculiarly Australian burlesque.’ While her performances and costumes recall many aspects of showgirl theatre, including sequined and beaded corsets, ostrich-feather fans and oversized headpieces, the influence of the Barry Humphries character Dame

Edna, often dressed in beaded and embellished garments and wearing her signature stylised purple wig, is evident in Rosie’s drag representation of a housewife, whose costuming also echoes showgirl attire. Rosie’s satirical representation of the housewife can also be aligned with Humphries representations of the British royal family as well as politician Margaret Thatcher. Pender also refers to this, commenting that, “through

Edna, Humphries has burlesqued the symbols of the British Empire,” 77 One can conclude that by placing Humphries in the realm of burlesque subculture he has been able to glamorise conservative traditions and has used this glamorisation as a tool for self promotion.

76 Anne Pender, "Eat, Pray, Laugh!: Barry Humphries, Reg Livermore and cross-dressed Australian Burlesque." Australasian Drama Studies 63 (October 2013): 69. 77 Ibid., 70. 44

For Rosie, the humour that is evident in Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In and Purple

Mambo is a pivotal part of how she creates her shows. She cites Dame Edna as an important influence in her creation of Mrs Rivette. Dame Edna is a man playing a woman in drag, and I contend that Rosie is a woman, dressed as a man would dress in drag if playing a woman. Her ability to portray a woman as she imagines a man would do not only adds humour but also takes back control of the female form and expresses the discordances she sees between various gender performativities.

Each of the case studies discussed here deploy bricolage as defined by Hebdige in that they adapt objects of production and consumption from past and present to create a subcultural style. An extension of thought related the bricolage has been discussed by

Blanchette where she states, “Neo-burlesque retro masquerade can thus be seen as an opportunity for bricolage, where objects and gestures belonging to different temporal spaces are assembled, substituted or displaced in the conventional frame, or order of the feminine performance.78 Here she sees movement and gestures as a form of bricolage, alongside objects, that help to define femininity within a performance. The four burlesque case-study participants apply bricolage not only to communicate a story through their performance on stage but also to create the costuming they wear on stage during their performances. I see Rosie’s act as related to gender performativity as discussed by feminist theorist Judy Butler when she proposes that it is the repetition of acts while taking part in everyday gendered rituals, such as styles of walking, sitting and eating that create gender rather than the sex of the body. Rosie reflects on gender stereotypes in her performance by representing prim hyperfemininity from the 1950s,

78 Blanchette, “Revisiting the “passée”: history rewriting in the neo-burlesque community.” 171. 45 through pristine makeup, clothing cinched at the waist with a full skirt and the assertion that a woman’s place is in the home, by her (dead) husband’s side.

At first glance, Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In could be interpreted as a depiction of the frustration experienced by women who had joined the workforce during World War II returned home to work as housewives after the war ended. In light of Rosie’s references to Dame Edna Everage, I see her performance as questioning stereotypes about gender and in particular women’s sexual behaviour and the social conventions that govern it. In addition to Rosie’s own comments about the influences on her performances, I interpret

Rosie’s exploration of the social conventions surrounding marriage as informed by the television show ‘I Love Lucy’, Lucille Ball’s comedy about marriage, the show itself based on a vaudeville act with her Cuban husband and collaborator Desi Arnaz. Lucille

Ball’s influence can be seen in Rosie’s use of physical comedy and her ability to appear straight laced while her actions imply an avid interest in sex.

3.4 Bella Louche, the MacGuffin and body style

Like Rosie, Bella Louche has performed in burlesque since 2011, and she too juxtaposes comedy with glamour. The difference between the two performers is that

Bella raises questions about beauty as defined in current media and, for that matter, in the subculture itself. Figure 25 shows the quirky nature of her performances, in that her occasionally grimacing facial expressions often contradict other more-delicate aspects of her appearance. Bella often first appears on stage in classic burlesque style, but as her performance progresses she flips her character into a wider social context, providing a broader perspective on women’s roles. Her shows draw on her training in performance and production, with elaborate costume development. 46

The example of Bella’s work I discussed in Chapter 2, Gone with the Wind, explores, for example, underlying themes in the movie that are not highlighted in the plot, such as the carnage and brutality of death as well as the role that money plays in war. Referring to the wider context of women’s social roles contrasts the ideal woman, and her preoccupation with sensual delight, with the stark social realities in which she operates.

Another act by Bella, Booty Swing (2014), extends her exploration of the complexities of gender and context. In this work, she references flapper girls of films from the 1920s and explores how their characters where allowed to be shown on the screen. Bella’s costuming and makeup replicates the distinguishing features of a flapper showgirl; a large feather headpiece with pearl-bead detailing, dark smoky eyeshadow, dark-red lipstick, a straight fashion silhouette with the skirt made from long white fringing draping from a lace and satin chemise (see Figure 26). In Hollywood films, flappers would often start out free-spirited, enjoying drinking and smoking in bars, the inference being that they upheld a liberal sexual morals.79 However, the films would often end with the main female character (a flapper) seeing the error of her ways and leaving partying behind, often for a husband. Additionally, comedy was perceived as an important feature of the flapper girl. As Sara Ross suggests, ‘Comedies concerning modern girls eased the threat of the representation of them as sexual beings by making light of and/or satirizing their behaviour.’80 Bella does exactly this, by creating a satire of flapper girls in films, flipping the typical narrative arc to commencing with more- discreet habits and becoming sexualised as the performance develops. The act is

79 Sara Ross, “‘Good Little Bad Girls’: Controversy and the Flapper Comedienne,” Film History 13, no. 4 (2001): 409. 80 Ibid. 47 accompanied by an electro-swing soundtrack with the same name as the act, Booty

Swing, by Parov Stelar, which combines classic jazz tunes with DJ house music. The opening of the track is crackly as if it were an old vinyl recording, and the music evokes the style of a big band with a female vocalist—a popular musical genre of the 1920s. As the tempo increases, Bella’s persona changes. At first, Bella performs a traditional flapper dance, the Charleston; then she discards her skirt. When the music changes and the tempo increases, she thrusts her hips and points to her crotch (see Figure 27), with sharp, erratic moves and aggressive if not angry facial expressions. The importance of facial expressions in relation to the movement of the body is exemplified in dance scholar Sherril Dodd’s research on facial choreography where she concludes that,

Facial expression works performatively to enunciate symbolic structures of

gender, sexuality, race, and class and facial features “choreograph” meanings that

are legible only through close attention to their cultural codes, social context,

historical specificity, and generic performance conventions.81

By this she means that the face cannot be separated from the body when defining meaning within a performance. In this instance Bella’s facial expressions during the start of her act help to define the tone of the number and her representation of a traditional flapper girl of the 1920s. Transforming herself into a sexualised woman through hip thrusts and aggressive facial movements in the second half of the act is surprising.

The last sequence of the number sees Bella strip down to pasties with nipple tassels. As she shimmies to twirl the tassels, Bella lowers herself to the floor until she is down on her knees with her back on the ground (see Figures 28 and 29). Bella continues to

81 Dodds, "The Choreographic Interface: Dancing Facial Expression in Hip-Hop and Neo-Burlesque Striptease,” Dance Research Journal 46, no. 2 (2014): 46.

48 aggressively thrust her hips in the air until the end of the song. Unlike the movies on which Bella has based her performance, she does not see the errors of her ways and reform. Instead, she chooses to continue exploring liberal sexual morals. This is in contrast to the thrusting seen in Rosie Rivette’s act Purple Mambo, where she raises questions about gender by creating a persona with both masculine and feminine attributes. In my view, Bella is representing the potential of a wider range of choices for women outside the Madonna/whore dichotomy.

Bella explains her interest in burlesque as the result of a medical condition, scoliosis, which required her to wear a girdle to help strengthen her back. When researching the girdle, Bella discovered the corset in contemporary times. Her research led to a fascination with the movie stars of 1940s Hollywood: women such as Mary Astor in

The Maltese Falcon (1941), Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep (1946), Rita Hayworth in

Gilda (1946) and Greer Garson in Mrs Miniver (1942). At the same time, slapstick by

Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges and most recently Rowan

Atkinson intrigued her. Bella’s consideration of the underside of glamour, combined with slapstick, is one of the defining features of her onstage persona. As Bella says, ‘It surprises people and makes them question things.’

In describing her performances as ‘uber-glamorous one moment, horrifying the next’,

Bella accurately summarises their impact on audiences. Bella’s bricolage (described above regarding her routines Gone With The Wind and Booty Swing) is based on her combination of slapstick and glamour. An example of her multifaceted approach can be seen in the initial stage of creating her persona for burlesque:

Well, I’ll look at something French, something feminine, even though that’s not me a

lot of the time. And I was a bit obsessed with absinthe at the time. And there’s a term in

the absinthe world called ‘louche’, which is when you drop ice water into green

absinthe it turns white. The wormwood reacting with water or something, and it means

‘shady’. So I was like, oh, maybe I could have a name that means something like

beautiful and shady.

Bella’s onstage narrative of the glamorous and the unglamorous can be understood in terms of her earliest forms of bricolage, when she associated a medical device, the girdle she was required to wear at a young age, with a corset. Bella’s skill in creating evocative associations extends to the characters and performances she creates for the stage. For Bella, the narratives of her performances are multi-dimensional, forming a structure for each act.

Bella’s emphasis on storytelling guides her in the creation of her performances and characters for the stage. While this, in part, is a result of the skills she gained in her study of performance and production, her ideas speak more of her need to create something new within the codes and practices of burlesque. I interpret Bella’s understanding of burlesque as fitting within Hebdige’s account of bricolage and

Winge’s analysis of body style. As discussed in Chapter 2, Winge perceives the body as pivotal to the definition of subcultural style. In this sense, Bella physically conveys her storytelling; she does not distinguish the body from the story when creating her routines. Bella’s bricolage relies heavily on historical representations of gender in film.

By combining these two areas—history and gendered body awareness—Bella redefines how women can be represented. Instead of reproducing gender stereotypes, Bella applies bricolage to show these stereotypes in a more realistic light. In both Gone with the Wind and Booty Swing, Bella represents women as they were originally portrayed in 50 film, then using her body as a platform, she represents them as women who may have, in reality, experienced such situations.

A key aspect of Bella’s performance is her emphasis on the contextual background of gender roles. I interpret this as adding a level of engagement by questioning gender stereotypes via burlesque. Her act Gone with the Wind points to war, while Booty Swing evokes the contradictions that women experienced when they attained greater independence yet remained constrained by moral codes of behaviour. From the perspective of this thesis, the burlesque sexiness of Bella’s performances are a

‘MacGuffin’, a term—made famous by Alfred Hitchcock—that describes an object or plot line in a film that is introduced at the start of the story and is pursued throughout, although it transpires that it has little to do with the film’s narrative resolution, leaving the audience wondering about its significance to the storyline. 82 Bella describes the film

The Maltese Falcon (1941) as one of her main creative influences—for its leading lady,

Mary Aster, as well as its featured MacGuffin. In relation to Bella and her performance style, her body is a MacGuffin in the sense that without the almost-naked body and the removal of clothing, there is no burlesque performance. The art of the tease is how Bella entices the viewer to engage with her created character. As the act continues, the narrative she portrays becomes more important than the removal of clothing. One cannot transpire without the other, but the message of the performance is what is most important, not the flesh of the body. The MacGuffin—the art of the tease—is a catalyst, a way to engage an audience, encourage them to challenge preconceptions and follow the storyline to the very end.

82 Mike Digou, “Hitchcock’s MacGuffin in the Works of David Mamet,” Literature Film Quarterly 31, no. 4 (2003): 270–72. 51

3.5 Memphis Mae: a punk interpretation of burlesque production

In contrast to Rosie Rivette’s burlesque comedies about glamour and Bella Louche’s thoughtful contextualisation of the social roles available to women, Memphis Mae creates a bricolage of punk and burlesque. Of all the case studies in this research,

Memphis Mae’s neo-burlesque shows are the most disruptive to burlesque’s traditions and conventions. Despite Memphis Mae’s innovative punk burlesque performances, in

2014 she was crowned Miss Burlesque New South Wales and was third runner-up in

Miss Burlesque Australia in 2014. Her solo and collaborative performances frequently refer to popular culture with acts titled Hipster, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Facebook, as well as the show described in Chapter 2, Channelling Coco. Here I initially focus on her performance Army of Mae (2014) because it vividly demonstrates her punk critique of gender stereotypes via burlesque performance. I then describe her act Let It Rain

(2014) which explores a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos.

Army of Mae opens with Memphis marching onstage with two male backup dancers. To a staccato sound track that has little resonance with sultry music more often associated with burlesque, Memphis and her backup dancers march in costumes reminiscent of those worn by Russian Cossack soldiers in the late 1800s. Memphis wears a white suit embellished with rhinestones, a white fur hat modelled on a Russian trooper hat, but the key feature of her outfit is a gas mask covered in crystals (see Figure 30). The two backup dancers are also dressed in Russian-inspired military-style apparel, but in a shade of blue, and they also wear gas masks.

As the routine continues, Memphis removes her trousers and jacket and performs marching dance movements in synchronisation with a male performer on either side of

52 the stage (see Figures 31 and 32). Towards the end of the number, her backup dancers bring a large box onstage. Memphis steps onto the box and continues marching, and it becomes apparent that it is a walking machine. As she marches on the ‘treadmill’, the backup dancers, using fire extinguishers, spray white dust from a fire extinguisher around Memphis and into the crowd. Memphis continues stomping on the treadmill, marching her way out of the simulated smoke, resulting in a dramatic ending to her performance.

According to Mae, the war that Memphis is fighting in Army of Mae is twofold: her place within the burlesque subculture and her view of herself as an underdog. Both are related to the casual way in which she became involved in burlesque, and her punk- influenced DIY approach to performance. Unlike the other case studies in this research,

Memphis makes her own costuming and does not purchase custom-made pieces from costume designers. While Memphis’s explorations of the boundaries of burlesque and her stage antics are popular, her subject matter and self-styled attire has made it more difficult to identify Memphis within the codes of practice within burlesque subculture.

This can be related to Reddington’s work, where she discusses selected female punk creative producers who were neglected in many historical accounts of punk because they did not fit in with the stereotype of the subculture; for instance, they may not have worn their hair in a Mohawk.83

An example of a Memphis performance that does not fit burlesque conventions but instead pushes the burlesque codes of practice is her act Let it Rain (see Figure 33). This performance is still influenced by the nostalgia of burlesque, with costume details such

83 Reddington, “‘Lady’ Punks in Bands: A Subculturette?” 249. 53 as a rhinestone-and-crystal under-bust bra with a crystallised G-string and pasties.

However, it is other objects of bricolage that have helped Memphis redefine classic burlesque: an LED84 umbrella and her creation of a rain machine for the stage. The act appears to be influenced by film noir of the 1950s: her use of dark lighting while onstage and her lingerie-inspired costume at the start of the number. These elements help to create a sexually charged and moody scene. As Memphis starts to remove pieces of clothing the stage becomes darker, and as she heads towards the rain machine, the construction starts to mimic a rainstorm, and the background music changes to the sounds of falling rain. In one version of this performance, Memphis is holding an LED- lit umbrella, and she holds it over her head while the rain comes down. A black stage, a dimmed backlight and the umbrella of LED lights emphasise her silhouette. Figure 34 shows Memphis’s most recent performance of Let It Rain for Miss Burlesque Australia

2014, where she omitted the umbrella and instead chose to stand under the rain allowing the light to reflect off the water running down her skin. This dramatic and visually evocative act is a classic burlesque number, but due to its subject matter and large-scale props, her work is not easily definable within current burlesque performance categories.

Apart from making her own costumes, another difference between Memphis Mae and the other case studies discussed here is that Memphis has had no training in performance or dance. Her involvement in the subculture resulted from her attendance at burlesque events across Sydney and the influence of Sydney-based performer Lillian

Star. Memphis recalls the influence of Lillian’s work ethic on her own performance ethos:

84 LED, standing for ‘Light Emitting Diode’, is a form of energy efficient lighting that converts electricity into lighting. LED are available in small globes, which allow for them to be run from a battery pack, making them portable and able to be sewn into a costume. 54

She will never half-arse anything. She’ll do a gig in front of, like, five people, and she’ll

do full-body make-up and she never just goes, oh there’s only five people here; I’ll just

wing it. She’s rehearsed, she’s well dressed, and just everything is always perfect. And

that’s how it should be.

Memphis defines her style as ‘all over the shop’. Her list of influences is less defined than Rosie’s and Bella’s, and the varied bricolage can be seen in the array of subject matter she addresses within her performances. In her exploration of women’s gender roles, she experimented with hippy, emo, hardcore gothic and rave culture before her current bricolage of burlesque and punk. In my interview with Memphis, she raised the issue of factions in the burlesque community, claiming she distances herself from the negative commentary often found in creative pursuits:

There’s so much negative stuff in the burlesque community in terms of just people

being bitchy, and people stealing costumes and songs and ideas … but if you push all

that away, it’s amazing.

Memphis’s acknowledgement that factions operate in burlesque subculture is worth noting because it is evidence that even within a small community such as burlesque there is a level of competition within the unconscious ideology of its members. This relates to the gaps that Reddington perceives in Hebdige’s theory—that is, that within a subculture, micro subcultures are formed.85 Reddington argues that micro subcultures form outside the boundaries of class status and subcultural stereotypes. However, I contend that within burlesque, there are many instances of unconscious performance ranking. That is, there are distinct divisions between the older and more-established generation of performers and the younger generation of performers, as well as the

85 Reddington, “‘Lady’ Punks in Bands: A Subculturette?” 246. 55 divisions between classic burlesque and neo-burlesque performers.86 With each new generation of burlesque, more of the established participants claim ownership of particular routines and the way in which these routines should be performed and where.

These unwritten codes of practice create factions in the burlesque community, with established performers dominating the scene and making it difficult at times for younger members to explore burlesque as creative expression. A second instance of micro- subcultures within burlesque can be aligned with research by Professor of Theatre

Studies, Geraldine Harris and her observations of the mainstreaming and commercial approach that is taken with some DIY burlesque performances or events. Harris states,

‘while there is some separation of sub genres according to venue, in many shows

‘commercial’ pastiche still appears alongside ‘alternative’ circus, drag, queer and feminist burlesque. In fact, a ‘mix’ of sub genres has become part of the ‘formula.’87

This formula has been seen extensively across venues in Sydney and can be directly related to Miss Burlesque Australia, where participants perform both a classic and neo- burlesque number in their bid to win the crown.

I see performances such as Army of Mae as a response to the factions in Sydney burlesque. A distinguishing feature in Memphis’s work, in general, is her bricolage of punk sensibility and her DIY approach to costuming and sets. While all of the selected case studies employ bricolage, Memphis’s approach is more raw and, with the exception of Channelling Coco, less grounded in historical reference. While Memphis

86 Note: This division or factions can be seen within the Canadian burlesque subculture as discussed in Adrianna Disman, “The Politics of Burlesque: A Dialogue Among Dancers." Canadian Theatre Review 158, (2014): s1-s16. In which the author asked fourteen performers for a brief statement on their performance style and involvement within the subculture as a whole. 87 Geraldine Harris, “The Ghosts of New burlesque,” in A good night out for the girls: popular feminisms in contemporary theatre and performance, by Elaine Aston and Geraldine Harris (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 145.

56 relies less on historical codes than do the other case studies discussed in this thesis, her work does question the representation of women and the notion of female empowerment. In reference to the DIY movement in feminist discourse, Piano argues that not all feminist groups (for example due to class or ethnicity) were as actively engaged as others. 88 This can be related to the power relationships between the dominant marginal, or vulnerable, subcultural groups. Piano’s argument is relevant to

Memphis in that Memphis’s work is an example of the creation of a micro subculture within a subculture. Army of Mae is a response to the more-established generations of burlesque performers excluding younger generations rather than coexisting as a diverse community focused on burlesque as an art form. Similar to the way in which DIY feminists unintentionally created practices that excluded members of their subculture despite the inclusive principles for which they fought, burlesque traditions can be constraining and, at times, exclusive. This can also be seen in feminist theorist Angela

McRobbie’s discussion on consumption and production, in which she feels the omission of different class categories and ethnic groups included in scholarly research on women who consume and produce fashion has been of detriment to the field. She states “these omissions contribute to a sense that ‘we’ can indeed all consume.”89 McRobbie further discusses that the opportunity for ‘all’ to consume did and does not exist due to factors such as personal income and class status. The notion of the equal does not exist, even when discussed in feminist theory. It is this aspect of the micro subcultures of burlesque to which Memphis’s DIY approach in Army of Mae responds.

88 Piano, "Resisting Subjects: Diy Feminism and the Politics of Style in Subcultural Production." 256. 89 Angela McRobbie, “Bridging the gap: Feminism, Fashion and Consumption.” Feminist Review 55 (Spring 1997): 73-74.

Key criteria for defining a subculture are their engagement with production and consumption and the way in which their bricolage of a range of themes, costumes and performances ultimately redefines objects of consumption to create a style relevant to the subcultural codes of practice. Three of the four case-study performers have increased the opportunities for the burlesque subculture to develop by establishing their own production companies. Given Reddington’s observation that early theories of subcultures neglected to acknowledge the female participants in punk, it is important to note that burlesque women are deeply engaged in production and consumption. Rosie, for example, described her aspirations to explore comedy while continuing to participate in burlesque. By combining comedy with her skills in character development and creative writing, Rosie is creating a new platform for women’s performance.

Whereas Rosie is explicitly exploring the field of comedy, Memphis uses production in her role as MC and producer, in collaboration with Bella Louche, of her own monthly events at Mr Falcons Presents Burlesque. As ‘Per-verse Productions’, Memphis and

Bella run large-scale events including the 2014 event Naked Monster (see Figure 35).

These production models can be interpreted as strategies to enlarge the discourse of burlesque.

3.6 Bunni Lambada: gender blending, bricolage and dichotomies

In contrast to the slapstick vaudeville of Rosie Rivette, the expansion of gender roles in their wider social context by Bella Louche and the punk burlesque bricolage of

Memphis Mae, Bunni Lambada’s lavish custom-made costumes make her immediately recognisable as a classic burlesque performer. By day, Bunni works as a solicitor focusing on crimes against women, and by night she performs burlesque acts that express potent objections to the overly prescriptive and narrow definitions of roles

58 available to women. Bunni’s innovation in the Sydney burlesque scene is her incorporation of masculine attributes, as seen in her persona as a ringmaster (see Figure

36). Bunni created this character for the show Step Right Up, in which she based her persona on a circus ringmaster, a role traditionally held by a man. For example, during its 134-year history, 31 men and zero women presided as ringmaster in the American

‘Ringling Bros. Greatest Show on Earth’.90 Bunni frequently displays both feminine and masculine characteristics in her persona’s costuming. The feminine components of her ringmaster costume include a black satin playsuit with a sweetheart neckline and black fringing with crystal detailing along the panty line. The masculine components include a black top hat, black satin tailcoat and, most notably, a large black moustache. Her juxtaposition of feminine and masculine attributes brings gender into question.

Bunni’s costume designs are the most reminiscent of historical precedent among these case studies, yet she is the most forthcoming about how burlesque performance can both fulfil and break down gender stereotypes through the juxtaposition of feminine and masculine attributes. This is especially evident in her work Ned Kelly, based on the history of the Australian outlaw. When discussing Ned Kelly, Bunni says, ‘In Ned Kelly

I am challenging gender stereotyping in a way, which is based firmly in humour. I, as

Ned, am simply a woman with a beard. My persona, however, is hilariously non- threatening and unconventionally sensual.’

Bunni starts her performance of Ned Kelly offstage, and then appears on stage with

Waltzing Matilda following behind. Before stepping onto the stage, Bunni turns and

90 Glenn Collins, “From Boys Choir to Big Top: Ringmaster Breaks New Ground in Circus World,” New York Times, December 18, 1998, New York Times online, accessed February 26, 2015, //www.nytimes.com/1998/12/18/nyregion/from-boys-choir-to-big-top-ringmaster-breaks-new-ground-in- the-circus-world.html?pagewanted=1. 59 shoots Waltzing Matilda dead; this signifies the start of the act. Her initial costume shown in Figure 37 consists of a handheld toy gun, tin breastplate, large brown Driza- bone, thigh-high black leather boots and armour including a large metal helmet with a slit for the eyes for which Ned Kelly was so well known. Figure 38 shows the detailing of the large-scale brown beard she wears and her makeup, complete with bushy eyebrows, large wrinkle lines around her eyes to add the appearance of age and general smudges to give the impression she has lived the life of a bushranger and not showered for a week. Bunni’s choice of music helps to set the scene for the performance. The song, ‘You Should Consider Having Sex With a Bearded Man’, an acoustic tune by

Australian four-piece band The Beards, accompanies her comedic act. The lyrics of the music represent Ned Kelly as a sexual being:

You catch his eye; from across the room you catch his eye. You think ‘oh my, he’s got

quite the beard, oh my’. And now you want to but you can’t look away. His beard is

black and bushy with a hint of grey. And now you find yourself walking his way.91

Bunni engages with a female audience member, and while making eye contact stomps across the room towards the person, the music engaging in a folk blues sound. As the song progresses, Bunni starts to remove her jacket before throwing it to an audience member (see Figure 39). The humour in Bunni’s performance escalates as the act progresses and she removes the helmet to reveal her large-scale beard, her facial expression serious as she plays a man serenading a woman. During the chorus, ‘You should consider having sex with a bearded man. You’re getting these feelings that you can’t understand’,92 Bunni focuses her attention on a second audience member as she falls to her knees. With one knee on the ground, the other leg bent, Bunni starts to glide

91 ELyrics, “Beards: ‘You Should Consider Having Sex with a Bearded Man’, Lyrics,” accessed February 3, 2015, http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/beards-lyrics/you-should-consider-having-sex-with-a-bearded- man-lyrics.html. 92 Ibid. 60 across the floor while thrusting her hips. This movement—along with her intensely serious facial expression—accompanied by the music and lyrics, makes for a hilariously engaging performance (see Figure 40). The performance ends with Bunni taking a bath in a tin tub; as she washes herself with a sponge she splashes water into the audience. At this point, the audience discovers the water has glitter in it (see Figure 41).

Although less obviously controversial than Memphis Mae for example, Bunni blurs femininity and masculinity in her performances to address gender stereotypes and the constraints of roles considered acceptable for women, both within and outside the subculture. Despite wearing a beard in Ned Kelly, her movements during the performance are feminine. This contradiction lightens the audience’s mood and makes them laugh, not only because Ned Kelly seems ridiculous gliding across the stage and thrusting his hips, but because Bunni the performer, dressed in drag, is mimicking how a drunken man might attempt to pick up a woman in a bar. This role reversal, a woman making light of male gender stereotypes, is not often addressed in burlesque performance, and Bunni’s act creates an interesting dialogue between the two socially sanctioned roles available to women constrained by the Madonna/whore dichotomy.

The Madonna/whore dichotomy as discussed by Claire Nally describes the limited roles available to women while also addressing the nature of burlesque and the values with which it is usually associated in popular culture.93 Bunni questions this dichotomy by presenting her persona as both the innocent Madonna and the sexualized whore and dispels the reductive notion that a woman can only be one or the other. As discussed in

93 Nally, "Grrrly Hurly Burly: Neo-Burlesque and the Performance of Gender." 621. 61

Chapter 2, Nally describes this dichotomy as the ‘juxtaposition of the infantile and the

94 tease’.

Bunni’s challenge to gender stereotypes extends the combination of male and female attributes that I have argued is also present in acts such as Purple Mambo by Rosie

Rivette. Like Rosie, Bunni does not disguise her body when playing Ned Kelly; however, she extends it further by wearing a beard and covering her nipples with crosses of black tape. Describing her burlesque performances as emerging from her interest in the celebration of women, Bunni says that although her acts are designed for audience entertainment, ‘burlesque is inherently political, so any message you communicate will be political’. At first glance, Bunni’s comments may seem contradictory, yet they highlight a key aspect of Bunni’s approach to burlesque in that her gender-mixing performances never downgrade the importance of female pride in burlesque.

3.7 Conclusion

The performers interviewed for this research presented divergent views on many aspects of burlesque. One aspect over which there was little consensus was a unified definition of the relationship between burlesque and their perceived notions of feminism. When asked to comment on her understanding of gender in her work, Rosie responded that although she does not subscribe to feminism her performances and costumes challenge stereotypical gender roles—in her words, ‘the expectations of women’ and ‘the way that people are used to seeing women’. Bella, who shares a similar view and sees burlesque as fundamentally a form of self-expression, commented that ‘some people find it very

94 Ibid. 62 powerful seeing someone on stage that [sic] isn’t necessarily a supermodel but still loves the way they look’. According to Memphis, performing naked, or as she put it

‘getting her boobs out on stage’ exercises her right to freedom of expression. In her view, ‘anything where women are doing something positive in their life and it’s their choice, is a positive thing for females’. Bunni agrees but identifies herself as a feminist, claiming that she sees her stage persona as a strategy to ‘channel’ her ‘affinity’ with feminism into a character ‘who literally does whatever she wanted’. For Bunni, ‘There is nothing shameful about burlesque. There is nothing shameful about female nudity. I take issue with the patriarchal determinations we place on women’s bodies, and burlesque counteracts this.’

An issue on which the case-study participants did agree was the notion of embodiment and body style. In relation to subcultural theories discussed in Chapter 2, none of the case-study participants distinguished between their body and their costumes. They spoke of their acts as an entity rather than as individual elements, and they focused on how each element combines to form a narrative. Each participant described her use of props and costumes in creating her acts and the way in which she regards them in relation to her body. Memphis commented, for example, that she never performs without fake eyelashes, which operate as a psychological shield, because ‘as soon as you put on eyelashes and make-up, it’s like putting on a mask and you can hide behind it. Like putting on sunglasses; I feel like people can’t see me.’

My interviews with the performers revealed several complex ideas about control and emancipation in burlesque. According to Rosie, burlesque is a body style in which the

63 performer has full control over the audience’s perceptions and how the performer wishes to be identified:

Women can’t be objectified on stage when they do burlesque because their mission is to

show anything and everything that they hold within that body and put that out there … so

much that you can’t detach that from the body.

Bella’s contention that ‘the body is a tool for storytelling’ is echoed by Bunni’s assertion that burlesque is emancipating and brings ‘freedom, as a woman, to define what you do with your body, mind, career, culture and spirit without being objectified or limited through the lens of patriarchy or other subjectivity limiting constructs’.

Unpacking the density of these comments about the relationship of burlesque performance to feminism is an area I hope to pursue in the future. My intention with this research project was to explore the material qualities of costuming and tease out the nuances and subtlety of burlesque adaptations of gender roles available to women in contemporary society. In the next chapter, I describe how this research-led practice was informed by my analysis of the case-study participants’ performances and interviews.

Although my research-led practice explores the materiality of burlesque, I also describe how the ideas and themes discussed in this chapter influenced my costume design and costume making.

4 RESEARCH-LED PRACTICE

4.1 Introduction to the research-led practice

The aim of my research-led practice that I describe here was to explore the materiality and interpretations of fashion silhouettes with which burlesque subculture explores alternate social roles for women. Two assumptions on which this thesis relies is that a garment is more than just fabric covering a body and that clothing can represent more than a fashion trend. In the context of burlesque performance, I explore how costumes can be adapted and extended performatively. That is, the costumes are props, which both entice audiences and communicate subtle nuances in gender expression. My analysis of my documented observations of burlesque subculture and my interviews with four case-study participants—with reference to Dick Hebdige’s theory of style as bricolage— informed my research-led practice and my production of four garments that emphasise significant aspects of gender roles for women.

4.2 Design development of burlesque garments

In this chapter, I discuss the design and construction process of each costume and my reasoning for each design, and I reflect on aspects of gender as they are expressed in each costume. As is usual in bespoke or custom fashion design, the design and construction of these garments are more closely connected than in design fields that rely on digital or mass production, such as graphic communication for example. In costume design, as in haute couture, garments are hand-finished and fitted for the client. The final designs and photographs of the participants wearing their garments as their created personas are included in Chapter 5. My purpose in separating the finished works from the rest of the thesis is to demonstrate how I integrated my studio experiments in the 65 research and to ensure that equal emphasis is placed on the practical component of my research-led practice.

4.2.1 Rosie Rivette

As discussed in Chapter 3, in her burlesque performances, Rosie Rivette addresses female gender stereotypes, such as with her created persona Mrs Rivette. Although drawing on both comedy and glamour in her performance to make light of assumptions about 1950s housewives, Rosie is also questioning the gender roles available for women today. Reflecting on Rosie’s character Mrs Rivette—a woman dressed in the way that a man might dress as a woman in drag—I explored techniques with which to create both hard and soft edges in her costume design as well as to create a design that would humorously respond to current gender roles for women. Over time, I became interested in developing a costume that Mrs Rivette might wear for a night out, such as to see a show or go dancing.

The first stage of the design process was a reinterpretation of the 1950s fashion silhouette, that of a fitted waist and full skirt. I prioritised the skirt, as full-circle skirts were a signature feature of femininity of the time and a key component of Rosie

Rivette’s style. My two initial designs are shown in Figure 42. The silhouette on the left in Figure 42 is constructed of multiple layers of folded fabric. Inspired by the crinoline design (an undergarment worn under a full skirt to hold the skirt out from the body) the layered skirt emphasises volume. The silhouette on the right of Figure 42 is a full-circle skirt; that is, the pattern for the skirt is created in the shape of a circle using the circumferences diameter of the wearer’s waist measurement to create the fullness of the

66 skirt. The fullness is created as the skirt has only one seam down the centre back, and when laid flat is in the shape of a circle. The circle pattern allows for additional amounts of fabric to be used, as opposed to when creating a fitted skirt. Constructing a circle skirt requires only one seam and allows a zipper to be inserted, in this case in the centre back. When the skirt sits on the waist, the absence of seams allows the skirt to naturally fall in folds around the wearer’s body. This style of skirt is traditionally worn with a crinoline petticoat underneath, allowing the skirt to protrude in a severe but circular motion around the hips. Although the first design met the requirements of aspects of

Rosie’s persona—that of a glamorous fashion silhouette—it did not represent the comedic aspects of her stage persona as Mrs Rivette. I therefore proceeded with the second silhouette as a base for the final design because it allowed for the addition of more-subtle design features and remained closer to 1950s aesthetic style.

The bricolage of my design for Mrs Rivette stemmed from conversational prints of the

1950s, which were used predominately in furnishing fabrics or household items, such as curtains and linen. These prints, also known as ‘novelty prints’, consisted of motifs printed in bright colour ways and at a larger scale than those used for fashion. The images on the print designs often featured forms of entertainment, such as circuses and western films, or symbols of modernity, such as aeroplanes and automobiles, or on occasion animals.95 An example can be seen in Figure 43, which shows a non- directional print featuring goldfish in various colours. It has a limited colour palette of red, blue and grey with a cream background. Conversational prints of the 1950s are employed in mainstream fashion today and were recently seen in the Elle Sasson range

95 Joy Shih, Conversational Prints: Decorative Fabrics of the 1950s (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing 1997). 67 for Saks Fifth Avenue with the release of their Abigale flamingo-print dress in 2014.96

This dress features a repeat flamingo motif in bright contrasting shades of pink and blue

(see Figure 44). The kitsch element of these designs formed the foundation for Rosie’s bodice design, which features a chicken motif in a repeat pattern of bright pink and greens with a gold background (see Figure 45).

When designing the bodice, I wanted to play on mainstream fashion’s adaptation of conversational prints, in particular the use of the flamingo in women’s dresses. I selected a chicken as the motif because it is not associated with elegance or prettiness and is rarely used to represent femininity, despite the use of the term ‘chick’ to refer to women in popular culture. As an unusual motif for burlesque, and with multiple connotations, I saw the chicken as adding an element of humour to the costume.

I created the bodice using seed beads constructed in the traditional bead-looming method. Bead-looming employs a similar method to that used for the creation of fabric with a warp and a weft thread. To create the design, I mapped the bodice pattern in

Adobe Illustrator with the repeat chicken motif. I then created a grid 3 mm squared over the top of the bodice as a template to follow when using the bead loom (see Figure 46).

I threaded the bead loom with 11 threads, and using 10 seed beads I continued to layer the beads, while locking in the threads by going over and under the main threads on the loom (see Figure 47). I continued with this method until I had completed the required number of rows to complete the bodice. During the beading phase, I did several fittings

96 Saks Fifth Avenue, Elle Sasson, “Abigale Flamingo-Print Fit-&-Flare Dress,” accessed March 3, 2015. http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=25343743064221 53&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524446802941&site_refer=AFF001&mid=38707&siteID=4w9UJiJ pWAc-eQIz1xlNogY_wmgZvHFvwg. 68 to determine whether the bodice was the right size for Rosie and to ensure the bodice would not be too heavy to sit on Rosie’s body comfortably.

I originally intended the bra portion of the bodice to be an extension of the repeat chicken design print. However, after completing the first side of the bodice, I concluded that the original design would be too heavy to hold itself up, so I introduced a bra to the design, which would adequately support the weight of the bodice (see Figure 48). I chose to use two shades of pink Swarovski beads, as I did not want too wide a bar to distract the eye from the chicken print. I also used the bead-looming technique to create a bow for each bust point on the bra caps to represent the pastie and to add a sense of hyper-femininity to the outfit. The lower half of the costume comprises a full-circle skirt in pink, a colour that is most often associated with femininity. The full-circle skirt is made from pigskin leather, which is thinner and more pliable than cowhide and therefore easier to wear. I selected leather to juxtapose the femininity of the skirt’s shape. Full skirts are traditionally made from a silk or cotton as both fabrics are light in weight. Lightweight fabrics allow for the folds of the fabric to gently flow around the hips of the wearer. In making this skirt in an unconventional material, my aim was to draw attention to gender stereotypes by using a masculine fabric for a feminine garment.

4.2.2 Bella Louche

The design development of Bella’s costume proved in many ways to be the most challenging as her form of bricolage relies heavily on historical references and glamorous nostalgia for burlesque traditions. My design for Bella therefore needed to represent not only her use of body style, in which she places as much emphasis on the 69 body as the costume and storyline, but also the beauty and glamour she showcases during her performances. In the first design, I focused on creating a skin-tone silk-mesh floor-length fitted gown. I imagined the gown would feature a motif of a woman’s face in Swarovski flatback crystals (see Figures 49 and 50). I chose a sheer fabric because I wanted the viewer to see Bella’s body through the garment as well as the crystal design elements; this would result in the costume appearing as a second layer of skin blurring the line between body and costume. After some initial tests, I concluded that this garment, although representing some aspects of Bella’s bricolage, omitted the combination of glamour and slapstick with which she challenges definitions of beauty.

The second design I developed for Bella was an exploration of the nostalgic days of burlesque costume. Distinguishing features I wanted to explore were the use of feather, crystal-embellished corsets and large-scale embellished headpieces. A popular inspiration in burlesque costuming is the peacock. The elaborate feathers of peacocks and ostriches are often applied to embellish burlesque costumes, including as feathered bustles and feather fan headpieces. To add the slapstick aspect to Bella’s costume, I replaced the traditional peacock theme with that of a turkey because turkeys have similar features to peacocks, including long tail feathers. Figures 51 and 52 show the three parts of the initial costume for Bella. The first is an oversized circular dress, shaped much like an egg, which I planned to ombré dye to create a gradient effect.

When Bella removes this garment, she appears as a turkey with a headpiece constructed of blue feathers and a beak detail in beads and crystals. I imagined the final stage of the costume would show Bella wearing pasties portraying caricatures of a dead turkey. The crosses on the white pasties would represent the eyes of a dead turkey and the red tassels the turkey’s tongue hanging from its mouth. There were two concerns with this

70 design: first, the viewer might not understand the association between the turkey and the peacock and, second, the viewer may interpret the design as implying Bella is a

‘turkey’, as in not intelligent.

The third and final stage to the design development of Bella’s costume was directly related to a re-examination of Bella’s interview and reflections on the theories of subcultural fashion discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. Given that Bella’s love of films of the 1940s and 1950s is both her source of bricolage and her greatest inspiration, I reviewed the history of these films and focused on their use of the MacGuffin. This device assisted my resolution of the design as it addressed her use of body style and the importance the body plays in Bella’s form of bricolage when creating narrative arcs in her performances. The body is not separate from her costuming; it is as pivotal in the narrative as the garments themselves.

As argued in the previous chapter, for Bella the MacGuffin in her burlesque performance is her body unlike the MacGuffin in film, which is usually an object or a plotline. The importance of the story is placed on her body, although it is not the main point of her acts. Given that Bella’s bricolage in performance development emphasises historical detail, I focused on a film she said had strongly influenced her, The Maltese

Falcon (1941). In The Maltese Falcon, the MacGuffin is the object of the same name, a bejewelled brass statue of a bird that was inspired by a ceremonial Kniphausen Hawk.

The Maltese Falcon first appears as a mysterious object, which is coveted by the leading characters of the film. In the tradition of the MacGuffin, the falcon helps the characters

71 transition through the narrative but ultimately has little to no importance in the resolution of the narrative.97

When first designing Bella’s garments I acknowledged her form of bricolage, which is elaborate in its conceptual analysis of gender roles available to women as well as founded on historical references. I therefore looked at images of the original

Kniphausen Hawk, which is more elaborate than the falcon statue used in the film. The

Kniphausen Hawk is encrusted in amethysts, emeralds, red garnets and blue sapphires.

These four stones formed the basis for the colourways of Bella’s costume design (see

Figures 53 and 54).

I selected red silk as the main base fabric and included the other colours with the addition of circular Swarovski flatback crystals. I wanted the garment to appear as an abstract silhouette that would represent Bella’s focus on narratives about the relationships of gender roles and context and her use of burlesque tease as a MacGuffin.

I saw this as representative of Bella’s classic burlesque beauty and the way in which she distorts the stereotypes of physical beauty in her performances when she flips her characters from glamorous to grotesque.

As discussed in the previous chapter, Bella’s burlesque performances also closely relate to her understanding of her body. I explored this aspect in details of the bodice or waist cincher, also made from red silk, with a lace-up back and crystal feather detailing on the centre front. I designed the sleeves to replicate outstretched draped wings that may take flight at any moment. Embellished with amethyst, blue sapphire and emerald crystals,

97 Tim Dirks, review of The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros., AMC Filmsite, accessed February 20 2015, http://www.filmsite.org/malt.html. 72 the simplified feather design furthers the appearance of wings. I created the headpiece with a metal base on which I appliquéd red silk carnations and a crystal-detailed front. I did not want to use real feathers as a design feature because my aim was to challenge reproductions of nostalgic representations of burlesque showgirls. Instead, I aimed to use an unconventional material. The headpiece represents the beak of the bird and adds dimension to the design while also creating a visual hierarchy, which encourages the eye to move from each of the design elements in an upwards movement. Although the pompom bustle echoed the showgirl costumes designed for the vaudeville Ziegfeld

Follies in the early 1930s, which often consisted of bustles made from feathers, I was concerned that it may add too much visual weight to the base of the costume, particularly given the intense red colour. However, I perceived the flower bustle as an important feature, distinguishing the garment from mere nostalgic reproduction and challenging the gender stereotypes that Bella’s performance dispels. Therefore, I balanced the silhouette by embellishing the headpiece with red carnations.

My sparse costuming of Bella’s torso with angled straps and red crystal pasties in place of a bra or corset acknowledges the naked body and flesh as a representation of Bella’s body style. In this I see the costume as a MacGuffin, in that while her body both supports the design and is part of the design, the narratives she tells are the priority of her performances.

4.2.3 Memphis Mae

The design process for Memphis was influenced by two key factors: her punk approach to burlesque and her DIY approach towards the creation of her costumes and performances. With my initial sketches of a costume for Memphis, I attempted to 73 replicate the multifaceted nature of Memphis’s persona in costume (see Figure 54). The skirt design consists of a pleated tartan inspired by the punk subculture’s appropriation of the fabric. I proposed using black crystals in the pleats of the fabric as a way to transform the garment into one of a burlesque performer. My rationale for designing the skirt with two layers was to combine punk in the top layer with burlesque in the second layer. In this way, the separate subcultures could be represented in one garment. The bodice of the outfit is designed in black leather with a peplum over the main skirt.

Although this outfit incorporated aspects of punk, I do not believe it represented the multifaceted approach that Memphis showcases in her performances. I saw this garment’s appearance as a mainstream adaptation of punk style that did not reflect the

DIY approach to bricolage that Memphis applies to her costumes and performances.

In the final design development for Memphis’s costume I used classic burlesque bricolage design features, beginning with a base of a fitted corset, panties, and pasties with nipple tassels. This starting point was in reference to Memphis’s crowning as Miss

Burlesque New South Wales and receiving Miss Burlesque Australia third runner-up in

2014. These competitions can be interpreted as an important showcasing of the talents of burlesque across Australia; however, they can also be interpreted as little more than beauty pageants. In response to this second interpretation, I aimed to create a design that would break down the oppressive notions of beauty featured in beauty pageants. I therefore created a sash emblazoned with ‘Ms Anarchy’ to represent Memphis’s style and her opposition to the glorification of the constraints on women witnessed in beauty pageant titles, such as Ms Photogenic or Ms Congeniality.

For Memphis’s Ms Anarchy persona, I used bricolage design elements synonymous with punk subculture (see Figures55 and 56). These features include a portrait of Queen

Elizabeth II, a tartan print, black and red colourways and DIY features, such as pasties made from safety pins. I created three looks within the one design. The first features

Memphis in punk attire: a black leather neckpiece reminiscent of a ruff worn by Queen

Elizabeth I during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Traditionally, a ruff is made from folds of cotton or lace, which are starched and moulded to accentuate the neck. For

Memphis’s neckpiece, I used black calfskin leather shaped into cylinders, to which I added fabric stiffener to ensure they would maintain their cylindrical shape. Using

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I then created a cross-stitch design for the corset, consisting of a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II against a tartan background (see Figure

57). I then cross-stitched the portrait of the queen using four shades of a blue-grey pearl-cotton thread; this process was long and arduous, with many of the design decisions being made during the making process (see Figure 58). The corset is a pivotal feature of the garment design, as the image of Queen Elizabeth II has been highly recognisable as an image of the punk subculture since the Sex Pistols album cover for

‘God Save the Queen’ in 1977. To place it in a burlesque context, I applied crystal embellishments on the corset between the spaces of the tartan cross-stitch design (see

Figure 59). I designed the skirt in two sections. The first section is a stretch-cotton full- circle underlay; the second consists of four layers of silk tulle, also cut in a full-circle to add volume and dimension to the costume.

The second stage of Memphis’s costume is achieved with the removal of the two skirts to showcase the corset, which features a suspender strap at the base of the design. The suspender clips attach to thigh-high black socks and reveal the contrasting bright-yellow

75 tights underneath. The bright yellow is also featured in the tartan cross-stitch pattern and not only breaks up the black and red colourways of the main garments but also interrupts the traditions of this colour combination of black and red in burlesque performance. This second stage also highlights the different layers to Memphis’s persona. With the removal of each item of clothing in her performance, the audience sees a pair of crystal-embellished red panties, which helps to set the tone of the third and final stage.

The third and final stage of the costume is a representation of the burlesque aesthetic and is the costume in which Memphis feels most comfortable. The corset is removed to show the red crystal-embellished pasties with nipple tassels made from safety pins. The tassels are attached to the centre of the pasties with two oversized gold kilt pins; the

DIY look of the pasties refers to punk bricolage, which relied heavily on the repurposing of items of consumption that belonged to other subcultures of the time. In this final look, Memphis wears the black and gold pageant sash mentioned above, which features the words ‘Miss Anarchy’ embroidered in cream thread. This title relates directly to the unrealistic expectations of beauty that pageants place on women within the subculture and greater society. As the designer, I have crowned Memphis in a more fitting title, her created personas expressing anarchy in burlesque performance contexts.

Not content to re-create nostalgic representations of burlesque, Memphis’s performances break down gender stereotypes and redefine the roles available to women.

The look is completed with the messiness of a scrunched-down sock (uncharacteristic of beauty pageants) and a men’s crown, which Memphis holds above her head. The use of a men’s pageant crown is symbolic of Memphis taking ownership of her body and its

76 display and of her disregard for the stereotype of women as dainty, as typically seen in beauty pageants.

4.2.4 Bunni Lambada

To address within my design approach the Madonna/whore dichotomy that Bunni

Lambada conveys during her performances, I wanted to create a look that would highlight her femininity while also address the masculine elements she includes in her acts. My aim was to create a mash-up of the good girl with the bad and emphasise the fact that Bunni questions these simplistic polarities. In the initial stages of design development, I created a look for Bunni that featured two layers of costume (see Figure

60). I designed a conservative knee-length dress made from black cotton and cream leather. Furthering the design experiments that I conducted during the initial stages of

Bella’s design, I proposed a large-scale portrait of Bunni, which I planned to transfer to the leather with a hole-punch technique (see Figure 61). The holes in the leather would allow the viewer to see through the top garment and preview the undergarment. The undergarment—a black satin fitted corset also featuring a portrait of Bunni’s face created with Swarovski crystal embellishments—would counteract the modesty of the top garment. The premise of the design, with the duplication of Bunni’s portrait, was to symbolise that Bunni’s moral standpoint remains consistent, both inside and outside the burlesque subculture. Bunni’s participation in burlesque does not alter her perspective.

Directly attacking the Madonna/whore dichotomy, this garment proposed to question why women continue to be defined in this way. However, I was dissatisfied with the design, because it did not incorporate the gender bending nature of Bunni’s performances, such as her representation of Ned Kelly.

In the final design development for Bunni, I incorporated her form of gender bricolage and addressed the Madonna/whore dichotomy by creating an adaptation of the bearded lady, Madame Clofullia, documented as the most well known circus performer in the

United States. The engraving in Figure 62 shows Madame Clofullia dressed in attire typical of women during the nineteenth century: a fitted corset to cinch in the waist with lace detailing around the neck and sleeves. As the engraving demonstrates, her cleavage was very much on show, signifying her gender as female, as does the tiered silk skirt with bustle, fashionable at the time. She is also adorned with a crown, a jewelled necklace and two bracelets. These elements define her status as a woman, regardless of her large beard. As discussed in scholarly research on the bearded lady, the American audience of the time deemed behaviour as more important when determining gender, and the fact she had a beard may have changed their perception of her as a ‘lady’ but not as a biological woman.98 My adoption of Madame Clofullia as inspiration for

Bunni’s costume centres on the question of whether her clothing speaks more about her femininity than does a beard.

Bunni’s garment is constructed in a stretch-cotton repeat print of red, blue, white and mauve flower arrangements. I selected this print for its relation to nineteenth-century dress fabrics, which often featured decorative flower arrangements (see Figure 63). The panties are high waisted with contrasting green silk ruffles that accentuate the hips. The bra, which is full cup for coverage, is also made from the floral repeat-print fabric. The bra is embellished with black velvet-ribbon bows to imply femininity, which is further emphasised with crystal and pearl embellishments. I selected the pearls for their

98 Sean Trainor, “Fair Bosom/Black Beard: Facial Hair, Gender Determination and the Strange Career of Madame Clofullia, ‘Bearded Lady’,” Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 12, no. 3 (2014): 550–51. 78 conservative connotations. The bustle, also constructed with the floral repeat-print fabric, was gathered and pulled to make folds of fabric to indicate the opulence of the bustle. At the time, the large amount of fabric required to make a bustle signified social status. The design is adorned with strings of pearls looping between the folds of the fabric as well as Swarovski beads in red, green, black and grey.

I see this design as addressing the Madonna/whore dichotomy discussed in the previous chapter because it questions notions of power in the definition of femininity. In character as a bearded lady, Bunni is dressed demurely in comparison to her fellow case-study participants, Rosie, Bella and Memphis: her bra is less revealing and her panties more modest with a boy leg and high waist.

These design elements were combined to question three dichotomies: Madonna/whore, male/female and power/beauty. As Bunni is a burlesque performer, whose objective is to tell a story through the removal of her clothing, the stereotype she is breaking is one of stripping merely for the pleasure of the audience. By creating a look that is unconventional, that of the bearded lady, who herself was controversial due to her beard, my design for Bunni complicates reductive oppositions. In addition, I see the design as emphasising Bunni’s forthright questions about the subjugation of women in burlesque.

5 FINAL DESIGNS

5.1 Rosie Rivette

Rosie Rivette, ‘Mrs Rivette’. Swarovski crystal-embellished bra, bead-loomed bodice with glass seed beads, pink pigskin-leather full skirt.

Rosie Rivette, ‘Mrs Rivette’. Detail photo of bead-loomed bodice.

Rosie Rivette, ‘Mrs Rivette’. Photo of bead-loomed bodice and pink leather skirt.

5.2 Bella Louche

Bella Louche, ‘MacGuffin’. Front view: red stretch-silk bodice and panties with lace-up back, Swarovski feather detail on bodice and sleeves, carnation headpiece with crystal detailing and carnation bustle.

Bella Louche, ‘MacGuffin’. Detail: red stretch-silk bodice and panties with lace-up back, Swarovski feather detail on bodice and sleeves, carnation headpiece with crystal detailing and carnation bustle.

Bella Louche, ‘MacGuffin’. Back view: red stretch-silk bodice and panties with lace-up back, Swarovski feather detail on bodice and sleeves, carnation headpiece with crystal detailing and carnation bustle.

Bella Louche, ‘MacGuffin’. Back/side view: red stretch-silk bodice and panties with lace-up back, Swarovski feather detail on bodice and sleeves, carnation headpiece with crystal detailing and carnation bustle.

5.3 Memphis Mae

Memphis Mae, ‘Miss Anarchy’. Front view: black calfskin leather neckpiece, cross- stitch portrait bodice with crystal detailing, stretch-cotton skirt underlay, black silk- tulle skirt overlay.

Memphis Mae, ‘Miss Anarchy’. Front view: black calfskin leather neckpiece, cross- stitch portrait bodice with crystal detailing, stretch-cotton skirt underlay, black silk-tulle skirt overlay, yellow stocking with black thigh-high socks

Memphis Mae, ‘Miss Anarchy’. Front detail view: black calfskin leather neckpiece, cross-stitch portrait corset with suspenders with crystal detailing, yellow stocking with black thigh-high socks.

Memphis Mae, ‘Miss Anarchy’. Front undergarment view: red Swarovski crystal pasties with safety-pin nipple tassels, red crystal panties, Miss Anarchy black and yellow silk sash and gold pageant crown.

Memphis Mae. Front detail view of cross-stitch corset.

Memphis Mae. Front undergarment, detail view of pasties and sash.

5.4 Bunni Lambada

Bunni Lambada, ‘The Bearded Lady’. Front detail view: pearl-bead necklace, stretch- cotton bra and panties with green silk-georgette detailing. Bra with black velvet-ribbon bows and stringed pearl-bead detailing on under bust.

Bunni Lambada, ‘The Bearded Lady’. Front view: pearl-bead necklace, stretch-cotton bra and panties with green silk-georgette detailing. Bra with black velvet-ribbon bows and stringed pearl-bead detailing on under bust.

Bunni Lambada, ‘The Bearded Lady’. Back view: pearl-bead necklace, stretch-cotton stretch and panties with green silk-georgette detailing. Bra with black velvet-ribbon bows and stringed pearl-bead detailing on under bust.

Bunni Lambada, ‘The Bearded Lady’. Side view: pearl-bead necklace, stretch-cotton bra and panties with green silk-georgette detailing. Bra with black velvet-ribbon bows and stringed pearl-bead detailing on under bust.

6 CONCLUSION

Dick Hebdige’s definitions within the subcultural theory of bricolage and production versus consumption have allowed for the discussion of burlesque as redefining gender roles and breaking stereotypes that act against women. Along with my reading of

Hebdige, my research into Nally’s Madonna/whore dichotomy, Reddington’s micro- subcultures and Winge’s body style, enabled me to analyse the contradictions present in gender roles available to women. That is, the paradoxical tensions between decorum and sexiness as attributes of beauty that are projected onto women in contemporary society. My analysis of burlesque case-study participants discussed in this thesis demonstrates that within the constraints of a subculture, there are pathways to redefine not only the community’s ideologies but also the perceptions of female gender stereotypes by those outside the subculture.

In this conclusion, I summarise the distinctive aspects of the four costumes I designed and the way in which—via the technique of bricolage—the costumes provide a nuanced commentary about the gender roles available to women in the Sydney burlesque subculture in 2015. I drew from the comedic aspects of Rosie’s performances and her use of the 1950s housewife cliché to create the fashion silhouette for what I imagined as

Mrs Rivette’s ‘big night out’. I addressed Rosie’s use of bricolage, relating it to the kitsch fabrics popular in the design of soft furnishings during the 1950s. . I embellished

Rosie’s costume to create a refined but stylistically exaggerated representation of womanhood, not unlike that of her comedic influence, Dame Edna. I also drew inspiration from Lucille Ball’s appearance. Although she appeared to fit the mould of a

1950s woman, Lucille Ball’s lifestyle choices, such as her marriage to Desi Arnez, were

96 unconventional for the time. This bricolage of associations is an aspect I see as foundational to contemporary burlesque performance.

Bella’s repurposing of the film device the MacGuffin is also involved in bricolage practices associated with subcultures. By this I mean that the dominant associations of burlesque with stripping is a subterfuge, or MacGuffin, when challenging gender stereotypes. With my costume for Bella, I aimed to elaborate Bella’s emphasis on narrative while displaying her body as a distracting MacGuffin. I see Bella’s burlesque performances as a sophisticated response to the realities of women grappling with and managing the social expectation of physical perfection. In the costume design—based on the statue of the Maltese falcon—I interpreted Bella’s focus on the narratives of her performances and her commitment to the physicality of performance and slapstick.

The design I developed for Memphis features the traditional fitted bust corset, panties, and pasties with nipple tassels. It references Memphis’s crowning as Miss Burlesque

New South Wales and her selection as third runner-up in Miss Burlesque Australia in

2014. Her punk and DIY approach to burlesque, while also participating in the official competitions of the subculture, is somewhat contradictory. I see this as a distinctive feature of Memphis’s approach to burlesque, in that she both critically challenges and subscribes to the sometimes-conservative beauty-pageant traditions in burlesque. To address these contradictions, while still keeping them in play, I created a design that dissects oppressive notions of beauty and awarded her the title of ‘Ms Anarchy’.

My foremost concern when designing the costume for Bunni was to convey the contradictory nature and double standards embedded in definitions of gender in

97 contemporary society. Bunni’s garment, constructed in a decorative flower pattern and festooned with crystals and pearls, emphasizes modesty. In fact, it reveals very little for a burlesque garment. In combination with her purple beard, black velvet-ribbon bows and opulent bustle, Bunni’s social status is a bricolage of contradictory elements.

Audiences will no doubt ask why a burlesque performer known for her lavish costumes is clothed in such a way. The simplest response is that of all the costumes designed for this thesis, Bunni’s is the one that I see as most tuned to society’s hypocrisy about greater egalitarianism and social equity in gender diversity. In sum, it manifests Bunni’s approach to burlesque, which is to challenge social conventions concerning the available gender roles for women.

While each case-study participant’s objectives within burlesque vary, and each produces her own form of bricolage as a way to explore narratives within her performances, the underlying goals of each participant are similar. Burlesque, to the case-study participants, is more than a trend or a way to live out a sexual fantasy; it is a deliberate act of social commentary and storytelling. Burlesque also gives them a platform to explore gender roles for women. As Rosie Rivette said in her interview:

Women can’t be objectified on stage when they do burlesque because their mission is to

show anything and everything that they hold within that body and put that out there.

…So much that you can’t detach that from the body.

This statement shows that, for the performer, the act of burlesque cannot be separated from the performer herself. As each case-study participant has explored burlesque subculture, each has included aspects of her daily life in her created persona. Whether onstage or off, each participant is a member of the larger community, demonstrating

98 that her values can in fact reflect similar views to those of women outside the confines of burlesque.

The notion of bricolage and subcultural theory as applied to fashion is an area of research that could be further explored during a PhD candidature. There is potential for more in-depth analysis of practicing burlesque performers and performance styles from other subcultures, such as contemporary dance and ballet. Other areas of scholarly research at the intersection of subcultural theory, is feminist theory and a discussion on the nostalgic representation of the sexualised female body. Such analysis would allow for a greater understanding of the role of the creative arts in redefining the representations of women and, in so doing, creating new gender roles for women.

7 FIGURES

Figure 1 Bunni Lambada, Red Fan Dance, 2013

The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Bunni’s own (boa fans from Fancy Feather) Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

Figure 2 Sally Rand performing her signature fan dance, 1934

Figure 2 has been removed due to Copyright restrictions.

Folly Theatre Archives, Sally Rand, 1934 Image reproduced from Striptease: The Untold History of The Girlie Show by Rachel Shteir, published by Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 149.

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Figure 3 The Backroom, Interior, 2012 (a)

In a small alcove in The Backroom in Sydney’s Potts Point, vintage items include a standalone world globe, a leather single sofa, hanging fake flowers and an array of Hollywood photos from the 1950s. Photography: Dusk Devi Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 4 The Backroom, Interior, 2012 (b)

The Backroom, Potts Point, Sydney. Like many areas around the bar, materials are used to style the space with a vintage aesthetic. This image shows LED tube lighting to create mood, intertwined with fake flowers and film negatives. Photography: Dusk Devi Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

Figure 5 Central Sydney, front page, 2014

Figure 5 has been removed due to Copyright restrictions.

An example of the media coverage of 2014 Miss Burlesque Australia, featuring case-study participant Memphis Mae. Photography: Carl Earl Source: Central Sydney, November 19

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Figure 6 Bunni Lambada (untitled) 2012

Bunni Lambada in a classic burlesque costume, detail photo Costume: Flo Foxworthy Photography: Leather & Lace Creative – Ashlee Savins

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Figure 7 Bunni Lambada, Red Tease, 2013

Stage 1 of Bunni Lambada’s performance reveals dress, headpiece and gloves. The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Bunni’s own Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

Figure 8 Bunni Lambada, Shimmy Shimmy Shake, 2013

Stage 2 of Bunni’s performance reveals fringed bra, gloves and high-waisted panties. The Pin Up Parlor, Come Fly With Me, December 1 Costume: Made by Bunni Photography: Dusk Devi Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 9 Bunni Lambada, Red Tease, 2012

Detail of Stage 2 of Bunni’s performance before the final stage reveals fringed bra and panties with large-scale feather fans. The Pin Up Parlor, Come Fly With Me, June 17 Costume: Fans by Flo Foxworthy Photography: Dusk Devi Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 10 Bella Louche, Gone with the Wind, 2012

Costume: Leah Leash and Bella Louche Photography: Leather & Lace Creative – Ashlee Savins Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 11 Memphis Mae, Coco Chanel, 2013 (a)

The opening of Memphis Mae’s act, when she plays with the stereotype of the designer Coco Chanel. The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image Supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

Figure 12 Memphis Mae, Coco Chanel, 2013 (b)

The exaggerated imagery of the oversized Chanel No. 5 bottle. The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 13 Memphis Mae, Coco Chanel, 2013 (c)

The second sequence of the act. The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image Supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

Figure 14 Memphis Mae, Coco Chanel, 2013 (d)

The third sequence of the act. The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image Supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 15 Victoria’s Secret, Sexy Little Geisha, 2012

Figure 15 has been removed due to Copyright restrictions.

Image reproduced from:Jenna Sauers, “And Here we have a ‘Sexy little Geisha’ outfit from Victoria’s Secret.” Jezebel, 23 February. New York: Gawker Media, http://jezebel.com/5946583/and-here-we-have-a-sexy-little-geisha-outfit-from-victorias-secret.

Figure 16 Rosie Rivette, Mrs Rivette, 2014

Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In Costume: Rosie Rivette Photography: Jeff Tan Image supplied by the artist 109

Figure 17 Dita Von Teese, 2006

Figure 17 has been removed due to Copyright restrictions.

Dita Von Teese in a classic burlesque costume. Photographer: Danielle Bedics Image reproduced from Burlesque and the Art of the Teese, by Dita Von Teese with Garrity, Bronwyn, published by HarperCollins, New York, 43.

Figure 18 Dita Von Teese, 2006 (b)

Figure 18 has been removed due to Copyright restrictions.

Dita Von Teese in a bondage-inspired photo. Photographer: Jim Weathers Image reproduced from Burlesque and the Art of the Teese, by Dita Von Teese with Garrity, Bronwyn, published by HarperCollins, New York, 43.

Figure 19 Rosie the Riveter

Figure 19 has been removed due to Copyright restrictions.

J. Howard Miller, We Can Do It! 1942 Image reproduced from Gwen Sharp and Lisa Wade, “Sociological Images: Secrets of a Feminist Icon,” Contexts 10, no.2 (2011): 82. National Archives (NWDNS-179-WP-1563)

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Figure 20 Rosie Rivette, Mrs Rivette, 2014, before the performance

Mr Falcons Presents Burlesque, December 7 Mr Falcons, Glebe, Sydney Costume: Rosie Rivette Photography: Leslie Liu Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 21 Rosie Rivette, Purple Mambo, 2014

The Peel, 25 June Slide Bar, Oxford Street, Sydney Costume: Rosie Rivette Photography: Dusk Devi Photography Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 22 Rosie Rivette, Mrs Rivette, 2014, opening sequence

Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In, September 18 Sydney Fringe Festival, Sydney Costume: Rosie Rivette Photography: Jeff Tan Photography Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 23 Rosie Rivette, Mrs Rivette, 2014, first burlesque routine (a)

Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In, September 18 Sydney Fringe Festival, Sydney Costume: Rosie Rivette Photography: Jeff Tan Photography Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 24 Rosie Rivette, Mrs Rivette, 2014, first burlesque routine (b)

Mrs Rivette’s Wild Night In, September 18 Sydney Fringe Festival, Sydney Costume: Rosie Rivette Photography: Jeff Tan Photography Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 25 Bella Louche, Dream of You, 2013

The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Memphis Mae & Bella Louche Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 26 Bella Louche, Booty Swing, 2014 (a)

The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Bella Louche Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 27 Bella Louche, Booty Swing, 2013 (b)

The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Bella Louche Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 28 Bella Louche, Booty Swing, 2013 (c)

The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Bella Louche Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 29 Bella Louche, Booty Swing, 2013 (d)

The Pin Up Parlor, Four Seasons in One Day, December 1 Costume: Bella Louche Photography: Hayley Rose Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 30 Memphis Mae, Army of Mae, Miss Burlesque Australia 2014 (a)

Miss Burlesque Australia, May 12 The Factory Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Jeff Tan Photography Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 31 Memphis Mae, Army of Mae, Miss Burlesque Australia 2014 (b)

Miss Burlesque Australia, May 12 The Factory Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Jeff Tan Photography Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 32 Memphis Mae, Army of Mae, Miss Burlesque Australia 2014 (c)

Miss Burlesque Australia, May 12 The Factory Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Jeff Tan Photography Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 33 Memphis Mae, Let it Rain, 2012

The Pin Up Parlor, Step Right Up, December 3 The Standard, Darlinghurst, Sydney Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Dusk Devi Photography Image Supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 34 Memphis Mae, Let it Rain, 2014

Miss Burlesque Australia, November 29 The Factory Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney Costume: Memphis Mae Photography: Leslie Liu Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 35 Memphis Mae and Bella Louche, 2014

Per-verse Production, The Naked Monster, August 16 Marrickville, Sydney Photography: Leslie Liu Image supplied by the artist

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Figure 36 Bunni Lambada, The Ring Master, 2012

The Pin Up Parlor, Step Right Up, December 3 The Standard, Darlinghurst, Sydney Costume: Wheels & Dollbaby Photography: Dusk Devi Photography Image supplied by The Pin Up Parlor

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Figure 37 Bunni Lambada, Ned Kelly, 2014 (a)