Behind The Garter Belt: Amber Ray

Amber Ray hooked me when I first caught her dazzling Goldfish act back in 2005 at the last Mojave Desert Miss Exotic World pageant. She is also well-known for her original and glamorous custom-made costumes. She won The Golden Pastie Award for "Best Dressed" at the New York Burlesque and those who have had the privilege of seeing her light up a stage know it was well deserved. I took some time to ask New York's high priestess of costuming a few questions:

What is the importance of costuming to the burlesque performance? Do you come up with the act or the costume first?

Costuming in any stage performance is the visual key. It's very important, in my opinion, to create an immediately dazzling relationship with the audience. There is so much power in what we wear. The colors and shapes, when layered properly, can really affect someone's first impression of your performance and set the tone for their excitement. It can hypnotize.

My inspiration comes from all places. It could be a color, a song, a piece of an outfit, a picture. Mostly the idea for the act or character comes first but sometimes I get a piece of a costume or a vision of a costume and start creating an outfit. If the costume inspiration is coming first, it's going to be a classic strip with no real theme.

When did you realize that your costumes had to be custom made and not off the rack?

Immediately. I made my Peacock costume first. I wanted to have a major hand in the creation of the whole number.

Where inspirations do you draw from?

It could be anything. A color, a character, a prop. I try not to limit myself and just let my imagination run wild.

Do you get inspired by vintage burlesque photography or performers?

Most definitely. My first idea of a strip club was from retro pictures of women in fishnets, rhinestones, furs, gowns, and fiercely feminine poses.

What are your favorite costumes that you've made? What was the most challenging?

I love my Peacock, my White fluffy outfit. Nothing was terribly challenging. I find some of the things I have to do for others the most challenging. For example taking a beaded and sequined dress and having to revamp it into a new dress or several pieces of a costume can break many sewing machine needles. In general I do love a challenge. It's rewarding to figure out how to make something complicated and succeed.

What materials do you get the most excited about working with?

Trims! Making the structure is never as fun as decorating it! Swarovski crystals especially.

Explain the importance of closures and fastenings on costumes for the burlesque artist?

I think having those details in order is really important because you don't want to struggle on stage. It will hurt your performance. There is a wide variety of them. Hook and eye, snaps, velcro ect. Use them and use them in abundance.

You do custom work for others. What was your most bizarre request?

Nothing too bizarre yet but I did just finish a couple pair of Swarovski encrusted deer antler helmets for a theater show. It was really interesting to figure out how to make them. Sometimes I really surprise myself.

What tips can you offer those who aren't crafty? What one Amber Ray secret can you divulge?

I would say find a group of people or friends to get together for a stitch and bitch. There is nothing more rewarding than getting together with your friends and getting creative. Everyone can share their tricks and it makes for a super fun social and artistic adventure. Everyone has something to share and learn. Also pooling your resources is fun. Everyone should bring extra stuff, or leftovers from previous projects to share. Ask each other's advice and don't be afraid to offer constructive criticism.

I wouldn't say I have too many secrets. Some of my structuring ideas I prefer to share only with people I want to hand my knowledge to as a friend or mentor.

If you had an unlimited budget what would you make?

I'm afraid to say! I have some big ideas but I don't want them taken by other people. It's hard enough to be original with such a huge community of creative people. If I had the money I think I might be interested in opening my own cabaret club and decorating the place. It would be so awesome to have a safe haven for all my creative little honeys.


Where can we contact you for custom work and accessories?

I have an etsy store that I try to keep updated but unfortunately I'm too busy to keep it current. I need an intern!!!

You can always email me -- femmechatte@yahoo.com-- if you have special ideas for a custom order you want to have made.

If you would like to review my personal or custom work please visit my Myspace photo albums.
* Note this article was originally published in The Candy Pitch

Behind The Garter Belt: Anna Fur Laxis

Anna Fur Laxis blew me away with her clever Bettie Page tribute at The Windy City Burlesque Festival last April. With the amazing transitions from Bad Bettie to Good Bettie, I thought she was just the dame to interview for my costume column. You can check out her amazing act here:


1. What is the importance of costuming to the burlesque performance? Do you come up with the act or the costume first?

The costume is central to my performances, completely fundamental. I probably spend more time than is healthy on getting everything exactly how I want it!

The act comes first, in the past I've had what I thought was a killer outfit and tried to build an act around it, but I've found that this tends to lead me into a dead end and ultimately limits what the act can be. Nowadays I'll usually have a pretty clear idea of the full act then design the costume around it. That allows me to be much more creative with the design of individual pieces and really have fun with how they'll be removed.

2. When did you realize that your costumes had to be custom made and not off the rack?

Right from the start really. The first routine I put together initially used an off the shelf dress and I wanted a more visually interesting way of removing it, and I'd been sewing and dressmaking for many years so the idea of altering items wasn't too intimidating. I put a zip in where there was none and I realised if it unzipped in reverse it would look different and help me remove it, things have just grown from there. I love watching performers who seem to effortlessly disrobe, where their movements don't give anything away and you're left wondering how they did it. I strive for that and custom items definitely help.

3.What inspirations do you draw from?

Anything visually arresting really, I don't have a signature style that I stick to so I can borrow elements from lots of sources depending on the theme of the act. Variously, inspiration has come from the worlds of burlesque, showgirls, cinema, pin up, fetish fashion, magic theatre, carnival....anywhere that's interesting, fabulous and glamorous!

4. Do you get inspired from vintage burlesque photography, movies or performers?

There's an incredibly rich heritage to this industry and the many books and internet sites cataloguing the legends are invaluable references and sources of inspiration.

5.What are your favourite costumes that you've made? What was the most challenging?

The good girl/bad girl Bettie Page outfit is my current fave. I wasn't sure it would be possible to do it properly, but once the idea had taken root I knew I'd just have to do whatever it took to realise what i could see in my mind. I really enjoyed the process of designing and making it and now it's so much fun to perform, I love how everything comes off.

My most challenging was my goldfish dress, an orange sequinned number. Again, it was the product of a challenging blueprint that my sadistic imagination unleashed on me one time, possibly after one too many cups of tea. It was my first experience with a heavily sequinned fabric and I realise now that I hadn't adequately prepared. It required so much more work to do every little stage and there was less enjoyment and more frustration as the process went on, and we were knee deep in sequins for months! Having said that, I love the costume now, but it was a painful process.


6. What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you while
making something?

Sequins seem to end up everywhere somehow, even in bed. My husband went to work with one stuck to his face, I found that funny at the time!

7.What materials do you get the most excited about working with?

Shiny ones, shiny sparkly ones, shiny sparkly ones with dangling things, the usual.

8. Explain the importance of closures and fastenings on costumes for the burlesque artist?

Closures and fastening are very important, the whole act of seamless clothing removal can stand or fall on the type of fastenings you use. There's a lot of stuff to experiment with and you need to find out what's out there to be able to use it, but it's great fun, for me it's arguably the most fun. I love the creative challenge of tailoring the garment to the act and using different hardware allows you to make your routine unique in a way few other things can.

9. What was your most bizarre costume? Discuss.

That would probably be the coalmining ponygirl costume. The show's theme was based on the cultures of Northern England, an area steeped in a history of coal mining, so I became a pit-ponygirl, it was quite surreal, I had full latex ponygirl outfit with hooves, bridle and a plume headdress, but also a hard hat, and pickaxe, and a canary in a cage. It was a moving piece dealing with the themes of alienation and impotence that gripped the communities in The North in the 1980's, when the coal industry collapsed in the economic upheavals that plagued Britain at the time, then I took my clothes off, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

10.What tips can you offer those who aren't crafty?

Give it a try, start small by embellishing a bra or knickers, it doesn't have to be a huge project. Try to imagine what will look good onstage under the lights and experiment with textures and colours. Don't be put off if it doesn't go to plan, a certain pair of knickers took me four attempts to get exactly how I wanted, with much colourful language on each walk back to the drawing board, but there's a huge sense of achievement in creating the smallest unique costume part, just give it a try.

11. If you had an unlimited budget what would you make? The sky's the limit!

Oooh clever! I'm not giving out any clues! I've got a few ideas for pretty over-the-top routines which would probably take lottery wins to bankroll but you never know what life's going to bring you, they may see the light of day sometime, I'd like it to be me who unveils them!

12.There's a recent insider controversy about how many Swarovskis one can put on a costume.

I haven't heard about this controversy! It can't have reached these shores yet, do tell! Swarovskis are lovely though aren't they? Seriously, I mean look at them, sooo sparkly. Mmmmmm... From that point of view I can see how for some people more equals better, ultimately they can't disguise an uninspiring act though, no amount of them.

13.What batteries fuel an outfit? (eg. Charisma, smile, non tangible thing)

A performer needs to totally own the outfit, they need to look completely in control of procedings. Most costumes will malfunction in some way at some point, the key is to practice and familiarise yourself with an outfit so that you can deal with it, so the audience would never know, or at least go with it. The fuel is that absolute confidence in your ability to perform the routine in that outfit, everything else that the routine contains, the charisma, humour, charm, sass or heat, is a product of that confidence.

14. What designers do you enjoy working with?

The only designer I have used regularly is Booby Trap Corsets, they've made some awesome corsets for my routines and I just know that when I need something spectacular they'll do me proud. Other than the corsetry though, I don't tend to collaborate much for my costumes. My requirements are often autistically specific and I've found it difficult to get across to a designer exactly how a piece needs to work. Often there's a lot of tweaking and modifying (and starting from scratch) required so it's much quicker and practical to be able to make those changes myself.

http://www.annafurlaxis.com/