Everyone Loves a Theme: Ladies of the 80s

Continuing in the Theme series, here are two ensembles I came up with for two dance parties.

The first was was back in December 2013. Theme: Holiday: 30 years of Madonna.

 I actually have the components of a ‘Boy Toy’ era outfit, but knew that a crinoline would become uncomfortable pretty quickly on the dance floor. Instead I made myself a very versatile stretch suiting black miniskirt that sits at my natural waist (good for retro looks 60s-80s) and a very simple cotton mesh top. Miraculously I found a brand new old stock ‘Corselette’ with a bullet bra top to wear underneath. To preserve the shaping I stuffed the points with some nude tone stretch mesh I had leftover from another project. A subtle mashup of early era Madge and the famous Jean-Paul Gaultier Look from the Blonde Ambition tour. I had a great time – a fabulous way to celebrate my 30th birthday/the 30th anniversary of Madonna’s career…

The studded belt and chains were in my closet/costume stash already. I love the rhinestone cross and the excuse to incorporate it.

I also made some stretch mesh wrist cuffs.

Much more recently, the same DJ duo had one of their annual “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” parties – All Divas, All Night. Previously, I’d made an all purpose Diva Dress, but I wanted to be more nerdy and specific, so I re-watched the music video and went with this look:

I started by constructing a tiered petticoat with two layers for volume. This kind of project is pretty simple but very time consuming and tedious with endless gathering and hems. A wide spandex waistband sits smoothly and was comfy for dancing. The white stripes are strips of twill tape topstitched on after the skirt was assembled. To make the edge ruffle, I cut strips of a sheer knit fabric and hand gathered it as I stitched it to the lower hem.  That’s about 480″ of lower hem.

The top was a quickie build from some black t-knit in my stash with a wide top band that can be work off the shoulder or on.

This was actually the same purse I wore with the Madonna look. It’s a great 80s piece that’s a good size and has a zip closure.

Completing the look: perm roller curls and a leopard satin print headband (made from some leftover fabric). And my fave dancing heels…

 

***Bonus: This Cyndi Lauper outfit I made years ago as a Halloween costume. It was inspired by the cover photo for She’s So Unusual.  One day I hope to break it out again, with an updated top…

Hope you are digging these “Theme” posts. It’s fun to finally document these things.

~Heather