Queens meets Australia’s number one Hi Ball Burlesque troupe

Lena | May 21, 2010 | 0 Comments

QoV: Your original Fifties stage outfits are amazing, where do you find them?

Hi Ball: The vintage pieces we wear in our shows have all been sourced on eBay. Not surprisingly, original vintage costumes aren’t easy to come by in today’s sizes, but we do love the pieces we have, and we’ve created entire routines around them. My most treasured vintage costume is an original Fifties burlesque gown in red silk satin with a huge fishtail skirt covered in ostrich feathers.

It wasn’t particularly expensive but it cost a fortune to ship to Australia because it weighs a ton! When you see the dress up close, you can tell it’s had an amazing life. The seams have been let out and taken in again in a number of places but it’s so incredibly well made, it has withstood the test of time, and continues to enjoy a career on the stage.

The majority of our other costumes are reproductions, which we buy on eBay, or from sites such as What Katie Did. Like most burlesque performers, we find it’s impossible to buy straight off the rack, so we do a lot of work to make our costumes look unique and as true to the period as possible, and a few thousand Swarovski crystals never go astray either!

QoV: Do you have any top vintage shopping tips?

Hi Ball: There are some lovely vintage stores in Australia (our favourite is Circa here in Melbourne) but since the types of dresses we collect are more common in the USA, we buy most of our vintage on eBay.

Lucky for us, we’re all different sizes, so we never bid on the same things! Our best tips for eBay shopping are: be creative with your search terms, use a website such as esnipe if you can, and above all, be patient. It’s easy to lose heart when you’ve just been outbid on something special, but it won’t be long before something equally amazing appears!

Website: www.hiballburlesque.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Hi-Ball-Burlesque/26369104579
Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/user/twodollarwoman