Sunday 3 April 2011

1920s tap dancing outfit

So a friend of mine is running a twenties themed evening in a couple of weeks - based around a talent show! Now, I don't have many talents, but  I did do quite a bit of dancing as a child, so I'm going to dig out the tap shoes and see what I can remember.

Naturally this means I need a tap outfit. Despite ordinary twenties outfits actually still being pretty conservative by modern standards, show biz was, of course, a bit more risque and revealing. You only need to watch 42nd street to see that tap dancers were comfortable in often tiny little tap pants. A little searching on the web also found me this photo of a rather lovely, but pretty revealing, original outfit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/allen_company_inc/3630775460/in/photostream/

So I'm pretty happy to reveal a little leg this time. I'm thinking of adapting this showgirl outfit I put together for a new year party a couple of years ago:




They don't glitter much in the photos, but I just love my sequin tap pants (snapped up when they were briefly in fashion 18 months ago). Pictures of Ginger Rogers suggests the fish net tights are viable, as tights were used by dancers long before they replaced stockings for the average women in the 1960s. I'm considering seamed ballet tights with frilly anckle socks as a more authentic period touch though. I'm also considering whether to use my dinner jacket as in these pictures, or a very tacky gold glittery jacket I've had kicking round for years.

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