“I’ve got a brilliant idea,” I
texted Miss B late on Friday night after I’d arrived home from Frock UpBrisbane. “Let’s go to the ball as sailorettes.”
The next morning, I paid an
excited visit to my favourite store; Your One Stop Pinup Shop (Gympie Road, Chermside. Just up from
the shopping centre on the same side of the road) where Miss Bek and Miss Erin
helped me pick out a Bettie Page sailor circle dress, a soft, fluffy red
petticoat and sailor hats. During the week, Miss B made a trip to visit the
girls at the store and bought the same dress, a white petticoat and a white hat
and we dressed up as sailorettes and headed off to the
Brisbane Gangsters’ Ball.
Held at the Tivoli, stepping into
the Brisbane Gangsters’ Ball was like stepping into a weird time machine. It
was a clash of times with 20s flappers, elegant 40s ladies with their army
sergeants or captains on their arms met with 50s pinups and burlesque babes.
The event itself is a recreation of a prohibition speakeasy and is dimly lit,
smoky with burlesque and vaudeville performers, card tables, a photobooth and
even a hair and makeup booth. It’s a show, a dance and a costume party all
rolled into one super-fun night.
I was so impressed at how pretty
much every single person at the Ball had dressed up. There weren’t that many
half-hearted attempts, and everyone was really getting into character. The
other great thing was, if someone liked your outfit, they’d come up and tell
you! We got a few comments (one guy told me that my hair was “eeeee-nour-mous”
— probably not intended as a compliment, but when you spend as much time
teasing as I do, I took it as one) and I’m really pleased that we decided to go
as a matching, themed pair.
The Tivoli, one of my favourite venues
in Brisbane, was built in 1917 is pretty much perfect for a retro-themed night
like this and really made me feel as though I’d stepped back in time. I can’t
think of a place more perfect in Brisbane to hold it!
My only complaint about the whole night was that there was a lack of seating. I didn’t mind standing to watch the performers, but after a while, my feet were killing me (and I wasn’t the only one who commented on this). Luckily, the security guards were really nice and let us sit on the stairs, which gave my poor feet some much needed relief.
We had fun in a group of two (with a few other friends to say hi to across the night), but I’d recommend getting a big group together, it’s definitely the event to get all your friends to.
Outfits:
All pieces are from Your One Stop Pinup Shop
- Bettie Page Clothing Navy CaptainCircle Dress, $169.95
- Red or white (or about a billion other colours for that matter) petticoats, $89.95
- Red or white sailor girl hats, $14.95
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