For Ash, his wardrobe shows that he is a
hopeless romantic – rainbow colour knitted-top,
silver turtle neck, lilac ruffled shirt and
an over-the-top fuschia dressing gown with
pearls sewn in. This is a character who lives
in a world of old movies. A time when men
behaved like men and women behaved like ladies.
We gave him a lot of bold primary colours
which reflected his emotional personality.
Many of his clothes are vintage- a sure sign
of someone who is nostalgic, remembering with
great fondness the heydays of their bygone
years. To source for Ash’s wardrobe we used
a lot of clothes from our past. Most of them
were literally just a step away! A step up
onto the ladder into the attic and voila,
his wardrobe was almost complete. The rest
were dug out from our friends’ locked trunks.
For every gay man has a secret wardrobe lurking
somewhere, hiding fashion mistakes they once
thought made them the bees knees but no longer
dare wear in public. It was from these secret
wardrobes we completed Ash’s outfits.
The red fringed dress that Ash wears when
he meets Ross at the trannie club has a rather
salubrious history. It once belonged to Madam
Jojo and is part of the collection that Chowee
inherited from the Madam herself when she
retired in the early 90’s. These frocks were
‘engineered” by Casper Wilde to transform
pecs into a plunging cleavage. They were designed
to be manhandled by showgirls so they stood
up exceedingly well to the rigours of the
shoot.
For Mel, we had to go a little further. Mel
is a product of the 80’s who hasn’t left his
glory days behind. He still wears clothes
with an 80’s nouveau riche feel, a time when
material possessions were the most bankable
labels. The idea is everything Mel wore could
be bought for less but he would only wear
them if they had a couple more zeros on the
price tag. It all served to highlight his
insecurities. Perhaps for a little Chinese
boy lost in a big city, power dressing helped
him find his way.
A lot of black and grey were chosen for Mel’s
outfits and on closer examination, many with
a distress signal: a bloody teddy bear T-shirt,
an evil Mickey mouse jumper, a rhinestone
studded skull top – a sure sign of someone
who is cynical. To source his wardrobe, we
ventured from New York to Shenzen.
Yes, Shenzen
in China where fake goods are plentiful. The
gaudy and ostentatious watch Mel gave Todd
is fake and Todd possibly knew it after having
spent a few months in London! Our budget couldn’t
stretch to the real McCoy, so Shenzen provided
the solution. And New York? Because we have
friends there who still dress like that! Scary?!
Well, a Chinese boy in a big city…I told you! |
