Las Vegas Weekly: What does Las Vegas look like? The images that spring to mind to answer that question are probably much different than they would have been 20, 10 or even five years ago, but it goes without saying that this city has an iconography all its own. It’s a place built on entertainment, and the way entertainment looks here evolves faster all the time.
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While I am not the most fashion literate person in the world, I certainly can appreciate good and visually provocative costumes. Las Vegas was not something culturally introduced to me at all and I am not familiar with the Strip, so I appreciated the numerous examples within the article! The costumes in Illuminate show such meticulous attention to detail and spectacle, truly exemplifying the relationship between choreography, costumes, and music. Mayfair Supper Club takes from the glamourized depictions of the flapper era–not necessarily historically accurate but gorgeous all the same, especially with the references to the late Thierry Mugler. Katy Perry's residency show is fun, I'd even call it camp–She fully embraces the idea of 'Play'. There's so much more–showgirls, extravagance, and glamour–it's all a show. I would love to be able to go some time in the future to experience the high standard of production that shows in Las Vegas, on the Strip–not only do they maintain the bar, they push it higher with each new production!
I thought that article was just really fun to read. I love reading about new technologies and inventions often because I am always wondering how it can be used in theatre. I feel that other things, like the costumes can also become the set, creating an environment on the stage that is most personal to the character itself. So much can be told about the inner world of a character through their clothes, and I find it very similar to what I feel set design is meant to do in a theatre. I am glad that set designers are having a space to show off their work, because I feel like it is often something that is often overlooked because of the notion that sets can simple. Even though I’m not a costume designer I still see the importance of custom design in every day entertainment. Even in real life what we wear says so much about who we are as people and really tells our inner characters without even meeting too. So I really enjoyed this article that highlights costume design because I feel like it’s something that’s overlooked a lot and especially in designs where the entertainment is of the modern day.
I love that every show in this article has its own take on the classic Vegas look. The Illuminate costumes are reminiscent of old showman outfits, with the top hat and long jacket, but the musicians are much more modernized, with sneakers and helmets. This show is such an interesting idea because what actually happens on stage is more or less a mystery. The lights don’t illuminate anything but themselves. The Mayfair supper club also uses classic showgirl aesthetics with more modern twists in order to create stunning and engaging costumes that make the singers shine. The costumes in Play are so unarguably Katy Perry. Her solid aesthetic and brand make a great foundation for any designer to build off of in creating this show. Even the individual queens in RuPauls Drag Race Live have vegas-ified their looks. Vegas is known for spectacle, indulgence, and glamor. It’s any designer’s playground, and this article proves that costumes have stepped up to the challenge.
As I was just in Las Vegas to see some of these shows, I noticed how bold and different costumes were in each performance. There was so much attention to detail especially when you think about how they must be made in a way that is easy for performers to change in and out of them in between songs. I find this article interesting because although these shows are so diverse, they all follow a similar production outline when it comes to calling cues and what happens pre and post show. Therefore, it was interesting seeing these shows from a theatrical background since I noticed a lot of little things that people coming to see these shows aren’t really looking for. For example, in Katy Perry’s show Play there were multiple scene changes that involved very large pieces of scenery and I am so curious as to how everything was moved so quickly and efficiently in between acts.
Las Vegas has always been known to be the center of cheap luxury and fabulous tacky excess, but as long as I’ve been aware of the strip it has lived in a place of nostalgia as Las Vegas thrives off of a strange amalgamation of 40’s hollywood glamor and timeless feather boas, but as we enter a golden age of costume technology, its time for Las Vegas and specifically the residencies to get with the program and start experimenting. Of course the old vegas will never fully go away because its a hallmark of the town, but I think overall the look could be updated with new and exciting technologies like remote controlled lights or inflatable costumes. When a celebrity debuts a vegas residency there is an expectation of excess because audiences show up expecting a spectacle, and at this point we have seen just about every kind of spectacle classic Vegas can produce, and now we are entering a whole new arena with Katy Perry’s Play.
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