The BF - The Girls Act I

Maisie, Nancy, Polly, Dulcie, & Fay : Act I
"The Boy Friend"

<sub>Well, here are the designs that have been eating my life for the last few weeks. I was told by the director that I didn't even have to give her anything more than sketches for the outfits, but I figured it was worth the time to do actual renderings to have for portfolio purposes (and, who am I trying to kid? I'm really loving '20's dresses….

I didn't intend on them being quite this crazy, but I've been really sick with a horrible head-cold, so doing mindless things has been a plus!</sub>

Well, here are the main girls of the show - they're around 17, and are wanting that wonderful thing called "the boy friend" (hence the show title, witty, huh? ^_^)

I figured I'd put them all together here, to show them (and I'm sorry if this artist comment gets really long)~

The main characters are Maisie and Polly for these girls, the other three, Nancy, Dulcie and Fay are kind of the "Rosencrants" characters, where they don't have many lines or really any personality - they're there to just kind of be there.

First off is Maisie. She's kind of the most flamboyant of the bunch, and the supporting actress to Polly. The director said her view of Maisie was that she's trying to be the center of everything, but Polly somehow kind of always steals her spotlight - they don't have any animosity towards each other, but Maisie is kind of always trying to upstage Polly.

We got this across in her outfit - she's most definitely the brightest of the bunch, and the most colorful. She's also trying to be a little garish compared to the others - instead of just one rosette (all the girls have at least one on their outfits), she has three of them. Her belt is gold sequins, as is her head piece, and she's just going to stand out more than the others for it. (did I mention how much I love this dress, and Polly's, too?)

The dress is so pretty - I fell in love with the fabric when I saw it, and just got a chance to buy some of it for myself - no idea what I'm going to do with it, but like that has ever mattered. It's a beautiful sheer with red/orange flowers all over it, that drapes beautifully. It's lined in white, and'll float across the stage when she's dancing!

Maisie's dress came from a Paris fashion plate from 1925, shown in one of my history books.

Next we have Nancy, who's dress is a brighter blue than it looks here - it's not really navy, it's more of a true-blue, with fine silver lines through the whole thing. Hers will be a wrap dress, or at least styled like one, I'm unsure if the pattern is going to be exactly like that. It'll have pleats at the shoulders, and the skirt will have sections of it pleated in knife pleats all the way down. Over one shoulder, there is a piece hanging like a sash.

Her design is an interpretation (the picture was really low quality) from a magazine snippet from 1922.

Polly is the main character of the story - she's quiet and very kind, but feels like she'll never get to be with anyone because her father feels that no one is interested in her for her, but only for her money (her father is obscenely rich). I think you can see how this story will wind up in the end...

Anywho, the dress is just beautiful, but still simple enough not to overpower her and her personality. The fabric is a pretty silky fabric that looks like watercolors of flowers in black, white, and pink. In Act III, her carnival outfit is a contemporary version of Perrette, in black and white, so the colors should be consistent for her throughout the whole thing (she also wears this in Act II).

I do believe that this was a Madeline Vionette design from her spring 1926 line, if I remember correctly (I <3 that woman so much~)

Dulcie is another filler character who is just kind of there, like Nancy and Fay, but it was fun to get to kind of mix it up with them. Her dress is a tunic, with sheer little sleeves and an asymmetrical sash at her waist. Her skirt will fall as a napkin skirt into points.

This was a technical challenge to me, because if I lined the dress the same way as the outer pattern was made, it would be just too full - the lining would act as a petticoat, so I'm going to have to line it above the napkin folds, and be done with it The dress itself is a really pretty bright green sheer, with blue flowers that again look like watercolored flowers, and a cute little hat to match!

Fay is the last one, and the biggest design challenge on the whole project so far. The actress playing her is very curvy, which is definitely not what you want for this time period! So… trying to figure out how to minimize that issue has been a challenge, and actually, this is not the final design - I just finally figured out what I want to do, so it will be different from this sketch.

Either way, the fabric will be a nicely draping silky polyester something-or-other with accents of a pretty teal stripe with silver lines run through it (similar to Nancy's fabric, but in teal).

Phew! Essay done, methinks

Designs © Samantha Lemieux and may not be used or reproduced without permission

_{Other designs from "The Boy Friend"
Chorus Girls
The Girls in Act I (day dresses)
Mme Doubonnet in Act I
Hortence in Act I
The Girls in Act II (swimsuits)
Mme Doubonnet in Act II
Lady Brockhurst
Pepe and Lolita
Mme Doubonnet in Act III
Polly and Tony in Act III (Pierrotte and Pierrot)}