Projects
Danny La Rue dress. The Repair Shop BBC TV
I worked on a dress for the Repair Shop BBC TV programme, that originally belonging to Danny La Rue, the first female impersonator to crossover into mainstream success. Danny wore this dress in a 1968 pantomime production of Sleeping Beauty among 14 other elaborate frocks! This was the longest running panto in history, going on until June. After Danny passed away, he gifted this dress to his friend Ceri Dupree. Ceri later wore this during a brief appearance in the TV drama Cilla, about Cilla Black, where he played the role of his dear friend and lifelong idol Danny La Rue.
The dress had many splits and frayed fabric within the many layers of the amazingly long train. These were supported onto adhesive coated crepeline that was reactivated with heat to secure the areas of loss and re introduce the structure. The original seams were re stitched and the rips in the sleeves and bodice secured with a dyes cotton patches and conservation couching. The heavy padding in the bust was removed as it was a later addition to the dress, and replaces with moulded Foss shape forms. Additional diamantes were stitched round the neckline as the originals had been lost over time.
