The Costumes of Burlesque: 1866-2018 is the first volume to inclusively document burlesque costume from its birth in the 1860’s through the global burlesque movement in 2018. This lushly illustrated book presents the history and development of this American art form by documenting the origins, influencers, and genuine articles that created its aesthetic. Showcases of legendary performers, including Lydia Thompson, Gypsy Rose Lee, Sally Rand, Bettie Page, Kitten Natividad, and Dita Von Teese, demonstrate costume styles through the years. This guide gives readers a clear view of how burlesque costume looked and why. It teaches collectors, burlesque performers, and fans alike to recognize vintage pieces for what they are and to design their own costumes with inspiration from the originals. By including detailed costume documentation, over 400 images, and interviews with prominent costume designers such as Catherine D’Lish and Garo Sparo, The Costumes of Burlesque brings 150 years of burlesque costume history to life.

The only book that focuses on the burlesque pastie as a work of art, The Pastie Project is a showcase of the most beautiful breast accessories ever made. Rosey La Rouge writes with passion for the art of burlesque, and an incredible depth of knowledge on costume history and construction. Photographer Ben Trivett has captured pasties as if they are the crown jewels of burlesque.

Though burlesque has survived in the back of our cultural consciousness after being pushed aside by modern stripping in the '50s, the revival that began in the early '90s has finally brought burlesque back to the forefront of popular culture. Evolving from an underground movement to a nearly mainstream fetish, neo-burlesque embraces a wide variety of modern interpretations all based on the classic bump and grind and "taking it off" with a wink and a smile. From classic tributes to punk rock revisionists, women of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds are rediscovering burlesque and reinventing it. A sense of heightened imagination, empowerment and energy are being delivered to the stage, perhaps even more so than during the historic heyday, the Golden Age of Burlesque. Slipping behind the scene, Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind undresses the issues of feminism, modern popularity, and what exactly draws the unique and varied audience members to the shows. The women--and men!--of burlesque also receive their fleshed-out dues by a categorized peek into the various troupe styles including classical, re-creationists, revivalists, modern, circus, performance art, political, queer, bawdy singers and comics. Peppered throughout the book are full-color and black-and-white photographs that fully instill the picturesque dance into the reader's mind. Founder of one of the first neo-burlesque troupes, author Michelle Baldwin (a.k.a, Vivienne Va-Voom) has helped to bring the lost art of burlesque back to the forefront of pop culture. Baldwin has served as the creative director, choreographer, music director, costumer, financial head, and performer for her troupe, "Burlesque As It Was." Her deep immersion into this art form has provided her with a rare view into the growth and evolution of the revival.

The Burlesque Handbook is the essential manual to understanding and performing both classic and neo-burlesque. Written by Jo Weldon, award-winning founder of the New York School of Burlesque, this book features easy-to-follow suggestions and exercises for developing stage-worthy confidence, presence, and sexiness. You'll learn about the fabulous makeup, costumes—including pasties!—moves, grooves, and attitudes of burlesque. The Burlesque Handbook is the must-have guide for everyone interested in this vibrant and wildly popular performance art, providing inspiration and practical information that readers can take straight from the page to the stage!

Liz Goldwyn's lifelong fascination with the inimitable glamour of classic burlesque inspired her to spend the past eight years corresponding with, visiting, interviewing, receiving striptease lessons from, and forming close relationships with the last generation of the great American burlesque queeens. Goldwyn invites us to step back into an era when the hourglass figure was in vogue and striptease was a true art form. Meet Betty "Ball of Fire" Rowland, who was known for her flaming red hair and bump–and–grind routines. (It turns out she once sued the author's grandfather, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., for using her stage name and costume in his Hollywood picture, Ball of Fire.) Meet Sherry Britton, who, with her long black hair and curvy, trim physique, was among the most stunning of the burlesque stars before Mayor LaGuardia outlawed burlesque in New York. Meet Zorita, whose sexually explicit "Consummation of the Wedding of the Snake" dance (performed with a live snake) and other daring performances earned her legendary status. Goldwyn draws back the curtain to reveal the personal journeys of yesteryear's icons of female sexuality and power, restoring their legacy to an age that has all but forgotten them–despite today's resurgence of burlesque.

Do you wish to separate the jolly good fellows from the dour sour pusses from those who seek to ASCEND TO THEIR SIDE DEGREES―but you suffer from lack of imagination when it comes to constructing elaborate hazing rituals and DEVICES? Does fake vomit, joy buzzers and a party pack of fake moustaches only produce yawns, rather than giggles, among your once-merry members? Well, look no further than Catalog no. 439: Burlesque and Side degree Specialties: Paraphernalia and Costumes, in which the manufacturers De Moulin Bros. & Co. from Greenville, Ill. feature the finest electro-dropo benches, goat-shaped tricycles, electric branding irons (and much much more)! Not only does this 1930 catalog, reproduced with marvelous 21st century machinery, provide tightly rendered pen-and-ink period illustrations and detailed product descriptions, it also has helpful how-tos and scripts to aid in the pulling of these pranks on initiates!

Robert Allen's compelling book examines burlesque not only as popular entertainment but also as a complex and transforming cultural phenomenon. When Lydia Thompson and her controversial female troupe of "British Blondes" brought modern burlesque to the United States in 1868, the result was electric. Their impertinent humor, streetwise manner, and provocative parodies of masculinity brought them enormous popular success--and the condemnation of critics, cultural commentators, and even women's rights campaigners. Burlesque was a cultural threat, Allen argues, because it inverted the "normal" world of middle-class social relations and transgressed norms of "proper" feminine behavior and appearance. Initially playing to respectable middle-class audiences, burlesque was quickly relegated to the shadow-world of working-class male leisure. In this process the burlesque performer "lost" her voice, as burlesque increasingly revolved around the display of her body. Locating burlesque within the context of both the social transformation of American theater and its patterns of gender representation, Allen concludes that burlesque represents a fascinating example of the potential transgressiveness of popular entertainment forms, as well as the strategies by which they have been contained and their threats defused.

Fashion is synonymous with change yet the iconic showgirl costume--feathers, sparkle and revealing clothes--has remained largely unchanged since the early 20th century. Beginning in the 1800s, a couture of the risque evolved from Paris nightclubs to Las Vegas casinos. The concept of glamour itself was based on what Parisian courtesans and burlesque performers wore. A tall pretty girl with headdress, nude core with spangles, high heels and dramatic makeup became a Gallic symbol and later the trademark of Hollywood musicals. France exported costumes and millinery--as well as whole productions from the Moulin Rouge, the Lido and Folies Bergere --to the U.S. and the world. More recently, cabaret styling has translated into today's day, sport and evening clothes.

"What is burlesque? Who better to ask than burlesque performers themselves? With this question in mind, the author traveled over 14,000 miles across the United States visiting today's burlesque performers, photographing them in their homes, and asking them: "What does burlesque mean to you?" Their answers and 104 accompanying portraits may surprise you. For these performers, burlesque is so many things, including fun and empowerment onstage, an escape from life's doldrums, a fantasy, a career. This book also presents a study in contrasts between the public persona of each performer and that performer's private life."--book jacket.

This book captures the spirit of a unique art form through hundreds of photographs and stories from many who were a part of America's most colorful past, highlighting the careers and contributions of selected artists, many of whom were the nuts and bolts of the industry. It also acknowledges some of the young performers of today who are working to remember the days of old.