Pearl, London 1984

This costume was worn by Stephanie Lawrence during previews of Starlight Express, in March 1984. There are a few photos of it in the original London brochures, and when I saw it I fell in love with it and had to make it immediately. Stephanie Lawrence died shortly before the first time I wore it, so this costume is my tribute to her, as the creator as such a great character.

My initial sketch of the costume

Technically this costume still isn't finished, but, well, there are always other things to do....maybe I'll finish it (or remake it properly) some day, but when I wore it only a few people knew who I was meant to be and Sheridan said I looked like a power ranger. Thanks, Sheridan.

The bases for the costume were my old school black dance leggings, a pink long-sleeved t-shirt from H&M, and a pair of black elbow gloves from Top Shop.

First, I shortened the sleeves of the t-shirt to the elbows. I kept the offcuts for trimmings. Then I half-fingered the gloves and elasticated the ends so that they would stay put on my arms. I cut a triangle out of silver fabric and sewed it onto the neckline of the t-shirt, and carefully sewed black wool onto it in the criss-cross pattern (that is, I held the wool in place while I sewed over it with sewing thread to keep it there).

...and how mine looked

The elbows are sections of the bits of sleeve I cut off, edged with silver bias binding. The shoulders are foam, again covered with bits of sleeve offcut and edged with silver bias binding. The belt was from my original Pearl costume.