Backstage Badassery

Backstage, I support performers by dressing, repairing, altering, and maintaining costumes

Interview

Behind the scenes at Land of the Sweets Part 1: Wardrobe Mistress Taffeta V.  All about my work with Verlaine/McCann's long-running holiday favorite, Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker.

Ruthlessly Handmade

I design and make costumes, blending traditional methods like delicate hand embroidery and tambour hook beading with rogue punk hot-glue improvisation to create wearable art for performers and fashionable freaks. 
My work has been seen on stages in Las Vegas, Seattle, New York, Chicago, Vancouver, Hong Kong, London, Sydney and beyond.

Costume Highlights

My designs adorn burlesque stars, drag queens, circus folk, and odd children

Career Highlights: 

• The Atomic Bombshells
  Company Wardrobe Mistress (2011-2015)

• The Moisture Festival
  Company Wardrobe Mistress (2013-2015)

• Verlaine/McCann Productions
  Company Wardrobe Mistress (2011 - 2014)

• Miss Indigo Blue
  Costume Prep and Packing Manager, Miss Exotic World Tour 2011

• Seattle Burlesque Olympics (2012)
  Gold Medalist, Fastest Quick Repair

• Burlesque Seattle Press
  Interview about my work with Verlaine/McCann's long-running Land of the Sweets

Design/Fabrication Clients

J. Von Stratton | Danial Hellman | Teatro Zinzanni | Connors & Co. Events | Lily Verlaine | Verlaine/McCann Productions | The Atomic Bombshells | DeLouRue Presents | Miss Indigo Blue | Waxie Moon | Cherry Killer Tomatoes | Solange Corbeau | Pixie Parcelle | Jo Jo Stiletto |The Moisture Festival | Ernie Von Schmaltz

Wardrobe Services Clients

The Atomic Bombshells  | The Moisture Festival | Verlaine/McCann Productions | J. Von Stratton | Miss Indigo Blue | Waxie Moon | Buckaroos USA | Big Time Rush | Madame X and her Lawyer

they like me,
they really like me

"Not only has Taffeta V. saved our showbiz butts with her amazing and meticulous wardrobe assistance, but she is also a lovely human being to work with...her presence is always a fabulous addition to the backstage environment!"

“Taffeta is always willing to learn, and is humble and polite in professional working environments. This is an uncommon trait. It’s quite delightful to work along side Taffeta, and she's a valuable person to have on one’s team.“

“The fastest quick change dresser in the west. Seriously! What an amazing, professional, sweet, and wonderful human. So thankful to have worked with her backstage for a number of years. Taffeta V. is the bees knees!!”

“In the world of burlesque, where your act is dependent on your costume and props fitting and working properly, Murphy’s Law holds that the most important piece of your costume will fail three minutes before you go onstage. Taffeta is the one you want at your side when that happens. Her breathtaking knowledge of costuming, her encyclopedic problem-solving acumen, coupled with her genuine care and concern for your being, turns potential disasters to relief and triumph.

Taffeta also possesses that uncanny ability to forsee a problem that might occur, and fixing it before it has a chance to rear its head. And because she has an artist soul, she will never let you go onstage unless you look and feel the best you can be. (I have also stalked her online to follow her beading and embellishment projects for the top performers in the business, and I am in awe of the superhuman talent for breathing beauty in life in her work.)

She also somehow creates a zone of calm, mindfulness, and good humor in the chaotic miasma that is backstage. All while looking stinking cute! If anything can fluster her, I don’t think it’s been invented yet. I wish Taffeta could be at every show, at every Festival.”

“Costumes discombobulate off your body during a live show, sometimes when they shouldn't. Taffeta V. is THE gal you want backstage. She'll get you onstage, on time & looking flawless. She's the MacGyver of stage craft.”

Stitched Pictures

Miscellaneous Stitchery

Headpieces

Bridal Headpieces

Props