Puttin’ On the Glitz Travel Video duration – 3 minutes A conversation with Gillian Gardner Showgirl costumes Travel Video Las Vegas, Nevada Coming to Las Vegas and dressing up like a show girl. I think that is something that all of us girls wanted, get dressed up in as many rhinestones and feathers and sequins as we can and look as glamorous as possible and do a great big pose. My parents made me here when I was seventeen and I’ve been designing showgirl costumes and doing everything in showbiz business since so I believe that the old Vegas signs actually are a good inspiration for the costumes. There were so many lights that were hot, the colors were so brilliant and in those days it really was, one bulb at a time. The making of a costume So I start with the skull cap which basically looks like this. It’s buckram, wire, and a lot of slackened felt. The bras and the g-strings …they’re also very time consuming, I mean this isn’t something that you can go and purchase anywhere and the people that are ordering these know it. Everything is all hand done, is all hand welded and the sequins are all hand welded and I try to use the best materials that I can find. I was too short to be a showgirl, a real showgirl on a mega stage so I was a showgirl, the respect of meeting and greeting people at the airport, going out to events and handing things out that type of thing. It was really exciting; I was one of the first people that actually did that in town. It was definitely old Vegas and an inspiration and I met a lot of celebrities and learned how to work with them because they really are just like all of us. I’m creating a fantasy for them, I love that part. It’s really fun, it is fun to see someone transformed and I see them come out of the dressing room or they send me pictures after they’ve gone to the event, the bachelor party or whatever they’ve done. You know it’s just so funny to see the transformation that I make or a pair of glasses or a big head piece that I make.