My partner, Peter Dwyer, was hired by Adam Noble, an award winning hairdresser, to design the costumes for his 30-minute show during Hair Expo 2007. Adam’s idea is for the show to feature different birds to represent the various clients that visit a salon. Between Peter and Adam, they chose the canary, magpie, flamingo, penguin, hawk, swan and peacock.
After Peter came up with the designs, we trekked to Cabramatta to purchase the materials for the costumes. Peter gravitated to PVC for the main costume material. PVC is flashy, colorful, and great looking on stage. Not having sewn with PVC before, it was quite a coincidence that we bumped into my friend Grant at the Inquisition party wearing a PVC outfit. Peter somehow enticed Grant to sew the canary costumes.
A week before the show, it was total madness. Several costumes still needed to be sewn and Peter had no more sewers. He had to sew them himself. I was in a panic for him. There was so much work still to be done. I tried to help whichever way I can as I do not know how to sew. We worked all week, weekends and weekdays. We would meet after our day jobs, go to his studio and work till 3 am. It was very tiring and stressful. There were several instances when I gave Peter a hard time, because his working style was different to mine. As it is his project, I tried to let him dictate the tasks, but I could not help but meddle specially when the enormity of the tasks got to me. We took turns panicking during the final days. Luckily, when one panicked, the other managed to stay calm.
After Peter came up with the designs, we trekked to Cabramatta to purchase the materials for the costumes. Peter gravitated to PVC for the main costume material. PVC is flashy, colorful, and great looking on stage. Not having sewn with PVC before, it was quite a coincidence that we bumped into my friend Grant at the Inquisition party wearing a PVC outfit. Peter somehow enticed Grant to sew the canary costumes.
A week before the show, it was total madness. Several costumes still needed to be sewn and Peter had no more sewers. He had to sew them himself. I was in a panic for him. There was so much work still to be done. I tried to help whichever way I can as I do not know how to sew. We worked all week, weekends and weekdays. We would meet after our day jobs, go to his studio and work till 3 am. It was very tiring and stressful. There were several instances when I gave Peter a hard time, because his working style was different to mine. As it is his project, I tried to let him dictate the tasks, but I could not help but meddle specially when the enormity of the tasks got to me. We took turns panicking during the final days. Luckily, when one panicked, the other managed to stay calm.
On the day of the show, I found myself acting as stylist and dresser as I assisted Peter. There were 32 models to dress from head to foot. Having worked with Peter on the garments, I knew where everything was and how the garments should look. With the assistance of Peter’s students, we were able to handle it pretty well.
THE CANARIES
Everyone who saw these costumes fell in love with them. They all wanted one. Grant did a great job sewing them.
THE MAGPIES
The pant suit is Peter's favorite. The sunglasses were Adam's idea and worked really well.
THE FLAMINGOS
These were Adam's favorite. The puffed sleeves were a late addition. We had to pin them in place using safety pins on the day of the show.
THE PENGUINS
These coats took so long to sew. Peter sew majority of them the night before. We were still sewing the sleeves and collars on the day of the show. They look great though.
THE HAWKS
The coats were removed to reveal the hawks. Peter and I even printed the feather-like patterns on the shirts and cummerbunds.
THE SWANS
Peter was very happy with the tulip-shaped skirt that we achieved. I was very impressed with the inner skirt that Peter created from tulle and cut-up crystal organza.
THE PEACOCKS
We found this excellent shiny material in Cabramatta, which had all the peacock colors. We used it to trim and decorate the green skirt. I had to cut and pin all the trimmings, which took a lot of time and patience.
The show went off without a hitch. It was creative, clever and stylish. It was very well received by the audience. The show had a theme, and the various elements of the show worked towards that concept. I felt that was why the show worked so well. Everyone's hard work had paid off. I felt a sense of satisfaction about being involved, as well as relief that it was all over.
I am very proud of Peter. He deserves all the accolades, because of all his hard work on this project. I have witnessed first-hand his enormous talent and creative skill.
Several weeks after, Adam and Peter were invited to appear on Kerrie-Anne Kennerly’s morning TV show. It was another opportunity to present the costumes, hairstyles and make-up that people have worked so hard on. I assisted Peter at the studio. I must admit that one of the highlights for me was meeting Nigel, the hunky gardener from the show ‘Backyard Blitz’ in the green room.
