very burlesque

While spending a very amusing night at a burlesque show in Germany I met interesting people. The young man on the picture wears washed-out blue jeans with suspenders. Suspenders supposable were invented during the French Revolution. But at that time only men wore them. The style of the suspenders was very different. They formed a H-backside and nowadays you normally only see a Y-back. They also decorated the suspenders with embroidery and they were made out of silk. You usually don‘t see that today. In the last few years the meaning of suspenders changed. You could only see businessmen wearing them. But now the great designers focus on the suspenders this fall/winter. The designers combine the suspenders with a casual look. And more often you can see the classic Timberlands, which seem to be timeless.



Very typical for the burlesque fashion is, that women wear big tattoos. The woman in the picture has a very unique one namely a poison green cuttlefish surrounded by colorful stars. The black tank top with skulls printed on is a popular symbol that this fashion uses. In another picture I posted you can see this symbol again. The tank top probably would look quite boyish but since the ends are needled with red zigzag embroideries the boyish look disappears.
Her red dyed hair is very courageous and the colour is even more intense in real life than on the picture. It seems to me that being courageous and extravagant in this scene is something quite important because in almost every picture I took at the party there is something unique to see. The clunky Dr. Martens loafers decorated with white stars are sweet but in the same way they appear strong.

I will first start with describing the background because it is incomparable since it was a coincidence that this white smoke appeared on my picture. I think the smoke comes from the couple that was smoking behind me while observing my work. That he seems to be standing alone in a great hall gives him the appearance as a mightful and respected man. When you look at his outfit and hairdo you might first be skeptical and maybe even afraid and that’s what I was thinking when I asked him for a picture so that he had to laugh and explain me that he is a very nice man. So his smile on the image has a very amusing history.
Here I noticed again the unique and courageous appearance. The most eye-catching thing probably is his hairdo, which can’t be seen every day, but that‘s what makes him so special. He wears a Mohawk hairstyle that commonly is worn with both sides of the head shaved and a strip of longer hair in the center that usually is died in a different colour. You can see that very good on this picture. The hairstyle was or still is very popular in the punk subculture and started to be common in the 1980s. Nowadays Mohawks are still associated with the punk culture but as you can see they also have become popular in other subcultures like for example in the world of burlesque. Especially his Mohawk is extraordinary because its much thicker and more voluminous than they are usually and the cut of his red beard in combinations with the golden chains hanging down his legs give him a touch of a biker. As well he wears the famous Dr. Martens boots that seem to be very popular in the burlesque scene.

Typical for the burlesque fashion is to take elements from the fifties, what this young gentleman did very good in copying the hairstyle of Danny in the movie Grease by using a lot of gel and forming the hair into a large wave. Typical also for the fifties is to stuff the t-shirt in the trousers. His belt buckle as well reminds of the fifties because of the writing “rock and roll” on it. Likewise he has a similar chain hangin down his legs but in silver. He wears simple blue jeans that he unites with a plain white t-shirt.



he woman on this picture is perfectly styled from tip to toe and fits with her style absolutely to the subject of the evening. I especially chose to comment on her because of the similarities she shares with the young man on image 30. She takes like him elements from the fifties. Her flowered skirt, the chic camisole that only goes until under the scapulas, the pearl necklace and the red lipstick all these things were very fashionable 50 years ago. If she hadn’t got tattoos all over her body you could imagine her being a mother in a perfect home, but just the tattoos that break this imagination are typical for that scene. Since burlesque got very famous in the fourties and fifties I can imagine that for this reason the fashion is so similar to that time. I do like this picture a lot but maybe it‘s also because she appears as if she loves being in her role as a burlesque queen.



This vamp reminds me of the front singer of the hottest band at the moment called „gossip“. Thanks to Beth Ditto, corpulent women now can wear what ever they want. The muse of Karl Lagerfeld made it possible that corpulent people are accepted in the brutal world of fashion. This heavy woman on the picture wears an animal printed undershirt. Animal prints are also this winter an eye-catcher. The black belt with a golden skull is very burlesque. She rounds her outfit with red barrettes, thus she doesn‘t look too boyish with the big tattoos and the rest of the other masculine elements of her style.
It seems to me that women in the subculture of burlesque don’t want to be girly in front of men and want to show that they are strong and independent enough. Still they want to live out their femininity. That I recognized while studying my pictures. Almost every woman I photographed wears something quite masculine or has a hard appearance but only in combination with a girly sign.
Without a doubt she loves to be in the attention and being photographed as you can see on her pose what I really enjoyed. It shows us how she might exactly be in real life.


When I saw this delicate Italian lady with tattoos over her whole arms and neckline I was impressed. The history of tattoo began over 5000 years ago and is as diverse as the people who wear them but still, in the most societies they are not welcome. Maybe because some people think it looks scary or its not professional.
But the tattoos this refined woman has suite her especially because she‘s so tiny it makes her quite unique. She nuckes her black and white sailors tank top around the neck, like this delicate gathers are formed in the neckline. They suit perfectly to her black skinny jeans.
I especially like the background because it appears to me as if her familiy or friends are watching and protecting her so I won‘t harm her. By the way, these people standing or sitting in the background are good dressed as well. Especially the woman standing on the right side, of whom you unfortunately only see a part has a stylish t-shirt with a photograph of a band, probably from the eighties. She wears many different bracelets, which look very stylish combined together. Of course worth mentioning is the man sitting on the other end of the picture because of his old school blue jeans dungarees and underneath you can see a writing that seems to be very burlesque because of the font.