Library to hear late night Mardi Gras frock talk
The designer largely credited with putting the glam into Sydney’s iconic Mardi Gras will be the special guest at a forum at Customs House Library looking back at some of the parade’s over-the-top creations and colourful stories from the past three decades.
Legendary costume-maker Ron Muncaster will share creative tips as well as anecdotes when he fronts the Frock Me: Mardi Gras Parade Costumes talk on Wednesday, February 22.
Joining Muncaster on the night will be Drew Lambert, winner of Best Costume Design for the 2011 Sydney Mardi Gras, award-winning artist and float designer, Philippa Playford, as well as photographer, C. Moore Hardy.
Muncaster, now 76, was watching the parade with a group of friends in 1980 when a tray-truck carrying drag queens travelled by.
The group decided they could put on a more colourful show, and by the following year had made their debut in a number of bright and creative costumes, which since then have become a hallmark of the annual parade.
Muncaster, whose costumes are held in the collections of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, encouraged young designers to unleash their creativity at this year’s parade, saying that participants could never have enough feathers and sequin.
“I get ideas from materials, walking through hardware shops and scrap-metal places; I see something that I think I can use and it evolves from that,” Muncaster said.
“But I also think it is something you are gifted with: I am very clever with my hands and can make things, although I am no good with computers and stuff like that.”
One of Muncaster’s most famous costumes, Lucille Balls, features a gravity-defying skirt made from fibreglass rods and Styrofoam balls, teamed with a fishnet singlet, collar, armbands, platform shoes and an enormous headdress.
Frock Me: Mardi Gras Parade Costumes is one of many new Library Up Late: Saucy Sydney events at Customs House Library throughout February and March, which also includes readings, performances, story-telling and panel discussions.
Frock Me: Mardi Gras Parade Costumes takes place from 8pm-9pm on Wednesday, February 22 at Customs House Library. The event is free however bookings are essential by phoning (02) 9242 8555 or visiting http://coslibrary.eventbrite.com
- Tags: City of Sydney, Community, Costume Making, Creativity, Customs House Library, Design, Event, Forum, Frock Me: Mardi Gras Parade Costumes, Library Up Late: Saucy Sydney, Ron Muncaster, SX, Sydney, Sydney Mardi Gras, Talk
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Comments (1)
This is when Mardi Gras was fun. We all enjoyed ourselves. Today Mardi Gras has NO CREDIBILITY