This Go-Go inspired photoset was shot by the lovely Tyrone Islington. I had a really fun time with this shoot, which took place in my apartment and features some of my favourite classic cult movie posters. This costume is from a duet burlesque act that I perform with Betty Quirk inspired by the Russ Meyer film Faster Pussycat Kill Kill so I was happy to shoot it in from of my poster for the film. Enjoy!
This year’s Girlesque Expo in Toronto was an especially monumental one for me as it was the debut of a brand new act from myself and Betty Quirk. It is hard for me to even put into words that joy that I felt finally bringing this act to life. It has been a dream of ours for sometime to take the Little Rock number from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and put our own burlesque twist on it. The scene, which has a very silly theme about finding a man with money, also showcases a genuine bond between two girlfriends who are navigating the world of men and relationships. Betty and I enjoyed playing up both this friendship aspect as well as the silliness of the number and concluded with a whole lot of booty shaking. We also took on the task of recreating the costumes from the film and creating our own fun undergarments. It was a very successful show for us and we are very thankful to have such awesome photos from Photolena of our performance as well as a video from Candid Dragon Fire Productions which is at the bottom of this post.
I am so excited that next weekend is the 10th Annual Great Canadian Girlesque Expo! Girlesque is arguably the biggest and most exciting burlesque event in Toronto and is often a chance for performers to debut there newest creations. Myself and my design partner Betty Quirk have been preparing for months for the Girlesque expo as both performers and costumers to many other performers involved. We are very lucky to be outfitting Laura Desiree, Gigi Vanilla, Delicia Pastiche, Dottie Dangerfield and Dolly Berlin for this year’s expo!
We are even more excited to be debuting a dream act of ours at the closing Sunday night show! With inspiration from Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, our act will be a fun mix of genres and styles. We can’t wait to share it with you!
Click the poster below to purchase tickets to Girlesque.
For my first photo shoot of 2015 I had the pleasure of working with two of my favourite people and one of my favourite themes; showgirls in backstage dressing rooms. I am very excited to share these photos with you, but you will have to be patient. As a tease, here are some of my inspiration photos for this shoot. Photos of backstage showgirl photos offer a glimpse behind the curtain. A peek at the prep and primping of a performer. Enjoy!
Dolores Moran was a popular pinup model in the 1940s who had a brief film career and a scandalous reputation in Hollywood. This bleach blonde beauty was a favourite amongst American WWII soldiers and was featured in many pinup magazines at the time. She achieved a level of film success after being cast opposite Bette Davis in the 1943 film Old Acquaintance and had a notable role in the 1944 Bogart and Bacall film To Have and Have Not. In 1946 Moran, 22 at the time, began dating 42 year old movie producer Benedict Bogeaus who was married to starlet Mimi Forsythe. The two divorced and Bogeaus and Moran were married later that year. Moran’s film career never really took off after her marriage to Bogeaus, who insisted she appear exclusively in his films. After one child together and 14 years of marriage the two divorced in 1962. Moran died in 1982 from cancer, but her beauty and grace live on in the photos and films she created throughout her lifetime.
I am so excited to announce that I will be performing next Tuesday December 9th at Kitty Nights at Cherry Colas in Toronto! I will be doing 2 brand new acts that have never been done for a live audience before. I hope to see lots of familiar faces in the crowd for a fun night of burlesque featuring…
Dolly Berlin
Kage Wolfe
Kkunt Factory
Go-Go dancing kitten by Harley Payne
Hosted by Belle Jumelle
DJ Johnny B Goode
Special Kitty Nights After Dark set by Esther DeVille
Doors: 8:00pm Show: 9:30pm
TIX: $10.00 at the door
The most recent burlesque costume I completed was a fabulous sci-fi inspired retro space girl look for the beautiful Aviva the Mirage. This look consisted of a cone bra with a large standing collar, tearaway short shorts, and g-string that attached with elastic to a choker. I had a lot of fun creating this look and was heavily inspired by my one of my all-time favourite films, Barbarella. Enjoy Aviva, the space girl, Mirage in these photos from Ruth Gillson and Chris Hutcheson, as well as some of my inspiration pictures!
My wonderfully multi-talented friend Ketzia Kobrah has begun working on a video project called the Brick Wall Sessions. This series of videos features burlesque performers doing titillating one minute stripteases. My lovely friends Betty Quirk and Leelando Calrissian and I were the first few participants in this series. We each did a solo routine and Betty and I also did our go-go dancing duet. I have my videos on www.missdollymonroe.com in my new burlesque tab but you can see all the videos from the Brick Wall Sessions here! Ketzia is still looking for participants in this project, so if you are a burlesque performer, in Toronto and interested in being a part of this series please comment below. For now I leave you with this cute teaser video…
Last Sunday I attending Sinful Sundays at Cherry Colas in Toronto! Two of my favourite ladies, Betty Quirk and Sevvy Skellington, were performing at this weekly burlesque show along with the lovely Miss Mitzy Cream. The trio of dyed dolls did 2 acts each and were so graceful, sensual and cheeky! Here are a few instagram shots I got from the evening. Enjoy!
Stargirl (Sevvy Skellingtong) Wonder Woman (Betty Quirk) and Supergirl (Dolly Monroe) from the DC Bombshells Collection. Photo by Very Frank Pictures.
This past weekend my friends from Peepshow TO and I put on our best cosplays and strutted our stuff at one of the biggest Nerd Conventions in North America: FAN EXPO! Fan Expo brings together fans of Comics, Sci-Fi, Anime, Horror and Gaming for a weekend of geeky fun. The Peepshowers had a booth in the Horror section of the con and spent most of our time advertising our next show Garters of the Galaxy: A Marvel Inspired Burlesque. We had a blast chatting up con goers and posing for photos in cosplay.
This year I really over extended myself by attempting to do 2 brand new cosplays for the con. On Friday the Peepshow crew did a Sparkly X-Men Group cosplay in which I portrayed the White Queen Emma Frost. For the big day, Saturday, we did another group cosplay. This time it was the DC Bombshells, which is a set of female DC characters as 1940s pinup girls. For this group I did Supergirl, which was such fun to make and to wear. On the final day I decided to wear an old favourite, my Batwoman burlesque cosplay. Overall the highlight of the weekend was definitely getting to meet the Queen of Cosplay herself; Yaya Han! Yaya is such an inspiration for me as a cosplayer. Her costumes are flawless and she really embodies each character she portrays.
Please enjoy a few of my photos from this year’s Fan Expo…
CLASSICALLY CURVY 