My love for all things dance

I first witnessed ballet was when I was seven years old. My mother had taken me to see the Sadlers Wells Ballet perform Les Sylphides in London, and I was instantly mesmerized! Little did I know at the time that I would become a professional dancer, and then later transition to a costume designer.

That's not me in the photo. I just like the picture!

I never lost my love of dance and dancers. I know how hard it is to train, to become really good, and how short a ballet career will most likely be. Dancers of any age speak a common language, a language of sore muscles, intense and disciplined training, and the pure joy of artistic expression through movement.

In fact, it was my experience as a dancer that got me my first costuming job. I met one of the producers of Ann-Margret's lavish Las Vegas act, who was looking for someone to co-ordinate the 12 dancers' and 6 singers' costumes for her show. I thought I didn't know anything about costumes, only having worn them, never having made them, but the brilliant producer said I must understand what dancers need, and so gave me the job! That was what started it all.

Through Ann-Margret, I met Bob Mackie and became his assistant for the lavish Las Vegas show "Jubilee," and once again found myself costuming dancers. During rehearsals, I even took class with them from time to time if I wasn't busy downstairs in the wardrobe department. 

Leigh Taylor Young in Passions"

Many years later, while designing the show Passions, I had an unusual experience with actress Leigh Taylor Young. It turned out we had a unique connection from the past. She asked me, "Were you ever a student at the National Ballet School in Toronto?" I was surprised at the question, as that wasn't something that was in my bio. It turns out that she was also a ballet student there, a couple of years younger, and "looked up" to me, one of the "older" students at age fourteen!

From ballet to Broadway to ball gowns in Hollywood. Who would have thought!

Santa Barbara 1992 Costume Sketches

Amazing time on the Santa Barbara Reunion Cruise. Cast and fans both so gracious and kind! These are a unique and wonderful group of people and I'm so glad I came. I will be writing more about the trip in a day or two when I am home.

An exciting week, with more to come!

This past week has been full of activity and progress on my book "Stars in Their Underwear!" The manuscript is now in the hands of an agent who represents a best selling author who was one of my teachers at the International Women's Writers Guild Summer Conference last July. And the book is also in the hands of an editor who has edited many books, including those of my former co-author. So now it's wait and see!
It was difficult sending the manuscript after all the hard work as I couldn't help but want to go through it one more time and polish it some more! But that is a continual process, and I am sure once it has been read by the professionals, there will be changes and updates suggested.

Today I have been preparing for my Santa Barbara Reunion Cruise, and can't wait to see my former colleagues, actors Nic Coster, Judith McConnell, and A Martinez. All of them are truly delightful human beings and ones I couldn't be happier to be seeing again. I am also excited to meet the fans as I know how loyal a following the show had and still has.  For the fans, I have printed out 4 x 6 prints of a dozen of my Sant Barbara sketches and put each one in a little folder.  I have also created a four-minute mini-movie of the sketches interspersed with actual footage of the actors in the costumes! I will save showing it for the first time to the fans, but then upload it to YouTube for all to enjoy.

And then there was Halloween! It's never been my favorite holiday. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to scary things, not to mention skulls, blood and gore, and all versions of evil creatures. However, I got in the spirit enough to make myself a costume - a clear vinyl coat to which I added 3 dozen pockets made out of ziplock bags in which were all the items I would need for "Surviving a Disaster". I had miniatures of my favorite vodka and Roses lime, a sewing kit, toilet paper, cat food for Nala, a can opener, a screwdriver, an extra pair of underwear (red satin!), a deck of cards, soap, and all sorts of other things I thought were amusing. When I was growing up, Halloween costumes were never bought. One had to be clever and create something fun out of whatever you could find, so that's what I did.

So, two days from now I will be aboard the Navigator of the Seas and heading to the Bahamas. I am sure I will be writing about the experience, so stay tuned!

Here is what makes me happy this week:

• A brilliant series on Netflix called "Unbelievable" with three gifted actresses in the leading roles: Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, and Kaitlyn Dever. It blew me away! It's based on a true story and was written and directed with such subtlety and authenticity that I couldn't stop watching. 
• The anticipation of going to see Swan Lake at the Smith Center on Saturday, yes, the full-length version, performed by the Nevada Ballet Company. I haven't seen the classic in many years, but it played a critical role in my early life. I made my professional ballet debut in Act 4 of Swan Lake at the age of 15, with the National Ballet Company of Canada.
• The nearly perfect Las Vegas October weather. I do love our sunshine! Never too much for me.
• Chatting with my former co-author, Gloria Lintermans, after a long spell of not being in touch. We wrote a book called Retro Chic in 2003 and had a great time doing it.
• Getting two more chapters edited and added to the master manuscript of my upcoming book, and the expectation of finishing the last two chapters by the weekend. Then it's off to an agent who has expressed interest in reading it.
• And of course, ice cream. Always ice cream.

What is my favorite color?

People often ask me what my favorite color is. That’s a tough one. It reminds me of when I asked my mother, who was the favorite of her children, my brother, my sister or me? Of course, I was hoping it would be me! But she said, “I love you all very much, but I love you each differently.” And so it is with color.

If I’m in the Caribbean looking out at the crystal clear water, I am sure my favorite color is aqua. But then in the spring, when I look at my Palo Verde tree covered in bright yellow blossoms, I think it must be yellow.

But I must say I am partial to a red dress!

There are a couple of iconic red dresses that are burned vividly and indelibly into my brain, never to fade. One was designed by the wonderful Aggie Guerard Rodgers for “The Color Purple” (for which she was nominated for an Oscar Award). It was worn by Whoopi Goldberg as “Celie,” and in the scene, she was running along the road towards her house. An ominous gray sky was behind her, which made the dark red dress become so much more intense as it swirled around her, and the whole mood felt intense and slightly dangerous.

The very first costume I designed for a major client was red and was for Ann-Margret. It was for a disco number (yes, disco..... this was a while back!) for her big nightclub act at Caesars Palace, and later the number was used on a TV special. I had already designed the outfits for the male dancers, and now I got to create a dress for the star. The first time she emerged on stage wearing my red dress was a moment I will never forget!

But if I am to define red, in a perfect world, it would be a beaded gown by Giorgio Armani on exhibit in Rome at a retrospective of the fashion designer’s work. I was in Rome on holiday and read about the Armani exhibit mounted at the ancient Roman Baths of Diocletian.

We entered the exhibit, and the first cavernous room was exceedingly dark. I wondered who would be so perverse as to not light an exhibit so one could see it! But as our eyes gradually adjusted, we could begin to see display cases of the designer’s subtly colored and understated daywear emerging from the shadows. The shapes were uncluttered, slightly androgynous, and executed in his “greige” palette. But then we entered the next room, also dark. A single spotlight mounted up high shone onto a red beaded gown, and I gasped. The way our eyes had adjusted to the dim light in the previous room must have accentuated the brilliance of this dress. To me, it was the essence of red. The ultimate red. I shall never forget it.

Las Vegas, my kind of town!

It's hard to believe that when I first stayed at Caesar's Palace (working with Ann-Margret), it looked pretty much like this! Well, in 1974, there had been one extension of the original tower, but I stayed in the round building in the center.

My connection with Las Vegas started in 1961, with a 30-minute stopover in the downtown train station on Main Street at 2 am. I was a very young dancer with the "My Fair Lady" National Company, and we were traveling from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. The 1970s, when I frequently visited for work with Ann-Margret, Raquel Welch, and Diana Ross, introduced me to the then-small town of Las Vegas in a proper fashion, and in 1980 and 1981, I spent a great deal of time here preparing the costumes for "Jubilee."

At that time, Las Vegas was still small. You could cross Las Vegas Boulevard directly; there were no overpasses. There was no 10 lane freeway running by it. The desert was a few blocks away. The airport was small. I don't even remember noticing the mountains all around...the focus was all on The Strip.

I wasn't prepared for the change when I returned in the late '80s. The airport had exploded! By this time, I was working full time as a costume designer for TV series and films in Hollywood and occasionally came up to Las Vegas to shoot on location. Las Vegas already felt somewhat like home.

And now it is home! As I was driving to the airport early this morning to drop off some friends, I admired the clear blue skies and the mountains on all four sides again. Do I pine for the old days? Absolutely not! So, there may be more cars. Still, my city is continually re-inventing itself with new hotels, stadiums, entertainment venues, and university buildings. And as I chronicle in my upcoming book, I too have had to re-invent myself several times….from ballet dancer to Broadway dancer to actress to costume designer. And now, author. Please watch for my book, coming out in the spring.

Women in TV, Film, and (why not) everywhere!

As I work on my book (and yes, I have only 7 more chapters on which to do a substantial re-write and edit!), I think how lucky I have been to be able to pursue a career that I wanted. It wasn’t always so easy for women to choose anything that excited them and go for it.

I have been lucky in my life that I was born into a family where I had many strong women as role models. My paternal step-grandmother was a judge, a mayor, and was, in general, a no-nonsense kind of woman! My great aunt was an obstetrician, one of the first females to graduate in the early 1900’s with a medical degree. There was also a distant cousin who was an Arctic explorer in the early 1900s! So it never occurred to me that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted because I was a woman. It just never entered my mind.

 In high school, most of my classmates were going on to be either nurses or teachers. It seemed a pretty limited selection to me, but I already knew I was going to be a dancer, so what did I care?

 By the early 1970’s I was living in Los Angeles, and it’s not to say that there weren’t obstacles to overcome as a woman. It was difficult at that time, if not downright impossible, for a woman to buy a house without a father or husband to co-sign. Can you imagine! Do you remember Edith Bunker trying to get a loan at the bank? The 1970s were a tumultuous time with all sorts of reexamination of women’s rights going on, and women such as Gertrude Stein, and Erica Jong and Germaine Greer drawing attention. And of course, the demand for equal rights and the sexual revolution changed so much in how we could lead our lives. It was an intoxicating period, with the promise of greater freedom and power!

 And as I started my transition to my career in costume design, many of the top television producers, stars, designers were women. Think Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and Gilmore Girls. The very first producer who took a chance on me, hiring me for The Facts of Life, was a woman, and many of the producers (and a few directors) I worked for in television subsequently were women, including Penny Marshall, Yvette Lee Bowser, Irma Kalish, and Lisa De Cazotte.

 I still believe that it’s important not to feel that you are coming from behind, but that you are starting from the same start line, and that excellence in what you do is the thing that will propel you forward. Not nepotism, not cronyism, not anything but commitment and talent and passion. Call me naive or an optimist, but I’d like to think even men wouldn’t be dumb enough to ignore someone who is really really really good at what they do!

I'm back!

Hello Everyone, I've been "gone" for a while - gone from blogging, that is.

But I have been busy writing a book about the wonderful people I have worked with as a professional costume designer and I am nearing the finish of the Second Draft!

Today I have been on the phone with the organizers of the Santa Barbara Reunion Cruise which is just over a month away! The reunion event will feature six of Sant Barbara's top stars: the beloved Nic Coster, the divine Lane Davies, beautiful Judith McConnell, the soulful A Martinez, and more.
It will be on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas and will sail out of Miami.

I am so excited to be going! I will be taking part in some of the events, talking about the costumes I designed for the last year of the show's run, in 1992, and bringing along some photos and sketches.
There is an entire chapter in my book about my year designing the show in which I talk about what it was like costuming so many actors every day, mostly in beautiful clothes that reflected the sunny California lifestyle.

I also got to design a number of wedding gowns, such as the one for Nancy Grahn playing Julia, for her wedding to Mason, and another one for Sydney Penny for the final episode of the series. We shot that on location in Laguna Niguel in late December. It was a beautiful day with glorious sunshine, only it was cold, cold, cold, and all the poor actors were shivering in their gowns inbetween takes!

Stay tuned for updates!
Diana Eden Entertainment Author