#teal alt 1.0

[six-costume-refs]

Question: am I right in saying no two teal alternates who wore teal for Howard have had the same variation of the costume? My friends are hosting a holiday party where we each have to make a niche-interest PowerPoint and mine’s going to be the Six alternate costumes by color and by queen (they’re gonna hate me haha), and in building it we’ve had Vicki, Jen, Bryony, Elizabeth, Shannen, and Monique go on for Howard in teal, and they’ve all had different costumes (Jen/Bryony/Elizabeth all had the open skirts but different variations)?

(remembered this as I was typing, need to add it to my niche PowerPoint) Jk I guess Lori wore Bryony’s costume for Howard but that feels like an asterisk since it was an emergency cover (and different from other shared costumes as Jen wore the same variation in teal at some point that Madeline did for her covers and Cristina wore Zara’s costume for a queen Zara never played, and in both cases Madeline and Cristina never played Howard)

This was largely stream of consciousness and I apologize (and also happy holidays!)

Yep you're right on all fronts!! I would add the asterisk that that's only including actors who actually debuted Howard; had Cherelle Jay debuted she would have worn her shorts, Grace Melville and Ellie Jane Grant would have worn the 2.0 pants design, and as you noted Madeline would have worn Jennifer's skirt.

Best wishes for the holidays and party!!

[six-costume-refs]

The skin toned material that they were using then was also thicker and sturdier, so it would have helped hold the non-peplum pants up better with just snaps as well (still not great, but better than the current). But because that original material was thicker and much less breathable it is going to get hotter (keep in mind how many thick layers they already have!) and be more noticeable from the audience. They were always going to have to find a lighter alternative, and even if snaps were working semi-decently for that first year with that original material, snaps definitely weren’t going to be able to work once they changed materials (and added peplums and all the other things Sofia just talked about).

How come Courtney Stapleton's costume didn't have suspenders? Or if it did and they managed to find a way to hide them, how come they haven't used that method for other Parr costumes?

As far as I know her pants had snaps that connected to the skin toned leotard waist.

A thing you should remember about the original WE costumes (and basically everything up to the pandemic if we are being honest) is that six was still figuring out how to make them. Weird materials in unconventional silhouettes that have to last for 8 shows a week for at least a year is not an easy thing to achieve. So the earliest costumes had a ton of experimentation into them.

The earliest pants (Maiya's) didnt have suspenders, instead they were attached to the midriff skin toned mesh, which in turn held them up. Courtney's pants were made with the same system. In theory that works and avoids the black lines between top and pants. Also Courtney didn't have a peplum which means her pants were lighter and could be held up with snaps. But snaps have the disadvantage of creating tension in small spots of the fabric which in turn leads to those areas tearing faster.

As costumes moved towards functionality and durability, and the peplums were added. Suspenders became a safer method to keep the pants in place.

[dontbebittah]

The History of Swingo, Part 6: The Aussies 

(Karis Oka performing as Anna of Cleves. Photographed by @daynaransleyphoto on Instagram.)

(7) Karis Oka was one of three swings in the first and second Australia tour casts and wore the black alt costume with Howard skirt and pants variations. She was the first of the three to complete Swingo, although her final debut as Seymour was also the only time she played the role. While the AUS swings had no formal cover order, Karis seems to have been the priority cover for Boleyn and Howard. Since leaving Six, Karis has played Ocean in Ride the Cyclone.

Days to complete Swingo: 701 (single production: 24, AUS 2.0)

Date completed: January 29th, 2022

Performance stats:

Fun Fact: If only counting debuts in a single production, Karis holds the record for fastest Swingo with only 24 days from first to last debut in the 2nd AUS tour. (Grace Mouat still holds the record for fastest overall.)

(Shannen Alyce Quan as Catherine Parr. Photographed by @larajanephotography on Instagram.)

(9) Shannen Alyce Quan was the second swing to complete Swingo in the first and second Australia tours. They wore the teal alt costume with Seymour and Boleyn skirts as their only variations, and she is still the only performer to have worn a Boleyn skirt for a role other than Boleyn- she also wore it for Cleves and Howard. Shannen has been in a variety of productions since their time with Six, most recently playing Jo in Little Women.

Days to complete Swingo: 763 (single production: 74, AUS 2.0)

Date completed: March 18th, 2022

Performance stats: 

Fun Fact: Shannen and Karis were in the same production of Fangirls in 2021 before the second tour began, Karis as Edna and Shannen as a swing.

(Chiara Assetta as Catherine of Aragon. Photographed by @daynaransleyphoto on Instagram.)

(12) Chiara Assetta joined as the third swing in the second (post-COVID) Australia tour production and wore the orange alternate costume. She is the only person to have worn a different (non-pants) variation of the orange alt costume- she wore shorts for every role. While she was given two alt variations like the other swings, she never performed in the pants variation and the mystery of Chiara’s missing orange pants haunts the fandom to this day. Chiara has returned for the 2024-25 AUS tour in the silver swing costume!

Days to complete Swingo: 75

Date completed: March 29, 2022

Performance stats (note: AUS 3.0 is an active production, so these stats are only accurate as of 9/26/24):

Fun Fact: Chiara became the first swing/alternate to perform in a Howard ponytail dyed their alt costume color in the AUS 3.0 production. While there are behind-the-scenes pictures of Elizabeth Walker (Bliss 1.0 swing) with a teal ponytail, she never performed in it.

[fromorigintofinality]

me, upon seeing the seymour variation for bryony’s costume: w̴̫̐̎̂ḩ̵̭̘͈̫͔͕̇y̷̡̡̲̼̰̟̓̂͗͗͜͝ ̷̫̍̌̄̀̌̊͝i̵̼͋͘̚s̶̯̞͐̚͝ ̸͔̖͕̿̒̂i̷̢̨̺͚̙̕t̷̰͇̾́͐̾͋̅̉ ̵̧̯̱͎̩̙̍͋̌̎̕͜͠s̴͇͉͎̮̐̓̈́̍̚p̴̗̌̍͗i̶̱̳͓̎̀͑c̵̡̻̺͒͌͂͑ẙ̴̻͖͍̜͌?̴̧̈́̇͑̌͝͝

[but-im-unbreakable]

most common second covers by alt costume colour

this is only based on the uk casts because none of the other casts that use alt costumes have clear second covers as far as we know. i may update this when we know what color alt costumes the new tour cast has.

i took into account: the west end 1.0 system between courtney and grace switching 1st covers and collette and shekinah joining and grace leaving; the west end 2.0 system; the west end 3.0 system; and the uk tour system. swings were not included, nor was shaka as i did not take into account the last cover order system for west end 1.0

black alt: seymour (2/2 alts)

teal alt: parr (4/4 alts)

orange alt: aragon (3/4 alts) & cleves (3/4) alts

pink alt: boleyn (2/2 alts)

interestingly, out of the four systems, no two second cover howards (vicki, hana, roxanne, and cassy) had the same alt colour, and second cover seymours were split evenly between black and teal alts. all second cover parrs had the teal costume.

[six-costume-refs]

She had already debuted Aragon while with the West End. She’s still wearing her skirt and the same base costume. The only significant thing that has changed is that she now has a curled wig for Aragon rather than wearing her own hair.

Jennifer Aragon!!

5 Sep 2021, @/harrietwatson92, @/david_breeds but presumably taken by Jennifer, @/jcaldwell6889, @/jcaldwell6889

[thebkgengagement]

I'm not one of those girls who posts engagement rings...but WOW! I would go weak in the knees over this one lol 1.51 Carat Alameda2 Diamond Blue Sapphire 18Kt White Gold Engagement Ring

I’m not one of those girls who posts engagement rings…but WOW! I would go weak in the knees over this one lol 1.51 Carat Alameda2 Diamond Blue Sapphire 18Kt White Gold Engagement Ring

How much do you think this costs? Engagement Jewelry Teal Blue Sapphire Ring, Sapphire Diamond Ring, Diamond… Classic 14K Black Gold 1.0 Carat Dark Blue Sapphire… Trumpet & Horn Pin it & Win It Contest Antique Style Sapphire Engagement Ring, RG-3341a, Topazery…Blue sapphire engagement ring by ken + dana design Untreated Purple Sapphire & Diamond Ring, 5.20 ct GIA……

[six-costume-refs]

why did vicki wear her boleyn sleeves for most of her tracks?

At that point the sleeves were built in as a fundamental part of the costume, designed to be worn irregardless of what queen she was on for (except Cleves), rather than a queen-based variation.

[lightleckrereins]

With the Alts have any ever had a Howard pony that matched their alt costumes color?

It almost happened once. In Breakaway 1.0 Elizabeth walker had a teal ponytail until at least tech but it was cut by her debut. And all the evidence we have are two photos. For the longest time only the black and white photo existed and there was actual debate on her ponytail color and then we got confirmation that yes it was teal at one point. (Miss the early costume days so much, they dont do wild choices like that anymore)

I do understand that alt colored ponytails are not always possible as howard ponytails are used for other alt hairstyles. But I really wish the hair team did them at least once.

[six-costume-refs]

Every Single Duplicate Costume Combo (May 2023)

Harriet Caplan-Dean and Esme Rothero both performed on the West End yesterday, which meant we saw the first double silver performance! Here’s the rundown of every combo we’ve seen so far:

L-R:

Collette Guitart and Cassandra Lee, UK Tour. These queens only played one show together, as Aragon and Cleves (pictured) when Collette was an emergency cover in Dec 2019. They never performed a show together in their primary costume.

Liv Alexander and Collette Guitart, West End. These queens performed a few shows together in two combos of queens. Note that Liv has Grace Mouat’s 2.0 costume while Collette’s is her 3.0 redesign. (photo by @/shonalouise_photography)

Cassandra Lee and Natalie Pilkington, UK Tour. These queens performed in the same production in black alt for nine months and did numerous shows together. They never had the same variations, which seems to have been intentional.

Jennifer Caldwell and Cherelle Jay, West End. These two queens played many shows together in various queen combos. Despite both wearing shorts and the primary top for Boleyn/Parr, they never got to do a show together both in that variation. (not sure on photo origin, please link me if aware!)

Bryony Duncan and Cherelle Jay, West End. These queens also played a few shows as various queen combos, as well as performing in West End Live together. They never had any of the same variations.

Shannen Alyce Quan and Madeline Fansler, Australia Tour. These queens performed together as Parr/Boleyn and Aragon/Howard. They never had any of the same variations.

Lauren Drew and Alicia Corrales-Connor, UK Tour. Back in winter 2019-20, Lauren Drew wore a temporary costume made out of modified pieces of former band costumes while she waited for a new Aragon costume. A few weeks later, Alicia left the Norwegian Bliss and temporarily joined the UK Tour as Howard understudy. However, her costume was left on the Bliss for Bryony Duncan to wear, so she also wore a modified band costume when she performed. Alicia went on twice and both times the two of them were on in their modified band costumes. (photo from @/aliciatyra_cc, unsure of origin)

Hana Stewart and Harriet Watson, West End Live. These queens only performed together for West End Live. They both wore their only variation, which were identical.

Esme Rothero and Harriet Caplan-Dean, West End. The newest addition to this post! These queens performed together yesterday for one show as Howard and Parr, respectively. Esme wore her A/H skirt and Harriet wore her pants. (photo from @/elliemaxx)

And a few honorable mentions:

Pictured: Grace Mouat and Collette Guitart (West End), Jennifer Caldwell and Bryony Duncan (UK Tour). Despite us having behind the scenes photos of these queens together in their costumes, these two sets of queens never actually got to perform together onstage in these costumes.

[six-costume-refs]

So for the teal alt seymour skirt I can see a zipper in the back is it on the side or does it not have any?(sorry if this has already been answered but I've been looking everywhere for an answer)

It's on the back, just well hidden! You can briefly see it in this video.

[six-costume-refs]

Why do you think it’s now standard for the teal alt to get pants? It works well for Parr but for the other three typical teal covers (Seymour, Boleyn, Howard) I feel like the shorts would suit better. Seymour is sort of a stretch but teal has actually never played Seymour with pants - it’s either been a skirt (Liz, Bryony, Shannen) or shorts (Jen, CJ, Vicki)

I think it was ultimately a redesign for Paisley Billings as a result of the changing cover/costume system.

Similar to what you pointed out with Seymour, teal didn’t always have a super clear default. It did originate with shorts, with Vicki Caldwell, Jennifer Caldwell, and Cherelle Jay all wearing shorts as either their primary or one of their primary variations. But then Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert had shorts but they weren’t a primary variation, and Bryony Duncan, Elizabeth Walker, and Shannen Alyce Quan all never had shorts OR a particularly generic variation in general. (Also, quick note that Jen did wear her H skirt for Seymour).

Compare that to pink alt, orange alt, and redesigned black, which all always had a consistent primary variation even when some had different variations on top of the main:

(L-R: Vicki Manser with shorts, 2019 West End; Nicole Kyoung-Mi with pants as effectively her primary variation, 2019 pre-Bway US Tour; Bryony Duncan with Howard skirt as effectively her primary variation, 2019 NCL/2021 UK universal swing. Cassy Lee A variation, 2019 UK Tour; Hana Stewart, 2019-21 West End; Zara MacIntosh, 2019-21 West End)

So by the time they got to 2021 West End cast change and the changed alt system, orange/pink both had obvious designs to use, but teal didn’t have anything standardized. That’s probably how we got to the spot of there even being something new.

But as far as why they decided to go for pants rather than shorts or a skirt:

(L-R: Danielle Rose and Paisley Billings, 2021 West End; Elizabeth Walker, 2019 NCL; Grace Melville and Leesa Tulley, 2022 UK Tour; Monique Ashe-Palmer, 2022 West End)

A. Danielle and Paisley got switched in their alt costume assignments, with Paisley originally being intended to have orange. This was after at least initial fittings. It may have been even farther into the process. It’s possible that Paisley got pants purely because she had already been fit and patterned (or with construction even started) for pants with orange alt. That may be supported by the style of her pants, which were the front lacing style that orange typically has. This differed from both all previous teal pants and the next variation as worn by Grace Melville, all of which had side lacing, although with Monique Ashe-Palmer they have switched back to front lacing. So…it’s possible that it was a logistical thing with her having just already been fitted for that style of pants. It’s also just more straightforward and easier to consistently fit for future actors.

B. Still might have just felt like pants were the best fit for Paisley and/or her covers. Shorts were mainly just given as a convenience thing to the alts who were also Cleves covers so they’d only need to change the top, which Paisley obviously didn’t need since she wore principal for Cleves. A skirt would have been most in line with the typical design for B/S/H as 3/4 of her 2nd/3rd covers, but they may have felt like it just wasn’t a good fit for any number of reasons (maybe too many skirts between principals and it being the primary variation for Esme/Rachel/Roxanne). The pants with peplum is undeniably a Parr variation, but Parr was one of her second covers and orange alt for Seymour/Parr has always used pants with peplum as well. The peplum shape also really helps to visually distinguish it. Might have just felt like it was ultimately still different and generic enough to work.

——————————————

First photoset; all photos directly from each actors’ Instagrams

Second photoset: posted by @/claudiakariuki, @/elizabethswalker, @/gracemelville_, @/leahvassell

[six-costume-refs]

hello, jen's howard skirt was modified ? because before the pandemic it had a more open shape and after it was straighter.

No alteration, actually!

Left is at debut, right are post-lockdown.

What you’re picking up on is just the slow breaking down of the materials! That breaking down also causes a breakdown of the structure, which makes the skirts floppier and straighter. That happens naturally with time, and we’ve seen it with literally every costume used for a significant length of time. Nearly all of the 2019-22 UKT costumes were very visibly broken down by the time of cast change, and Howard skirts tend to be particularly visibly so (the more structured something starts out, the more obvious that breakdown is).

[six-costume-refs]

What's the construction method of Shannen's Boleyn skirt? From the looks of it the construction of their skirt seems much more in line with John Kristiansten Boleyn skirts than Kala's. Is this another instance of experimenting costume styles on other productions before using them on Broadway?

A whole lot of it is how short it is. The length automatically makes it much stiffer because there's a lot less weight and surface area to pull it down. It also has much smaller cutouts than the principal Boleyn skirts which increases how much of the surface level has that stiffer layer over.

[six-costume-refs]

do you remember why nicole went on for parr during 2020 previews instead of mallory? i remember hearing it was a costume reason but i cannot find the source or any information on it

If memory serves it was because Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert’s alt costume was closer to the principal Parr costume. The “no alt costumes” rule still applied back then, but the alt’s principal costumes weren’t finished in time for previews and they had a couple significant injuries and illnesses that required cover. That meant that they had to put alts on in whatever costumes were closest to the Broadway principal costumes:

- Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert in Adrianna Hicks’ Chicago Aragon

- Courtney Mack in Andrea Macasaet’s Chicago Boleyn top (which she’d worn previously when she debuted as B) and Broadway skirt

- Mallory Maedke in Abby Mueller’s Chicago Seymour

- Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert in Brittney Mack’s Chicago Cleves

- Courtney Mack in her own top from Chicago and Samantha Pauly’s Broadway skirt (Courtney and Samantha had previously shared a skirt during the Chicago/regional tour run)

- Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert in her teal Parr variation from the Chicago/regional tour, plus a few changes to make it closer to principal Parr

Anna Uzele’s costume was damaged and unable to be used. The wigs, crowns, and jewelry were generally the Broadway designs. Courtney and Mallory’s boots were Bway but Nicole was still in her tour boots.

[six-costume-refs]

is there a reason as to why on Bliss 1.0, Bryony with B/S/H had Teal, and Nat with A/C/P had Black, when on the first US Tour, Mal who relatively covered B/S/H had Black, and Nicole who also relatively covered A/C/P had Teal?

Who gets each costume is going to be up to the associate designers and Gabriella Slade. There are two major factors: the covers, and what color/design looks best on the actors. They seem to have shifted more to focus on covers rather than what would be most flattering on each actor more recently, but at that time that was a huge influence (if not the primary one). 

When they were designing the Chicago costumes for Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert and Mallory Maedke, the only precedent they had was the original West End cast. Grace Mouat had been S/H (later A/H) and black, and Vicki Manser had been B/C and teal. Mallory was B/S/H so closest to Grace, and Nicole was A/C/P so rounded out the teal patterns. Mallory in black and Nicole in teal is also what was most flattering for both of them, so that's what they went with! It’s also very possible that the UK-based costume team assigned covers that way partially to help control the fitting and outcome of the Chicago costumes. Obviously Chicago is far for the UK team to travel to for every fitting, so there was minimal ability for the UK-based team to oversee the costumes being made in real time. They also wouldn’t be able to have much of a hands-on role in working on the new variations. Keeping the Chicago production variations similar or near-identical to the original West End allowed them to use the same patterns and hew as closely as possible to the UK designs/fits with less oversight than UK productions would get.  So...Mallory as B/S/H was closest to Grace's and allowed her to keep the main top and S/H skirt pattern. Nicole as A/C/P allowed them to use the pre-existing teal Cleves, which would/ have been/is still one of the hardest costumes to keep consistent.  Meanwhile for Bliss 1.0....Bryony Duncan and Natalie Pilkington looked better in teal and black, respectively, and honestly I think that was the biggest factor. But their alt covers were also initially different: the costumes were originally ordered and made for Bryony as B/S/P and Natalie as A/C/H, and the switch to B/S/H and A/C/P was only made later. So just like with Chicago, B/C (teal) and S/H (black) was split between the two of them. But unlike Chicago, Bryony had Parr (already associated with teal + teal pants via Nicole). And these alt costumes were made in London by Camden Costumes, the same team that made the original West End alt costumes. That just afforded much more accessibility for Gabriella Slade and the other costume team members to have a hands-on role in working on the new variations and designs, and we did see Gabriella Slade actually posting about working on those samples with Camden Costumes at the time! So...probably primarily what was most flattering on each actor, as well as some of the variance in how costumes were originally assigned + differences in accessibility for designing new variations!