9/9/2022
Performances and Artists / Broadway Las Vegas
Costume designer Gabriella Slade beams when she recalls her eagerness to create eye-popping costumes for the mesmerizing musical “SIX.”
“I just loved the idea of Henry VIII’s wives being a contemporary pop band. That was enough for me,” Slade recalls with a laugh. “When I realized we were going to do contemporary and historical (costumes) paired together, that was a massive draw for me.”
Her instincts proved right with this uplifting musical, which gives these long-overlooked queens the chance to tell their stories in a show presented as an electrifying pop concert.
In just a few years, “SIX” has rapidly advanced from fringe performances in England to a Tony-winning Broadway show. Southern Nevadans can enjoy its rousing musical numbers when “SIX” visits The Smith Center September 20 to October 2.
The elaborate, dazzling costumes for the six queens represent a core visual of the musical, Slade says, as the show has no moving set pieces and no other costume changes.
“Everything feels really important, because that’s what you see throughout the show,” she explains.
On top of this, she created the costumes to reflect both contemporary culture and the Tudor period from which the real queens hailed.
Juggling all of this proved worthwhile, Slade says, in supporting the show’s powerful message.
“This was a retelling of (the queens’) story to embrace the female voice, and it was going to change the way history has been written,” she says. “We wanted to give the empowerment back to the women.”
Inspired by Real Life Pop Stars
Naturally, Slade gleaned fashion ideas from modern pop icons.
It helped that the “SIX” creators picked specific pop idols as inspiration for each queen’s personality in the show, she notes.
This includes linking the fierce Beyonce to Catherine of Aragon, carefree Avril Lavigne to Anne Boleyn, soulful Adele to Jane Seymour, spunky Nicki Minaj to Anne of Cleves, elegant Ariana Grande to Catherine Howard and fiery Alicia Keys to Catherine Parr.
“There were those immediate references there,” Slade says. “But that didn’t necessarily stop me from looking further, to getting a broader understanding of current pop styles.”
Slade also researched each queen’s life, and incorporated aspects of their stories into their attire.
Anne Boleyn’s green dress, for instance, ties into the song “Greensleeves” that the king wrote for her. Jane Seymour, known as the king’s only true love, wears a white gown that resembles a wedding dress.
All of the queen’s costumes share commonalities, Slade adds, like crowns and studded boots.
“It was really important to give each queen their own identity and their own silhouette to be empowering, but we also dressed them as a unit, so they looked like a pop band,” she says.
A Deep Dive Into History
To give the show historic authenticity, Slade heavily researched the English Tudor period.
This included exploring the era’s royal fashion, women’s fashion, men’s fashion, military hair styles, jewelry design and even architecture, Slade says.
“I wanted to get a really broad understanding of the aesthetic of the time,” she says.
She incorporated her research into every aspect of the queen’s costumes. The square necklines reflect the fashion of the time, she says, while geometric patterns reference the era’s stained glass.
The stud trim throughout the queens’ attire alludes to the adornments most royals wore.
“It was about using contemporary fabrics, and it was about getting in historical details,” Slade says.
Rewriting History
Slade lauds that this musical sheds a more positive light on the six queens’ stories, who remain famous for their ends of beheaded, divorced, died and survived.
“They all had a really horrible time,” Slade remarks. “There was a such a male dominance through Henry VIII’s reign, it felt like regardless of what they did, they were going to get it wrong. And they certainly paid the price for that, some more than others.”
SEE THE SHOW
“SIX” runs September 20 to October 2 – CLICK HERE for tickets.