The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical
All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!
The original primary West End cast of Six (Idil Sukan)
Because of its small cast and rabid fanbase, Six has the ability to get away with things that I’m not sure would fly in any other musical. Specifically, each alternate has their own costumes that are separate from the main Queen costumes. In other musicals and plays, it’s standard practice for alternates and understudies to wear the same costume/style of costume as the main actors, with the idea that they should blend in as much as possible. But Six encourages their alternates to stand out and online, the alternates have almost as much of a rabid fanbase as the main actresses!
An Alternate is a performer who occasionally goes on in a role to give the main performer a break. Their performances are usually scheduled. From what I can see online, it seems like each production of Six generally has 2-3 alternates that sub in regularly, primarily for two specific queens. London also has an understudy, who will only go on stage if someone is unexpectedly out, like if an actress is ill. Seems like the formal alternates also jump in as understudies if need be.
It seems like the costume designer and creators have a lot of fun with the alternate costumes, using colors and styles that don’t show up in the main queens’ outfits. None of the costumes are exact copies of any of the queens’ outfits, but they do take a lot of inspiration from them.
I’ll point out a few of the different hairstyles here, but for the most part, I plan to just talk about the different elements of the alternate costumes - which queens they came from, etc.
A TON of people on Tumblr have done more in-depth coverage and include more pictures:
Grace Mouat’s Costume- https://divorcedbeheaded.tumblr.com/post/184743930784/so-as-you-know-the-understudies-cover-all-six
A review of the black and blue alternate costumes: https://lightleckrereins.tumblr.com/tagged/six-alternates
A great overview of all the costumes: https://six-costume-refs.tumblr.com/
Various Instagram Sources: sladegabriella, camden costumes, dxntloseurhead
Let’s start with a look at the black alternate costumes. The alternates change up their hair and makeup to match each queen’s style, and it does seem that certain styles of alternate costumes are worn only with certain queens.
Mallory Maedke is currently the alternate for Boleyn, Seymour, and Howard for Six the Musical: US. As you can see in the left and middle photos, she’s clearly wearing the same or very similar costumes, but her hair is done differently. On the left, she’s going on as Jane Seymour, with the long flowing hair pulled back away from the face, without any studded accessories. I don’t know for certain who she’s playing in the picture on the right, but based on the hair and the wristbands, I’m guessing Anne Boleyn.
These alternate costumes are so interesting, because they have enough elements in common with the usual queen costumes to blend in with the style of the show, but they tend to have a few unusual touches all their own. The grommets and stripes are the most obvious common elements with the other costumes. This dress also has a skirt similar to that seen on Aragon’s, but with more panels, and it goes all the way around. The mesh is similar to that in Boleyn’s outfit and the long sleeves are similar to Seymour’s. The top of the sleeves however is a totally unique feature you don’t see in any of the main queens’ looks. They have a very strong profile and almost look like ribbon on a Christmas present.
ADDED 12/16: Liv Alexander of the Breakaway cruise cast, going on for Boleyn. LOOK at her skirt! No one else has a skirt like that! It’s got more pleats and a fuller silhouette than all the other alternate skirts (it actually looks a lot like the shape of Boleyn’s skirt) and also actually goes completely around, as opposed to the ones that open in the front. The bodice looks identical to Maedke’s above.
Left: Natalie Pilkington- (Bliss cruise alternate) as Catherine Parr.She also has similar sleeves as can be seen in the first Maedke dress. The pants look similar to Parr’s, but if there /is/ lacing on the sides, it doesn’t look near as wide apart as the lacing in Parr’s outfit usually is (although there have been slight variations from actress to actress).
Middle: Mouat and Colette Guitart (understudy, West End) - You can see the details of Mouat’s costume a lot better here - it’s very similar to Maedke’s dress, but appears to have little epaulettes, which seems evocative of castle crenelations or modern military dress. Guitart’s dress has a similar neckline and sleeves, but the top has fewer vertical stripes and more criss-crossing straps. The see through panels in the skirt are very similar to Howard’s skirt.
ADDED 01/15/2020: Natalie Pilkington again - this time as Aragon - Her skirt is a little too shiny for me to see all the details, but it looks kind of like a cross between Mouat’s and Guitart’s in the middle picture: with the cut open and shiny alternating black and white fabric stripes. The emphasized shoulders look very similar to Natalie’s Cleves outfit, but the long sleeves are different and have the really wide lacing on them, which I don’t think any other alternate’s costume has.
ADDED 11/30: Cassie Lee of the UK tour, going on for Anne of Cleves. I haven’t seen this costume before; this one looks very similar to a Vicki Manser’s turquoise Cleves outfit above, but the sleeves are connected and the shorts aren’t cut as high. The jacket’s neck is also higher and the shorts don’t have the diagonal stripes seen on Manser’s.
The next photo also shows Lee, only this time she’s going on for ARAGON [corrected 05/04/2020] (I’ve brightened it up a lot to show the details of the outfit more). This costume is really similar to Grace Mouat’s black one seen above, but there are some slight differences in the beading design of the top, plus, it’s a crop top rather than a dress. It doesn’t appear to have the epaulettes of Mouat’s dress and the material is different, less shiny and smooth and more sparkly.
ADDED 01/15/2020: Natalie Pilkington going on as Cleves - the costume looks similar to Cassie’s Cleves outfit, but with chains and separate long wrist bands instead of long sleeves.
Next - the teal/blue costumes!
Left - Vicki Manser (West End) - Anne of Cleves variation - Here’s where you can see they really started having fun with the costumes. Vicki’s shorts are kind of similar to Cleves, but higher waisted and cut differently - they’re much more classically sci-fi in their looks, particularly with that color! The jacket and top underneath are pretty much straight Cleves, complete with the fur, although the arm warmers are different than Cleves’. The criss cross straps at the type emulate those seen on Cleves and Howard.
Middle: Vicki Manser - All queens except Cleves - The shorts seem identical to the left outfit, although I can’t quite tell if the belt detail is the same; there may be epaulettes at the top? It’s hard to tell. That top though is just delightfully bizarre and totally unlike anything else. It has the shape of Boleyn’s top, with the see-through cut out of Catherine Parr’s top. The horizontal stripes aren’t visible in any of the main queen’s costumes, which all use either diagonal or vertical (or checked in Boleyn’s case).
Right: Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (US) - Aragon/Parr variation – The pants are pure Parr, although the fabric strips connecting the top and the pants are very different and seem to emulate Cleves’ or Howards’ criss-cross straps on their neckline. The top is very similar to the middle Manser look (with the Boleyn style cut and sleeve tops and the Parr style see through cut out), only with the long sleeves of Seymour. It seems to have similar possible epaulettes/belt thing as the Manser look, but with more of them.
Left: Bryony Duncan (Bliss Cruise) - Boleyn- This looks almost exactly like Boleyn’s dress in silhouette, sleeves, wristbands, mesh, and skirt fullness, only the checks are diagonal instead of straight up and sideways. In addition, she has the cut out in the middle like Parr.
ADDED 01/15/2020: Middle: Bryony Duncan - Seymour - The top is similar to the one on the left, but the stripes are tilted differently, plus she has long black sleeves here. The skirt is super cool and unlike any other alternate skirt I’ve seen so far. It looks most like Jane Seymour’s skirt, but shorter and with a belt and contrasting stripes rather than stripes that blend in.
ADDED 01/15/2020: Right: Still Bryony (although doesn’t she look so different from picture to picture?) - Howard - The top is similar to the other two, but just a bit different - it looks like the collar is higher and the sleeves a bit more prominent, plus the long sleeves are blue instead of just black. The skirt is awesome and looks similar to Katherine Howard’s skirt, only with more checked fabric and contrasting stripes. In fact, the Australian Katherine Howard outfit looks JUST very similar to this one, although the Aussie skirt has checked fabric stripes running vertically as well as horizontally and is overall a bit shorter.
Left: Cherelle Jay (West End) - Dressed as Boleyn. The top seems very similar to the Duncan outfit in the middle, with all its similarities to Boleyn’s dress but the shorts has the Cleves belt and the epaulettes seen in Manser’s “all queens but Cleves” outfit.
ADDED 11/30: Right: Jennifer Caldwell of the UK tour, who primarily covers Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. Her top looks a lot like Bryony Duncan’s costume above, but the middle part isn’t as sheer and it looks like the neckline may be a little different. The skirt has vertical checks instead of diagonal, plus she’s got the split in the middle which isn’t present in Duncan’s.
On to the Orange costumes!
Left: Hana Stewart (West End), who alternated primarily as Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr [corrected 05/04/2020]. This top seems to be very similar to the Maedke costume at the very top of the page, only with more busy ribbons on the sleeves - the tops of these sleeves appear to have four individual sections, while the Maedke sleeve tops appear to be one accentuated cap sleeve. The middle black stripe is similar to Catherine Parr’s, but without the sheer fabric. The criss cross laces on the top and the pants appear to be reminiscent of corset laces historically.
Middle: Courtney Stapleton (West End), who alternated primarily as Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr, but also understudied all the other roles. From the hair accessories, it looks like she’s probably going on as Catherine of Aragon or Cleves. This costume looks the same as Stewart’s, except it’s missing the straps in between the top and pants.
ADDED 11/30: Right: Harriet Watson of the UK tour. Her costume is similar to Hana Stewart’s and Courtney Stapleton’s orange outfits above, but looks to have slightly different sleeve material. Plus the top isn’t a crop top. Oh, and the pants are definitely different from Stewart’s; Stewart’s pants have two thinner orange stripes and criss cross lacing , but Watson’s look to just have one big orange stripe.
These pics are from the instagram accounts of costume designer Gabriella Slade and Camden Costumes, one of the people who sew and assemble the costumes. I don’t think these costumes have been used in the show yet, as I can’t find any photos of them anywhere, but they do look really interesting and exciting for the future! The costume in the second from the right looks very similar to the shape of Catherine of Aragon’s dress, but has the checks of Boleyn. The one on the far right reminds me most of the current orange costume, with its peplum, but it has the mesh of boleyn’s costume. The belt detail seems borrowed from Cleves’ shorts.
Finally, the pink costumes!
Shekinah McFarlane (West End), who alternated primarily for Aragon and Cleves. It appears that when she stood in for Cleves though, she wore the regular costume instead of a special alternate costume. She now is Cleves on the UK Tour. This lovely opalescent pink dress has the general shape of Aragon’s dress, with the split skirt and long sleeves. The sleeve top is similar to the blue Duncan costume above, with a Jetsons sort of feel to it. The neck decoration is really interesting - I love how it continues the vertical stripe in the bodice up around the neck. Haven’t seen anything like that in the other costumes. This outfit also has a split peplum on the skirt, which feel similar to the epaulettes seen in other alternate outfits, but is different enough that it stands apart.
Zara McIntosh (West End), who alternates for Howard and Aragon. In these photos, she’s made up for Howard. It’s clearly the same or similar style dress as the one McFarlane is wearing.
I haven’t seen any other opal pink costumes but the fabric is absolutely gorgeous, so I certainly hope that changes soon!