On the subject of gowns.....

[sup_fan]

the girls wore the outfits multiple times. I think it was just more of a situation of what's clean, what isn't off being repaired, what do we have with us on this specific tour. odds are they didn't travel with every single outfit. they would take a batch at a time, while others were at the cleaners, back at designers getting repairs done, etc. tv appearances were scheduled in the midst of tours and other appearances. so when the girls did Ed Sullivan in 12/69 and wore the gold lame, it's probably just because they happened to have that set with them at the time, among 6 or 8 others.

In total, during the DRATS years they had 25 or so gowns to work with during the years. plus the 8 or so hold-overs from the Flo era.

now back to the topic

they wore the gold "right on" gowns on the hollywood palace during their 1st stint as hosts. wore them again on Ed Sullivan for Impossible Dream

orange and yellow pantsuits - I know they wore this during Someday on their last Hollywood Palace appearance. not aware of another tv show but there's shots during their farewell tour pics in these outfits. as were the pink rhinestones from TCB, Queen mother show and the farewell tour. they were also on the TCB cover art [[inside pic) and the farewell cover shot on the box set. same with the silver and blue/green No Matter What Sign U R pantsuits.

the 70s sups rewore these silver pantsuits on Smokey Special. the butterflies from TCB re-appared on Pearl Bailey special. the multi-color halters from Tennessee Ernie Ford reappeared on Kate Smith during Bad Weather

the beige chandeliers were on Tennessee Ernie and then again on cover of Talk of the Town

same with the black velvet with paisley - on the GIT special and again for the final farewell.

the black beaded gowns were repeated on Ed Sullivan Forever Came Today and Tonight show Somewhere when MLK died


As for Diana - i did read that lots of her outfits have been stored. however given the tenure of her career, i'm sure lots have been sent to some sort of gown graveyard lol

[captainjames]

the girls wore the outfits multiple times. I think it was just more of a situation of what's clean, what isn't off being repaired, what do we have with us on this specific tour. odds are they didn't travel with every single outfit. they would take a batch at a time, while others were at the cleaners, back at designers getting repairs done, etc. tv appearances were scheduled in the midst of tours and other appearances. so when the girls did Ed Sullivan in 12/69 and wore the gold lame, it's probably just because they happened to have that set with them at the time, among 6 or 8 others.

In total, during the DRATS years they had 25 or so gowns to work with during the years. plus the 8 or so hold-overs from the Flo era.

now back to the topic

they wore the gold "right on" gowns on the hollywood palace during their 1st stint as hosts. wore them again on Ed Sullivan for Impossible Dream

orange and yellow pantsuits - I know they wore this during Someday on their last Hollywood Palace appearance. not aware of another tv show but there's shots during their farewell tour pics in these outfits. as were the pink rhinestones from TCB, Queen mother show and the farewell tour. they were also on the TCB cover art [[inside pic) and the farewell cover shot on the box set. same with the silver and blue/green No Matter What Sign U R pantsuits.

the 70s sups rewore these silver pantsuits on Smokey Special. the butterflies from TCB re-appared on Pearl Bailey special. the multi-color halters from Tennessee Ernie Ford reappeared on Kate Smith during Bad Weather

the beige chandeliers were on Tennessee Ernie and then again on cover of Talk of the Town

same with the black velvet with paisley - on the GIT special and again for the final farewell.

the black beaded gowns were repeated on Ed Sullivan Forever Came Today and Tonight show Somewhere when MLK died


As for Diana - i did read that lots of her outfits have been stored. however given the tenure of her career, i'm sure lots have been sent to some sort of gown graveyard lol

WOW you really did your homework on this.

[bradsupremes]

I believe the Black & White Striped gowns that Diana, Mary and Cindy wore in mid to late 1967 were originally fitted for Diana, Mary and Florence.

The gowns from the Florence era that were carried over to the Cindy era were:

- The white diagonal "lightning strikes" gowns
- The pink beaded tops with bow gowns
- The red sequin and beaded gowns
- The yellow/green caped gowns [[worn on Ed Sullivan - "The Happening")
- The white beaded top & pink gowns [[live photo of Diana wearing it on "Reflections" album. Also live photo of Diana, Mary and Cindy wearing them on the Mexican version of the "Reflections" album.)
- The pink chiffon gowns [[worn on Ed Sullivan - "My Favorite Things")
- The white beaded top gowns with fur coats [[worn on Rodgers & Hart Special)
- The white beaded neck and chiffon gowns
- The white beaded & black chiffons gowns [[worn on Sammy Davis special with the Andrews Sisters)

I'm sure there are more, but we don't have the pictures to see which ones.

[reese]

...orange and yellow pantsuits - I know they wore this during Someday on their last Hollywood Palace appearance. not aware of another tv show...

They also wore these pantsuits on the Smokey Robinson special from 1970. But they had big bows at the neck instead of the emblem seen during the Diana days.

[jillfoster]

They also wore these pantsuits on the Smokey Robinson special from 1970. But they had big bows at the neck instead of the emblem seen during the Diana days.

emblem? I think the word you might be reaching for is Brooch.

[MissLish]

Tracee has reported that Miss Ross still has all of her costumes and that they are archived and organized.

[marybrewster]

Tracee has reported that Miss Ross still has all of her costumes and that they are archived and organized.

Thanks Miss Lish. I also recall one of Diana's daughters mentioning that she [[Tracee?) wore one of Diana's vintage Halston's to some gala.

[reese]

Thanks Miss Lish. I also recall one of Diana's daughters mentioning that she [[Tracee?) wore one of Diana's vintage Halston's to some gala.

A while back, one of the tabloids ran a photo of Tracee wearing one of her mother's Hollywood Palace outfits to some event. It was the outfit Diana wore when she and Stevie Wonder sang I'M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME.

[bradsupremes]

Mary's gowns are also in archival boxes with names and photos of each gown taped on the box along with archival numbers.

[Supremecouture]

In the summer of 1967 Cindy was asked to select 12 costumes belonging to the Flo era - we have photos of her wearing 11 of these - the 12th being the set of tuxedos [[not the Ed Sullivan ones). They were selected with the criteria of being current and in pristine condition. None of Flo's gowns required any alteration for Cindy. In the Spring of 1968 when the new image Micheal Travis gowns were firmly eastablished, the crossover gowns and the rest of Flo's 1965/66/and early 1967 gowns amounting to 28 sets of 3 went in to storage in Detroit. In 1972 when Motown moved to Los Angeles the iconic gowns went missing, leaving Mary with only post Flo era gowns [[the Primettes gown and the pink chiffon tiered creation are fakes in her exhibition.) Nine sets of post Flo gowns were lost in the 1974 Mexico fire and the 'Snowstorm' pantsuits were stolen in 1973. Mary has almost everything else 1967-1977, with the odd set not yet accounted for.

Over the years 3 sets of Flo era gowns [[1965-1967) have been offered for sale on E-bay, which the fans bought and returned them to Mary. These consisted of the 'Rock Candies', the Hawaain Fantasies' and the 'White De-minks'. Two other pristine sets of Flo era gowns [[65/66) were displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in the 1990s which consisted of the 'Shimmering Sweethearts' and the 'Midnight Blue' halters. The red 'Shimmy' fringed gowns shown in Rock Cafes are also re-makes. There are currently 23 of the Flo mid-60s era gowns missing. It is believed that a handful of the gowns which were in for renovation, were looted from the cleaners during the Detroit riots in 1967 before the building was torched. Flo requested her gowns back as part of her settlement but this was not honoured. Hope this clarifies.

[smark21]

In the summer of 1967 Cindy was asked to select 12 costumes belonging to the Flo era - we have photos of her wearing 11 of these - the 12th being the set of tuxedos [[not the Ed Sullivan ones). They were selected with the criteria of being current and in pristine condition. None of Flo's gowns required any alteration for Cindy.

So if I read this correctly, then Cindy, the new member, was picking out what gowns the act would continue on with when she joined the act?

[robbert]

In the summer of 1967 Cindy was asked to select 12 costumes belonging to the Flo era - we have photos of her wearing 11 of these - the 12th being the set of tuxedos [[not the Ed Sullivan ones). They were selected with the criteria of being current and in pristine condition. None of Flo's gowns required any alteration for Cindy. In the Spring of 1968 when the new image Micheal Travis gowns were firmly eastablished, the crossover gowns and the rest of Flo's 1965/66/and early 1967 gowns amounting to 28 sets of 3 went in to storage in Detroit. In 1972 when Motown moved to Los Angeles the iconic gowns went missing, leaving Mary with only post Flo era gowns [[the Primettes gown and the pink chiffon tiered creation are fakes in her exhibition.) Nine sets of post Flo gowns were lost in the 1974 Mexico fire and the 'Snowstorm' pantsuits were stolen in 1973. Mary has almost everything else 1967-1977, with the odd set not yet accounted for.

Over the years 3 sets of Flo era gowns [[1965-1967) have been offered for sale on E-bay, which the fans bought and returned them to Mary. These consisted of the 'Rock Candies', the Hawaain Fantasies' and the 'White De-minks'. Two other pristine sets of Flo era gowns [[65/66) were displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in the 1990s which consisted of the 'Shimmering Sweethearts' and the 'Midnight Blue' halters. The red 'Shimmy' fringed gowns shown in Rock Cafes are also re-makes. There are currently 23 of the Flo mid-60s era gowns missing. It is believed that a handful of the gowns which were in for renovation, were looted from the cleaners during the Detroit riots in 1967 before the building was torched. Flo requested her gowns back as part of her settlement but this was not honoured. Hope this clarifies.

Now, this is the kind of posts I stay on this forum for. Thank you, Supremecouture! You wouldn't mind me asking about your sources to this wonderful detailed info about the dresses? Just a hint will do.

Having said that, I always get confused comparing names of dresses with pictures of them, since English is not my mother tongue and I am not a tailor or otherwise known with terms in haute couture
Is there anywhere a site where pics of the dresses are shown, next to the names they are usually given? At the same time, it seems that the names vary every now and then...

[topdiva1]

In the summer of 1967 Cindy was asked to select 12 costumes belonging to the Flo era - we have photos of her wearing 11 of these - the 12th being the set of tuxedos [[not the Ed Sullivan ones). They were selected with the criteria of being current and in pristine condition. None of Flo's gowns required any alteration for Cindy. In the Spring of 1968 when the new image Micheal Travis gowns were firmly eastablished, the crossover gowns and the rest of Flo's 1965/66/and early 1967 gowns amounting to 28 sets of 3 went in to storage in Detroit. In 1972 when Motown moved to Los Angeles the iconic gowns went missing, leaving Mary with only post Flo era gowns [[the Primettes gown and the pink chiffon tiered creation are fakes in her exhibition.) Nine sets of post Flo gowns were lost in the 1974 Mexico fire and the 'Snowstorm' pantsuits were stolen in 1973. Mary has almost everything else 1967-1977, with the odd set not yet accounted for.

Over the years 3 sets of Flo era gowns [[1965-1967) have been offered for sale on E-bay, which the fans bought and returned them to Mary. These consisted of the 'Rock Candies', the Hawaain Fantasies' and the 'White De-minks'. Two other pristine sets of Flo era gowns [[65/66) were displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in the 1990s which consisted of the 'Shimmering Sweethearts' and the 'Midnight Blue' halters. The red 'Shimmy' fringed gowns shown in Rock Cafes are also re-makes. There are currently 23 of the Flo mid-60s era gowns missing. It is believed that a handful of the gowns which were in for renovation, were looted from the cleaners during the Detroit riots in 1967 before the building was torched. Flo requested her gowns back as part of her settlement but this was not honoured. Hope this clarifies.

WELL NOW - since the Flo gowns did not require ANY alterations for Cindy - that kills the long standing urban legend that FLO WAS FIRED BECAUSE SHE WAS FAT - NOW WHAT!!!!