Queen Mother gowns - different colors?

[sup_fan]

I was looking through Mary’s gown book and there’s a wonderful page of the costume sketches by Michael Travis. For the sketch of the pearl and rhinestone Queen Mother gowns you can see each girl’s name listed in the corner and then something is scratched out. “Pink” is then written beside it. I’m wondering if originally each girl was going to be a different color. But I can’t read it clear enough to tell what

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[RanRan79]

Sup you know I'm not into the dresses, so I can't help you. But I do think it's interesting that they may have been different colors in the designing stage.

I know that in the 70s there were occasions where the outfits were the same but different colors, but was this ever the case in the 60s? I know the "No Matter" outfits were sort of like this, with Mary and Cindy's being one color and Diana's the other, but was there ever a time when they were the exact same except three different colors?

I'm throwing you a bone Sup to talk about the dresses since you love it so much.:cool:

[marybrewster]

The "No Matter" gowns were originally three different colors; the third either being purple or pink, if I recall. Not sure how they ended up as they did.

[marybrewster]

I was looking through Mary’s gown book and there’s a wonderful page of the costume sketches by Michael Travis. For the sketch of the pearl and rhinestone Queen Mother gowns you can see each girl’s name listed in the corner and then something is scratched out. “Pink” is then written beside it. I’m wondering if originally each girl was going to be a different color. But I can’t read it clear enough to tell what

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I think it would be difficult to make these in three different colors. I wonder if the gowns didn't originally have clear stones, but then were changed to pink for an added affect.

[sup_fan]

The "No Matter" gowns were originally three different colors; the third either being purple or pink, if I recall. Not sure how they ended up as they did.

that's a shame when Jean joined they didn't just make her 1 in purple or pink. rather than her and Cindy in blue and Mary in green. or just make Jean a blue one too and all the girls in blue.

[sup_fan]

Sup you know I'm not into the dresses, so I can't help you. But I do think it's interesting that they may have been different colors in the designing stage.

I know that in the 70s there were occasions where the outfits were the same but different colors, but was this ever the case in the 60s? I know the "No Matter" outfits were sort of like this, with Mary and Cindy's being one color and Diana's the other, but was there ever a time when they were the exact same except three different colors?

I'm throwing you a bone Sup to talk about the dresses since you love it so much.:cool:

there were just a few in the 60s

the bronze gowns DMC wore on the opening of their first hosting stint on Hollywood Palace. I think diana's starts bronze on the bodice and then goes to silver by the bottom of the gown whereas M and C start bronze on the body and go to silver by the neck

in TCB they had the 3 colors of pantsuits for the "modern pop songs" segment

in the Fats Waller segment they used pink for Diana and chartreuse for M and C, but these were just costume dept outfits, not their own

on the Bob Hope special for Coronet man, the neckline is different for each sequin mini dress and diana is in green while M and C are blue

the orange pantsuits from the last Hollywood palace and their farewell tour - M and C were orange and diana was a golden color

then in the 70s...

JMC had those blue hot pants with the red tops, as seen on the intro of Flip Wilson and some pics of the onstage. the halter top style differs by girl - cindy is collared, jean is a halter and mary is a keyhole

there's a pic of MJC in silk gowns and the designer is in the pic. some people thought he was Eddie Kendricks. the shades of gowns are various pinks and vary by girl

the tropical gowns from YWSSL had jean in purple and M and L in pink feathers

the chiffon gowns on kate Smith had a different color for each

the red All I Want gowns from Scherrie's debut had different necklines

the green chiffon gowns with SMC were apparently inspired by snakes. all of their bodices are a snakeskin pattern but the neckline is different. mary is strapless but then had some wrist cuffs with the pattern, cindy is a halter and scherrie had a serpent curling around the neck

the white, bronze and white/bronze gowns

the maroon, bronze and black gowns from Sammy & Friends

dream sequence outfits

the jesus robes had different style sleeves for each girl. mary's are like a full kimono style, cindy's were extra full but not as long and scherrie was a more "normal" style sleeve

the white, yellow and orange gowns from HMM on Tonight show

the brown gowns from MSS on Soul Train and the HE videos - Susaye's was more hot pink and purple stripes, scherries were more orange and yellow stripes and mary's had blues and purples

the blue fringe Udo live gowns have different straps. Mary's is just straight spaghetti straps. the other two mixed 1 spaghetti strap and one broad fringed strap. and they were opposite. as if Scherrie had the spaghetti strap on left and the broad strap on right while Susaye had the spag on right and broad on left

hot pink gown never worn - in the gown exhibit 1 dress was displayed. but in the gown book 2 are shown and the neckline differs.

aztec-y/space-y caftans. there are pics of MSS in the pink caftans with multicolored sort of "Aztec" like collars. the pink caftans vary in color for each girl

[RanRan79]

Interesting Sup. What stands out to me most is that, except for the TCB pop hits medley, when the outfits were different it was Diana in one and Mary and Cindy in the matching set [[color or style). Kind of underscores the direction of the group. With Flo all the dresses were the same because each lady was an equal part. They were a group. Once the DRATS period rolled around there were more opportunities to single Diana out as separate from the other two, sometimes.

[marybrewster]

Interesting Sup. What stands out to me most is that, except for the TCB pop hits medley, when the outfits were different it was Diana in one and Mary and Cindy in the matching set [[color or style). Kind of underscores the direction of the group. With Flo all the dresses were the same because each lady was an equal part. They were a group. Once the DRATS period rolled around there were more opportunities to single Diana out as separate from the other two, sometimes.

It was those subtle changes.....

[marybrewster]

That said, I HATED seeing Mary in the green NMWSYA pantsuit, with Jean and Cindy in blue.

[RanRan79]

At that point Mary was Queen Supreme. Somebody had to wear the green, so why not the Queen?

[RanRan79]

Did they ever wear the gold outfits from what is probably the photo session for the cancelled Pure Gold set on stage? If so, that would be one where the original Supremes all had different outfits. Diana's was the only one in a dress, but Flo's outfit appears to be a brighter gold than the other two. I think them performing in those would have set the stage on fire. Florence was killing the game in hers.

[rod_rick]

I never saw a problem with it. And you know it was because of the fit because Jean wore Diana gold pants suit and Cindy and Mary wore the orange

[jim aka jtigre99]

I thought the Queen Mother gowns were all pink, that they photographed light and looked almost white. The NMWSYA gowns had Diana in green and Mary and Cindy in blue. From my understanding when refitting gowns for the JMC era, Mary had to wear some of Diana's gowns, Jean had to wear some of Cindy's and Cindy squeezed into some of Mary's. With those gowns, if Diana's was a different color and Mary had to wear them they really should have been when Mary was being featured in a shared lead or solo. Later on, during the JML years the Tropical gowns had Jean in lilac feathers and Mary and Lynda in pink since those were specifically made for them and during that time it seemed as if Jean was separating herself from Mary and Lynda onstage and in costume much like Ross during the DRATS period. Strangely, the original trio was one that initially focused on each members individual personality yet where they wore identical stage outfits.

[sup_fan]

when the outfits were repurposed for later lineups, it didn't always make sense who got the unique one. with the silver pantsuits, mary wore the green on in the MJC, MJL and MSC lineups. but with those tropical gowns, when they were repurposed for MSC, Scherrie wore the unique one.

for the yellow and orange pantsuits, jean was able to wear Diana's yellow one while M and C kept their orange ones.

i would have guessed the decision would mostly come down to how easily each could be altered. i'm not a seamstress but it must be relatively complex to do and not just "oh make it fit her" frankly i would have guessed that the orange and yellow pantsuits would be harder to adjust since the silver pantsuits had that poncho top which could hid some changes. but again, not my area of expertise