The following italicized article is from www.sltrib.com:People afraid of clowns should avoid Britney Spears' Circus Tour on Tuesday at EnergySolutions Arena.
Menacing "sado-clowns," inspired by sadomasochism, are just some of the dancers/characters who will take the stage alongside Spears in a circus that definitely isn't Barnum & Bailey-issue.
Responsible for costuming the unique characters, as well as Spears, are the Canadian identical twins Dean and Dan Caten. Their design company, DSQUARED, has previously dressed Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake for concert tours. "We've been hoping to work with [Spears] for some time," said Dan Caten in a Salt Lake Tribune interview.
Designing the costumes for Spears' tour is right up the Catens' back alley. The brothers have been known for their provocative ideas since their Milan debut in 1995, and said they were intrigued by the tour's concept of a circus. That theme is drawn from Spears' latest album, titled "Circus."
The title track includes such lines as:
All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus
When I crack that whip, everybody gonna trip just like a circus
Don't stand there watching me, follow me, show me what you can do
Everybody let go, we can make a dance floor just like a circus
"It is a sexualized modern circus," Caten said of the show. "We love contrast. It's taking a new light on a familiar thing."
Perhaps an expected strategy for the controversial singer, now 27, whose latest single, "If You Seek Amy," sounds like an expressionchise that can't be printed in a family newspaper. Setting aside tabloid escapades, that blurring of the line between innocence and decadence has been part of the singer's performing persona since her first video, "... Baby One More Time," was released in 1999. In the infamous video, the then-17-year-old bared her cleavage, midriff and pigtails in a schoolgirl's uniform.
To design costumes for the tour, the Catens collected ideas from Spears, then added their own brainstorms and sketches to the mix. The first costume designed by DSQUARED is inspired by the idea of a seductive lion-tamer.
Caten said he wanted the costume to make Spears appear as the beast and the ringmaster simultaneously, so the brothers designed a red jacket with royal blue cuffs and gold braided details. They added flowing animal hair to the jacket's shoulders and topped everything off with a replica cheetah head adorned with black tulle and ostrich feathers.
When the outfit is completed with fishnets, lace-up boots and a whip, ringmaster Spears will be an antithesis of family-friendly Bello Nock, the head clown of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The sexual allure of the costume is important because it equates to showmanship, according to Caten.
Spears' second costume lies underneath her first and further transforms the singer. After peeling off her ringmaster costume, she reveals herself to be a sexy dominatrix. In a three-piece vixen corset and panty set enriched with Swarovski crystals and draped chiffon, she is thrown into a cage with muzzled, leather-clad sex slaves, a tableau that Caten labeled "erotic."
Those are just the first two costumes. Other characters through the show include the aforementioned "sado-clowns," Parisian balancing acts, "salacious centaurs" and "chiseled and chained Houdini men," according to the Catens.
One thing the designers had to keep in mind is that they were designing a stage show, not a runway show. The outfits Spears and her dancers wear use stretch fabric such as Lycra so that even in the most elaborate costumes, movement isn't hindered.
The overall effect, the designer said, is to take the audience out of the real world and catapult them into an alternate reality that's edgy and sensual. "We want people in the 200th row to get some impact," Caten said.
"I'm truly impressed at the spectacle," said Nicole Sherzinger, leader of the opening act, the Pussycat Dolls, who for once won't provide the most revealing eye candy in the arena.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
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