Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!
Ahead of tonight’s Maskedsinger final, Lisa Sewards goes behind the scenes for the biggest reveal of all – what’s it really like to wear those outfits?
We go behind the scenes on The Masked Singer to find out what it’s really like inside those costumes before tonight’s grand final
ABush Baby and a Badger, a Seahorse, a Swan and a Sausage… they’re just some of the surreal characters who’ve been brightening up the gloom on these lockdown Saturday nights in TV’S craziest talent show The Masked Singer – and 7 million viewers each week have been hooked trying to work out who they really are.
Part singing contest, part guessing game, the show has got the nation chanting ‘Take it off! Take it off!’ at the big reveal each week along with the audience and panel – but the biggest draw is surely the outlandish costumes the performers wear. And nothing can prepare you for the larger-than-life experience the stars go through until you actually try one on, as I had the privilege to do at Brighton-based Plunge Creations where the extraordinary disguises are made.
Costume designer Tim Simpson, one of the very few people who knows who’s inside each costume, is there to guide me round his team’s workshop and immediately my eyes are drawn to the most imposing costume of all – Swan. Made up of three parts and worn by singer and actor Martine Mccutcheon who was eliminated in week three, the sheer size of its head and neck alone is enough to make you gasp.
‘Swan is 7ft 6in tall and the performer looks out of the neck behind layers of sheer organza, silk and netting,’ explains Tim. ‘There’s a slightly flamenco feel to it. It took five weeks to make, it just kept growing and growing with more and more frills to create seven layers. There are 120 metres of frill and 4,500 gemstones.
‘It started as a white swan but I thought it looked too bridal. My cousin lives in Canada and there’s a black swan on the lake she lives next to, so I got her to send me a picture. I thought, “That’s our swan!” We then added a red beak, and silver and red trims for definition.’
The biggest problem with Swan was trying to make its head stable. ‘There’s a lot of weight up top so we did a separate fitting at Martine’s house,’ says Tim. ‘We set up a marquee in her garden and her son had to stay indoors as he wasn’t allowed to see. When we gave her a boxing helmet to support the head she was suddenly able to relax. She gets a bad back sometimes too so we had to be careful fitting the wings.’
And now for the big moment – it’s
my turn to try on Swan. First on are the wet-look leggings, the beautifully ruffled lightweight flamenco dress with heavier, stiffer layers of neck ruffles, and the sparkly 4½in wedge boots. Martine said these made her feel less likely to topple over, which is understandable when the rib harness that supports the enormous wings is fitted to my shoulders like a backpack. I almost fall over myself… no wonder Martine needed two weeks of physiotherapy afterwards.
But this is nothing compared to the weight of the flocked velvet Swan neck and head, with its gun metal and onyx crystals that took two weeks to apply. On goes the boxing helmet that supports this extraordinary structure, covered at the bottom with endless ruffles through which I peep via a mesh panel. Immediately it starts to tilt and I panic, before the whole thing is screwed on even tighter, creating instant heat and claustrophobia.
Taking a few steps forward is terrifying, even in the stabilising wedge boots, as my vision is so restricted. I wave my arms up and down as instructed to indicate a heat panic onset, just as the competitors are
told to do. Martine understands immediately. ‘I thought the outfit was spectacular, very grand and full of sparkle, but I was so hot and claustrophobic in there,’ she says. ‘The mask weighs a ton and I couldn’t see anything. But before I was unmasked I felt like I was just getting started, and I’d finally managed to stand up properly in the outfit.’ That’s a lot more than I can say…
Next it’s on to Seahorse, an altogether lighter creation worn by Mel B until she was eliminated in week two. ‘Don’t worry,’ Tim reassures me. ‘This one feels really light and it’s almost see-through so it’s among the easiest to wear.’
That’s not what I’m worried about here to be honest. The terror this time is the fact that Mel, despite her fabulous curves, is a size 6. So thank goodness Seahorse’s trousers are stretchy, and
Mel’s sparkly, hand-stitched elf boots fit like a dream. ‘I loved getting into this sweet, cutesy character, which is a bit different for me,’ says Mel. ‘But I suggested a few little tweaks – for example, I had to have high heels. They were hidden in a wedge but if I’d had my way they would have been even higher.’
The organza and silk peplum skirt, which sits awkwardly skewwhiff
on me, is a different matter altogether. It makes me feel like a preposterous children’s party entertainer. As does the fan-like collar, all hand-stitched with sequins, which balances on the shoulders thanks to the steel boning hiding the battery packs powering the 450 LED lights.
Then comes the headgear, which feels featherlight as it’s made of fine piano wires soldered together, but I still have problems. ‘The mask was pretty hard to wear because it was hard to breathe, which makes it even more difficult to sing, especially as I was trying to sing in this breathy, girly voice,’ explains Mel. Fortunately no one’s expecting me
to sing. Simply trying to see is difficult though, especially with Seahorse’s long snout, but I have to say it is an exquisite costume. This wasn’t always the case, however. The production team start with up to 70 costume ideas, which they then whittle down to the final 12, and each performer is offered two options to choose from. ‘We’re sent their measurements and then we get body doubles to do the fittings for the costume they’ve chosen,’ says Tim. ‘But it’s not until we get on set that we know whether it works for the star. We worked from Mel B’s body double but when we got on set we looked at the costume and thought, “This isn’t glam enough. There’s not enough oomph.” So we had 24 hours to almost completely redesign Seahorse. We sewed her a new suit and then added the gemstones.’
Some of the costumes have seen even more drastic changes. ‘Sausage started off as a packet of chips,’ says Tim. ‘I didn’t know where the face would go on a packet of chips, so then I
decided on a gherkin with a green knobbly costume.
‘The production team took one look at it and said, “No, it’s going to turn into a sausage.” There was a moment when I thought a sausage might be a little questionable, so we put a massive smiley face on it and it was fine without a head at all.’
Without the cumbersome headgear, maybe I should have chosen Sausage for my Masked Singer moment? It’s the show’s creative director Beth Honan, who dreams up the imaginary worlds and mannerisms for each character, who persuades me otherwise. ‘Sausage is cheeky with a swagger and a little beat of the chest,’ she says. ‘One of my favourite routines was the one where we did chips and gherkins falling in slow motion in the background. But for Swan I envisaged Moulin Rouge and fabulousness, all things decadent.’
Gherkins or glamour? Sorry, but I know which I’d be plumping for… The Masked Singer: The Final, tonight, 7pm, ITV.