When the Nevada State Museum sought the costumes from the Tropicana’s Les Folies Bergere, it acquired 8,000 pieces from 1959-2009. The new exhibit, Les Folies Bergere: Entertaining Las Vegas One Rhinestone at a Time, features only a fraction of the collection, but still presents a vivid picture of the show through costumes, photographs and anecdotes.
The exhibit has two homes: One at the Nevada State Museum in Springs Preserve, the other at the Las Vegas Convention Center. “The Las Vegas Convention Center is definitely an outside-the-box exhibition venue for the State Museum,” says Karan Feder, guest curator of costumes and textiles at the museum. “More than 1 million national and international folks pass through it each year and hence have an opportunity to learn about Las Vegas’ Folies Bergere”—and the Nevada State Museum.
The exhibit includes the stories of those who wore and worked with the costumes. “The untold stories of the people who brought life to the show are fascinating and give value to the photographs and artifacts,” says Feder, who noted that name tags were left on many of the pieces, indicating who wore them last.
Some of the women who wore these sequins and feathers participated in a panel at the museum to celebrate the exhibit’s opening. Showgirls, dancers and costumers reminisced about their days in the production. Folies dancer Lauri Thompson recalled the importance of what she wore. “I always felt the costume is the character,” she said. “It’s not until you get into the costume that you get your alter ego.”
But it wasn’t effortless glamour. Dancer Teri Thorndike remembered the first time she put on one of the spectacular headdresses. “I’ve got to dance like this?” she said. “It was tough. They weighed 30 pounds. But they were beautiful.”
That beauty may no longer be strutting the stage on the Strip, but thankfully it’s back out where the public can appreciate it.
Through Jan. 15, Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, in Springs Preserve; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue-Sun, (702) 486-5205; Las Vegas Convention Center 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Fri, (702) 892-0711.
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