ADORE: Can you tell us about the outfits you put together for Miss Pinup and why you chose them? FRAN: I wanted to make sure that my outfits were authentic to my personality, and I didn’t want people to forget them! When I first started working in theatre, I was told that if your character has costume changes you should keep their whole wardrobe in a similar tonal range, so that it’s easier for the audience to recognise them, so I applied this principal to my outfits for the pageant. I knew that the first outfit I was walking out on stage in would be my Day Wear, so I needed to make sure it was a showstopper. For years I’ve been planning to make a skirt out of fake flowers, so this seemed like as good an excuse as any! I went with a ‘Garden Party’ theme and collected fake flowers in sunset colours to make the skirt, but made sure to tone it down a touch by pairing it with brown leather and wooden accessories, and a crisp white shirt. I used about 600 flowers, all up, and 7 metres of tulle, so it was a small miracle that it fit in the car! Next up was our Talent section! I sing and play the ukulele, so I wanted something with a fun and tropical vibe to match the laid-back tropical song that I was singing. I won a competition to have local designer Honey L’Amour make me an outfit for the competition, and I know she and I have a similar appreciation for colour, so I basically just told her I wanted to look like a sunrise, gave her my measurements, and she went to work! The top and skirt she made me were so perfect, and a friend ADORE PIN UP 52
made me a beautiful hair flower and some shoe clips to go with it, so once I added bamboo jewellery from another friend, it ended up being my favourite outfit – because it had the most soul, you know? The section that was most stressful for me, as a plus-sized girl, was Beach Wear, so that was the one I had focused my energies on first. I am a very confident person, but of course I have my insecurities, so I wanted to make sure that that outfit in particular was something that would make me feel spectacular. I am fairly renowned for my love of bright colours, tropical prints, and fruit jewellery, so I decided on a Carmen Miranda inspired outfit. I made myself a gigantic fruit hat, and a sheer tulle overskirt covered in colourful lace ruffles and beads to match my favourite bikini. I bedazzled a pair of shoes and covered them in fake flowers, and my husband helped me turn a parasol into a walking cane! For my Evening Wear I had a few challenges, namely that I can’t walk in long dresses. I lost the sensation in one of my legs after an accident, so I rely on my peripheral vision to know where I’m walking, which means I need to be able to see my feet. This meant that I needed to find something that was short, but could still hold its own against the gorgeous gowns that I knew the other contestants would have. I’m also not a particularly elegant person usually, so I wanted to take the opportunity to be a bit of a princess! I found an amazing glass sceptre at an antique shop, and bought some clear lucite ‘glass