Sue Blane

Sue Blane studied costume design at Wolverhampton College of Art and Central School of Art and Design, finishing in 1971. She went to work for the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre, where she designed the costumes for Lindsay Kemp's production of The Maids in 1971, starring Tim Curry as Solange, wearing a black corset. She met director Jim Sharman in London in 1973, when he was looking for a costume designer for Richard O'Brien's new, low-budget musical The Rocky Horror Show at the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs. Won over by Sharman's desperation, and pleased to be working with Tim Curry again, she borrowed Curry's corset from the Citizen's Theatre, glued on sequins, and created Frank-n-Furter's look and those of the other characters. Blane designed the Los Angeles (Roxy), Australia and 1975 Broadway productions of the play, as well as The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and its sequel Shock Treatment (1981). Blane became a respected London theatre costume designer, with occasional forays into film and TV.