Costumes: Thoroughly Modern Millie

Costumes for Thoroughly Modern Millie

The musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie (based on the movie with the same title) is about Millie Dillmount, a small town girl from Salina, Kansas, who leaves home and goes to New York City in 1922. She comes to New York to marry, but for money and not for love. She “raises her skirt and bobs her hair” and joins the modern world by adapting to the “flapper” style. She checks into a The Hotel Priscilla (run by Mrs. Meers) –the hotel is actually a cover for a white slavery ring in China. Millie gets a job at Sincere Trust Insurance Company, run by Trevor Graydon –who she intends to marry. Along the way, she becomes friends with Miss Dorothy –who Millie then has to save from Meers’ white slavery plan and falls for a poor, but fun man, Jimmy…. who ends up being rich, after all.

Millie:

Millie, having adopted the flapper style will dress that way. Her hair is brown and bobbed. All of her dresses (of course, dresses!) will be in the flapper style –with a low waistline and possibly fringed ends. She would also wear a long strand of beads and a 1920s hat.

Dorothy:

Dorothy has not adopted the flapper style, so her clothing will be much more conservative and simple –kind of like an old doll. Also, her dresses would reflect her elevated financial and social status. She would wear very neutral colors. Her hair would be stereotypically curled. She of course would be wearing a hat, but not the style as Millie’s.

Jimmy:

Jimmy definitely dresses well with his hair slicked to the side. He’d have a burgundy sport coat, tie and black pinstriped pants. He would also wear a 1920s fedora.

Trevor is they very straightforward, no-nonsense type, but his financial status is very high, so his clothing would reflect that. He would wear a black –well put together and well-fitting suit. His hair would look well kept and professional.