Casgliadau Arlein

Bolero-style jacket worn by drag queen Marcia Bassey Jones. Marcia was a mainstay on the Cardiff drag scene from the mid-1980s performing in venues such as the Tunnel, Wow and Minsky’s.

Short bolero-style jacket made from brown sequinned fabric. The sequins, which are silver with a holographic coating, are machine-stitched to a fine synthetic jersey ground. They are arranged in tightly spaced wavy lines. The arms are wide but come together in a narrow cuff at about elbow height. There is no turn-back at the cuffs, they are merely finished with machine-made zigzag stitches. The baggy torso is gathered into a 5.5cm wide edging tape made from the same material. surrounding the neckline and down the centre front is a puffy collar. It is made from the same sequinned material which is gathered into the neck and front opening of the jacket. The widest point (21cm) is at CB. It is not clear what the puffy collar is filled with. The filling feels crinkly and could be something like plastic bag material. There is a large 2.2cm Ø metal popper button stitched to the edging tape for fastening the jacket.