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"   Photo: Gemma Ray  Like her music\u2014which blends the best elements of alt-pop, surf rock, and `60s girl group harmonies\u2014Gemma Ray&amp;#039;s onstage style is all her own. &amp;quot;I usually bring about six dresses for shows and wear them each night like a uniform,&amp;quot; says the British-born, Berlin-based musician, who has just embarked on a two-week tour across the US in support of her upcoming sophomore album Island Fire. Yes, that even includes flight attendant-inspired ensembles. See her when she brings her retro-inspired songs\u2014and gravity-defying bouffant\u2014to your city, or get a sneak peek of what she&amp;#039;s packed for the trip here. Outfit breakdown: I got my dress from an antique shop in Cape Town, South Africa. It was originally more of a gown\u2014really baggy\u2014but my mum is a great tailor and redesigned it to fit me. The boots I got from a vintage shop called Pop Boutique in Covent Garden, London. I wanted some Nancy Sinatra-style boots and always try to buy secondhand leather if I can. The heels are as high as I can handle onstage\u2014playing guitar and pressing the foot pedals in heels takes practice. I need to do a &amp;quot;shoecheck&amp;quot; as well as a soundcheck to make sure I can operate my equipment without losing my balance! The white tights are American Apparel, and I&amp;#039;m also wearing a chunky, asymmetric, clear green `60s ring, which you can&amp;#039;t see\u2014I like keeping jewelry minimal, bold, and a bit ugly. I brought this outfit on tour because: This dress is my current favorite for live shows, as it seems to suit the vibe of my new album and even the title itself, Island Fire. I wrote and recorded it on my travels in various islands\u2014South Africa, Giske, Australia etc.\u2014and the print reflects this adventurous mood I think. You can&amp;#039;t place where it&amp;#039;s from, nor what era, and that aesthetic suits all of the songs I play in my set. I get described as retro a lot, which isn&amp;#039;t really true; my music is very eclectic, so it&amp;#039;s very important for me to find the right dress which suits it and doesn&amp;#039;t pigeonhole me too much.My personal style is: unique, comfortable, bright and bold. I love vivid color and strong silhouettes that feel more classic and timeless than pastiche vintage. I also like to buy things that already have a story and a past; I just don&amp;#039;t feel comfortable in new things (except underwear)\u2014they feel soulless to me somehow, though I often like modern cuts on other people.If this outfit were one of my songs, it would be: maybe &amp;quot;Trou De Loup,&amp;quot; as it&amp;#039;s a deep-sea slash Forbidden Island adventure story, and I feel a bit like a retro-futuristic tribal adventuress in this dress. I think the white tights give it a slightly retro-futuristic spacey feel, which is another element to the lyrics in this song. I always pack: all my writing notepads and a nice, fine black pen so I [can] keep working on new projects. A sleep mask. Facial wipes. Lots of Tresemme extra-strong hold, dehumidifying hairspray (which the boys use, too). Oh, and MAC gel eyeliner\u2014it never budges onstage!  You&amp;#039;d never catch me onstage wearing: something deliberately casual or androgynous\u2014I think some female musicians look great sporting the `down-playing&amp;#039; look onstage, but it&amp;#039;s just not me. My pre-tour shopping spot is: a great vintage shop in Berlin, where I live, called Alex on Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse. It&amp;#039;s really cheap and has great vintage dresses and cheap casuals. Oh, and if I&amp;#039;m Britain, lots of my favorite hairspray!      The best on-the-road purchase I ever made was: a red, white, and blue air hostess-style `60s dress I wear in my video for &amp;quot;Rescue Me.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s my most trusty stage uniform and the colors make me look patriotic to most countries I tour in! I found it in Beacon&amp;#039;s Closet in Williamsburg, [Brooklyn] for $8. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a18109/backstage-pass-gemma-ray-42273/>