Provenance:
Larry Viezel purchased the boa directly from Yasmin Pettigrew, the costume mistress at the Theatre Upstairs. It's supposedly the one that Nell used during filming. It was displayed at two conventions in 2006. Larry was kind enough to let me take some photos at the Manchester convention; a couple of months later I was scooped by Sarah Kucera, who took photos at the Chicago convention and posted them to the Livejournal group rhpscostumes years before I ever got around to putting mine up. Thanks to Sarah for letting me use her pics here - they're the big ones, credited to SK.
Sarah's description is pretty good, so here it is:
"The boa is made out of two different materials. The body of the boa is made out of black, red, and yellow (with a slight greenish hue to it that is probably aging related). I don't know what the material is, but after having it in my hand I would use iridescent bridal organza to get the metallic sort of look that the yellow, black, and red have. The last approximately 24 inches of the boa on each end are made of black chiffon. It has a totally different texture and weight and movement to it than the black in the body of the boa. The yellow is a thin strip that goes through nearly the entire body of the boa. There are two separate red strips that are in the boa, one on one side of the body and another on the other. The center two feet has no red in it at all.
The entirety of it is a black serged edge.
The tassels on the end are longer than the ones that are a little further in. The large tassels have three small bulbous sections at the top formed by a thin line of thread."
On the subject of tassels, this boa has three: 2 on one end and one on the other. I'm assuming originally there were two per end. Sarah writes: "There are two large tassels on the ends of the chiffon and there are two smaller tassels on the ends of the organza. One of the tassels is missing at this time, but it was most likely there and fell off over the last 30 years."
Click on images to enlarge:
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| The boa tassels on the end | The nobbly-topped tassel | The three-bump tassel |
Photos of the boa from one end to the other (click to enlarge):
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| Black end of the boa, with bits of red and black | Red and black, with the start of the yellow. Note how the black fabric here is shiny as opposed to the chiffon | Black and yellow center of the boa - note there's no red here |
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| Black and yellow center of the boa | Black and yellow center of the boa with the start of red | Red, black, and yellow parts of the boa |
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| Red, black, and yellow parts of the boa | End of the yellow, red, and black portion of the boa | Black and red at the end of the boa |
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| Black end of the boa | Where the yellow fabric starts | Center tape (photo by SK) |
Photos of the boa being work (by SK)
Sarah writes: "I am 5'2" in the boots I am wearing and the boa drags on the floor on both sides....While I didn't have a measuring tape with me, I would guesstimate that the boa is at least 9 feet long."
Sarah adds "the red stops where the boa should drape around the neck and the boa at that point consists only of yellow and black. You can also note that both ends of the boas are black only. This black isn't the same material as the rest of the body of the boa. The majority of the boa is sparkle organza type material, while the solid black ends are a heavy weight chiffon."
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