Kiss News

Hannah Kinkade, head of costume for KISS, tells us what it’s like to dress the Hottest Band In The World

By Emma Cownley / www.loudersound.com

How many professionals start their day by scrubbing blood off demonic battle armour? Hannah Kinkade does.

Hannah is head of costume for hard rock icons, KISS. She’s toured with them six times over the last decade through her business Go for Wardrobe, both in Europe and worldwide.

How much do those platform boots weigh? How do you get bloodstains out of spandex? What’s it like to be responsible for iconic costumes with over forty years of heritage and a loyal army behind it? 

We took the opportunity to ask what it’s like to dress the Starchild, the Demon, the Spaceman and the Catman. Here’s what she said.

How did you first get involved with KISS?

I’d been touring with Madonna in 2009 on the Sticky and Sweet tour in Europe with my head of department. She used to work with KISS, and she was leaving, so she recommended me for the job because she thought I had the right personality.

Did you have to do a lot of research before taking the job?

I hadn’t grown up listening to much KISS at all, but I knew the big hits. The first thing I did was get straight on the internet. I was looking at loads of pictures, trying to learn who was who and what they all wore.

One of the women I was going to be working with, who had previously done the costume, she sent me lots of notes and photos detailing each person and what they wore. So, I had cheat sheets!

What does a normal day on the job look like?

It depends on the venue and the country you’re in but usually we wake up on a tour bus and wait for the rooms [in the venue] to be picked. Once you’ve been given a room, our costume cases will come off the tour truck and we’ll load them in. Then I’ll get my room set up.

I’ve usually got laundry to do first. I’ve got blood to clean off from the night before. I’m trying to dry the shoes, get everything clean, and then start polishing, shining, putting new rhinestones in. I check every single one every day to make sure that nothing’s come loose. There are thousands – Paul Stanley has a lot of rhinestones.

After that, I get the costumes set out in the rooms for the band before they come into the building. Once it’s time to get dressed, I’ll get them into their costumes, make sure they’re happy, get them on stage and then we’ve got a rock show!

Once the show’s over, I do more cleaning. I’ve got to try and get the costumes on fans to get the moisture out. Then I have to get the worst of the blood off. Usually that’s where I find a shower, just to hose it down.

It always looks like a crime scene in the shower when I’m done. It looks like someone’s died in there! It’s not real blood though, obviously.

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