DRESSING UP THE STARS!
Behind the scenes of Sons and Daughters

Abigail's glamor wardrobe is costing Sons and Daughters thousands of dollars a week. Her clothes for an average week are worth a staggering $3,000, and place a substantial drain on the budget.

The cost of the high-fashion look is slightly lessened by top Sydney designer Christopher Essex, who loans many of his exclusive creations to the show.

As wardrobe mistress, Robey Buckley is privy to the stars' top-secret vital statistics.

She has to take into consideration their sudden weight gains (or what she more euphemistically calls "figure problems") on buying trips, but says Abigail and Belinda Giblin are remarkably easy to dress.

"They are both size eight and almost anything suits them, although I try to stay away from strong reds which would overpower their fair coloring, and greys because they make them look sick."

Robey emphasises that most of the Sons and Daughters cast are not meant to look glamorous and aren't expensive to dress.

Danny Roberts (Andy Green) for instance likes young-look leather jackets and ripped T-shirts, while Tom Richards (David Palmer) has a wardrobe filled with flannelette work shirts.

Robey and her two assistants, Madeline Cullen and Julie Taylor, average 12 hours a day on the job and rush the cast in and out of a minimum of 100 outfits a week.

They spend Thursdays and Fridays (rehearsal days) washing and ironing and Robey's entire Saturday is devoted to shopping for more clothes.

Robey works closely with make-up artists and hairdressers to give the cast a well-groomed look.

Matching make-up in scenes shot weeks apart is the most difficult part of the job, according to make-up artist Trish Rowlands.

She keeps notes on every character's make-up but things still go wrong because the show is shot in Sydney and Melbourne using different make-up artists in each city.

One job went drastically wrong recently when a fake scar on Leigh Palmer's (Lisa Crittenden) cheek kept changing in size because of lack of communication between make-up artists.

Gayle Edmunds has been Sons and Daughters hairdresser since the show started but was doing Abigail and Pat McDonald's hair as far back as Number 96.

She says Abigail is the only one who is allowed to look as though she's just walked out of a hairdresser's - everyone else must stick to simple styles.

"Abigail has to look glamorous so I usually put her hair in hot rollers, blow-dry it, tease it at the base and sometimes put on a little hairspray."

Gayle, Trish and Robey are all happy to remain behind the scenes because although they don't get fan mail, they know they're important to the show's success.

"The actors come in here for half an hour for a chat and a coffee," Gayle said. "It's the only time they can relax and we build up a great rapport with them."

"Our job is to make them happy. They've got to feel comfortable with the way they look because if they're not they can't do their best on set."

By: Helen Vines
Source: Unknown
Date: Unknown