Costume cleanup a dirty business

Sights of the Sevens 2010

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LEGGING IT: Amy, left, and Emma Tait with the rest of the Sevens showgirls and, right, as the taxi girls in 2007.

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HOPE IT COMES OUT IN THE WASH: The Costume Company's Angela Brown eyes up some of the dirty costumes that have been returned after being rented for the sevens.

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The Wizard of Oz has undressed, Cinderella has disrobed and Dorothy has lost a red slipper – the NZI Sevens costumes are returning and the cleanup has begun.

Costume Company owner Angela Brown and her staff were scrubbing off stains yesterday at her Wellington shop, with about half of the 500 hired outfits already back by the afternoon – the return time. "[It's] great, it's pretty unusual."

So far there had been few nasty surprises, aside from a red slipper missing from a Dorothy costume and a white shirt returned covered in red paint and other fluids. "The guy said, 'My friend got his a bit dirty."'

The shirt was a write-off and Mrs Brown expected two or three outfits to be unusable after a sevens weekend. "But the ones that don't return their costumes today are more likely to have lost or damaged something."

The shop was prepared for the aftermath, with heavy-duty cleaners and rubber gloves. It did not hire out any costume that was not replaceable.

"We do expect them to come back dirty and beer-stained [but] we still don't expect there will be rips or tears."

In order to process the returns, the shop would not be trading as usual until Wednesday, and had increased staff working through the week.

Wellington police property supervisor Sonia Viles said it had been an unusually quiet year for the property office.

"The trend has always been we get odd bits of uniform ... but this year there's not one."

So far there had been some wallets and a few dozen cellphones handed in, which was less than usual.

- © Fairfax NZ News