Ashley, the Smoking Car, wears a Tobacco-brown costume and evokes a comfortable lounge car with wooden marquetry and lampshades.
London[]
Original Design
The original Ashley costume, like many of the 1984 costumes, is somewhat experimental and simplified from John Napier's design. Her skirt is a fringed lampshade; her bodice is wooden panelling; her bust includes ashtrays; her hair is styled up as a chimney. Her shoulders, intended to be the body of the coach, were simplified to padded shapes giving a strong silhouette. Her skirt quickly grew to exaggerated proportions, sometimes with a subtle pattern, sometimes a flat pale beige. In early years the performer did not always wear a wig, notably with Voyd performing with bright orange hair, or a magnificent perm up in a high ponytail.
In 1995, Ashley got a notable update, with solid rectangular "Coach body" shoulders and the lampshade skirt replaced with a ruched, dark brown velvet miniskirt with panels at the back. This look evoked heavy, comfortable Victorian furniture, in keeping with the Lounge car.
Broadway/German design
Broadway[]
The Broadway costume was a much closer realisation of the original design, with Ashley's signature Lampshade skirt and the coach body shoulders giving a strong silhouette. Her arms and legs featured a printed fishnet pattern - black on a pale base for her upper body, and bronze over brown for her legs. This costume was replicated near exactly for the Japan/Australia Tours and the German production. One of the slight changes is that initially Ashley had ribbed brown upper arms, representing the "Gangway bellows" between coaches, as this lines up with the end of the coach body shoulders. Below this she has black fishnets over a pale base, and below the elbow, brown gloves. However the upper arm brown has lengthened, the fishnets reduced to her lower arm, and her gloves shortened from longer opera gloves, to more practical leather gloves with loose fitting gauntlets.
Bochum[]
The original Bochum costume was made in New York alongside the Broadway production costumes, and that design was replicated accurately for many years. Following the Bochum production's 25th anniversary in 2013, Ashley's skirt was reduced in size, still a fringed stiffened lampshade but with less impact for the silhouette.
Wig: Ashleys wig originally was dark blonde, later getting darker. She generally is brunette with blonde highlight streaks in her hair. The overall tone is rather red-ish. Her hair is styled into a chimney, as she is the smoking car. Originally, the hair on the updo was braided but in the late 1990s it became wrapped in smooth hair. She wears a full fringe, that is slightly curled.
Make-Up: Her makeup is kept in brown tones, to match her costume, making her the least standing out of the coaches. Some actresses draw on a beauty mark, too. Like Dinah and Buffy, she wears thick, black lashes. Her lips are painted in a bronze-brown colour. Her make-up makes her look more grown up and mature than Pearl and Dinah.
Vegas Design
Las Vegas[]
The Las Vegas production initially used the Broadway costumes that had subsequently been used for the 1989 US Tour. However, as the first resident Musical Theatre production in the city, the coaches received a "Las Vegas Showgirl" makeover. This included Ashley losing her solid leggings, her lampshade skirt replaced by a ruched miniskirt; however her kneepads and skates remained dark brown. Her upper arms lost the ribbed brown "sleeves", and she gained long gloves over the illusion of bare upper arms.
This "Showgirl" costume was then used for the 2003 US Tour and its filmed races, and the subsequent tours. Some elements of the costume were re-made year by year, showing variation in her bodice and skirt. She wears black fishnet tights, which can sometimes be seen in photography but sometimes are lost in low definition photos or from further back in the audience.
Starlight Express On Ice[]
In Starlight on Ice , Ashley's costume is designed to look like a cigarette inspired usherette. On her skirt is a purple box that reads 'smoking' in big white letters. Her hair is wispy instead of styled. She has metal ashtrays around her shoulders rather than under bust.