Intermezzo

Kimono Christian Lacroix

Maître des frocks Christian Lacroix returns to the operatic scene with his spectacular costume designs for  Madama Butterfly at Hamburg Opera, combining a flamboyant palette with respect for classic Japanese forms.

In Lacroix's own words, Vincent Boussard's production subscribes to the "tradition of Italian opera, but also incorporates elements of contemporary theatre to be accessible to younger people."

Before founding his own couture house in Paris, the designer spent several years in Tokyo working for the Japanese royal dressmaker Jun Ashida.  Asked why he loved designing for theatre, the designer replied "Because I don't like normal life. When I was younger, life began only when I was in a theatre. That was my element.I liked this world because it was larger than life, full of colour, full of music!"

By employing Lacroix, Hamburg Opera have gained not just gorgeous frocks, but also those all-important column inches in non-music areas. Something for other opera companies to think about?

Christian Lacroix frocks up in Frankfurt

No whorehouse mermaids or panto pussies for Christian Lacroix. "I love to resurrect bygone worlds," he says. "My idea of ​​paradise is to touch the fabrics of the past, to smell the scents of the past."

Proving that historical inspiration can transcend mere reproduction, here are some of his fabulous costume designs for Vincent Boussard's new production of Adriana Lecouvreur, which opens at Oper Frankfurt on Sunday.

Vesselina Kasarova pants again

I Capuleti e i Montecchi - Nationaltheater Munich, 24 July 2011

When Vesselina Kasarova, Queen of Pants, signed up for this production (which premiered in March), there was some talk of it being her last-ever Romeo. However she's booked to return next year with Anna Netrebko, so perhaps she's not hanging up her boots just yet. And why should she? She still has all the notes. And her dashing Romeo convincingly displays the uncertainties of youth, whatever the calendar says.

Monsieur Lacroix veut revenir au Jardin de Covent

Since closing his fashion house, Christian Lacroix has been busy with all sorts of projects, including illustrations for a book, Christian Lacroix And The Tale Of Sleeping Beauty, pictured above.

But when this week's Grazia magazine asked if he had any unfulfilled ambitions, another side of his career was highlighted:

"I'd like to design for the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. I once did some costumes for The Nutcracker by special request from Princess Diana. But the opening was the night before the announcement of her split with Prince Charles, so that soured the occasion. I want to come back."

Renee Fleming's Thais inspires Versace's Atelier?

This is a picture from the Atelier Versace Spring 2010 lookbook.

Remind you of anyone?

Christian Lacroix talks frocks

Christian Lacroix's haute couture house may have shut up shop but he can still sharpen his scissors on opera.

Here he discusses his costume designs for Vincent Boussard's new Berlin Staatsoper production of Agrippina (which opens on 4 February) with Deutsche Welle TV's euromaxx show:

Lacroix files; Renee dials

The New York Times reports the sad news that the fashion house of Christian Lacroix filed for bankruptcy earlier today. No real surprise. The uncompromisingly exuberant maximalism of Lacroix, one of the last of the true couturiers, couldn't be more out of tune with the times.

Luckily for M.Lacroix, his second career - costume design for the stage - is flourishing. His recent operatic commissions include gowning Renee Fleming for the Met's opening gala (above). Perhaps that puffy mess of boudoir curtainage and balled-up kleenex is not one of his best. But he redeemed himself with the exquisite frocks he crafted for Renee's Thaïs (below), embodying carnal temptation in daring cuts, sumptuous fabrics, cunning trompe l'oeil and sneaky boning. Before she was Lacroixed, who would ever have guessed that mumsy Renee could look so hawt?

More of Christian Lacroix's stage designs can be seen in this pdf exhibition catalogue from France's Centre National du Costume de Scène - where he also explains his love of the stage:

"I have always been attracted to costume design and possibly even before I started fashion design. This comes from a passion for history that has been with me since my childhood, within my imaginative universe and the games I played. I’ve always enjoyed searching for historical truths or restoring them by designing scenery, furniture and costumes. It’s fascinating to dress one’s age. But it’s even more exhilarating and deeply moving to experience the wings, the dressing rooms, the make-up, the powder and the magic of theatre. A fashion show does not create this silent dialogue with the public. I feel it deeply today as I work on "Nozze di Figaro" costumes for the Aix-en-Provence festival, as I did before working on "Phèdre" for the Comédie- Française, as well as when, for the very first time, I worked on "Chantecler", staged in Nantes twenty years ago. Jean-Luc Tardieu had then come to me for costumes, after seeing my somewhat strange clothes at Patou's. Theatre has become much more than a recreation, as this art cannot bear mediocrity nor lack of passion.”

Looks like he'll have a lot more time for it now.

 

 

 

Production photos: Metropolitan Opera