Style.com has first dibs on the costume designs Azzedine Alaïa has come up with for the LA Phil's forthcoming Marriage of Figaro. Christopher Maltman and Dorothea
Röschmann as Count
and Countess Almaviva will wear the outfits sketched above.
The Countess's dress is reminiscent of Alaïa's signature skintight knits, as seen on Megan Fox below - bet Dorothea won't be touching any doughnuts for a while. The Count's suit marks a departure for the designer, who normally steers clear of menswear.
| | |
|
One of the eyecatching ensembles snapped up at yesterday's Komische Oper costume sale in Berlin.
The happy purchaser was, apparently, looking for a pirate outfit for her husband when she chanced upon this versatile leftover from Das bronzene Pferd.
"Some men have been looking at me as if I was genuinely naked," she said.
Here's how it played in the house:
| | |
|
Admit it, you've been waiting for these a long, long time. The world's first ever Wagnerpants® have arrived courtesy of Aussie leggings legends Black Milk.
Crafted in pure polyester with a touch of spandex, the Fire Horse Legging depicts Brünnhilde riding into Siegfried's funeral pyre as Valhalla goes up in flames - whew, some eyecatching mane positioning there guys.
(Credit to Olivia Giovetti for spotting.)
| | |
|
American Vogue comes over all operatic this month.
The online edition takes a look at the photogenic Kristine Opolais, currently starring in La rondine at the Met.
Don't expect any hardcore musical analysis though.
Hair (“We try to make the curls fall well, for all the parties she’ll attend after the show”) and makeup (“As HD has come into play, the audience has wanted a more natural look”) are attended to with the rigour and expertise you would expect from America's foremost fashion mag.
The print edition features a piece on Alba Clemente's fabulous costume designs for New York City Opera's Powder Her Face.
| | |
|
There's one question that readers never tire of emailing, and it's this one. What do you wear to the opera?
My usual answer is whatever you like, as long as it doesn't involve beachwear. But now with ENO telling us to dress down and Covent Garden telling us to dress up the issue has become more complicated.
Fortunately the disposable fashion behemoth ASOS.com have created knitwear for every operatic occasion. Just pair one of their ~now massively reduced~ jumpers with your jeans/lounge suit/tutu.
Here's a selection.
Above, the Stalls Seat with Champagne Voucher Jumper.
Below, the Elixir of Roberto Alagna Jumper.
| | |
|
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?
| | |
|
Salzburg's chicest interval retreat, the Karl-Böhm-Saal, has been hosting a wardrobe full of shoes all summer. Thirty-four pairs to be specific, hanging from a ceiling as the centrepiece of an installation by Javier Perez. Imaginary couples dance in circles around a phonograph which endlessly repeats the same tune.
It's an apt metaphor for the dress sense of the Salzburg audience, to most of whom fashion is a foreign word.
But there were exceptions. Let's start with the most stylish of all.
| | |
|
It appears the federal budget doesn't stretch to tights these days.
Not only did the 'austerity chancellor' revive her 2008 Bayreuth Festival opening frock for yesterday's performance, she also committed the unpardonable fashion crime of sporting pop socks beneath it (as the keen eyes of Heute picked up).
On the plus side, there are no visible tattoos. Festival management must be breathing a sigh of relief.
| | |
|
The Bavarian State Opera is capitalising on the vociferous disapproval that greets every new production (and some old ones too).
Online, you can buy a T shirt to tell the world that your boos are the best (sadly, ladies sizes only).
The Munich shop carries a few more options, including a straightforward 'Buh' for those confident in their opinion, and more equivocal 'Buh oder Bravo?' for anyone less sure.
Negativity doesn't come cheap though; the well-made but plain shirts retail at a Man U-esque 29 euros (£25).
| | |
|
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.
Continue reading "Christian Lacroix frocks up in Frankfurt" »
| | |
|
What Gustavo Dudamel's Don Giovanni might sound like is debatable. Especially as so far the LA Phil have only announced one singer (Mariusz Kwiecen) for the three night run at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in May. An 'international cast' is promised, but at this stage Anna Netrebko's dance card is probably full, KWIM?
At least it's odds on to look good.
The always-provocative Christopher Alden directs. The venue's architect, Frank Gehry, makes his opera debut (as far as I know*) at the age of 82 by designing the sets.
And, just announced, Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy, of Black Swan (below) fame, are to create the costumes. "It only took a few seconds to say ‘yes,’” said Laura. “My grandmother sang opera, and if she were alive today, this would be her proudest moment.” Awwww.
* UPDATE - Reader John advises "Frank Gerhy designed the sets for the opening production of the Opera Theater he designed for Bard College in upstate New York – 2 hours from Manhattan. The opera was Osud by Janacek. This was his debut as a set designer. In my opinion they weren’t bad but they weren’t great."
| | |
|
The only time Anna Netrebko felt sick during her pregnancy, she told Russian Vogue, was when she looked in her closet and saw some black and grey clothes.
"I'm from Krasnodar - I like colour!"
Like the pro she is, Anna bravely stifled her gag reflex to model a sombre selection of Cold War spy-chic for the magazine's November issue.
| | |
|
Aren't books so much better when they're not stuffed with words? Any opera lover with beefy biceps and a short attention span should be thrilled to find Helena Matheopoulos’s hefty Fashion Designers at the Opera
The veteran music writer - one of the few journalists ever to interview Carlos Kleiber - profiles ten fashion designers who've turned their hand to opera. All are interviewed, but of course it's the many sketches and photographs which make the book come to life.
Designers covered are - Giorgio Armani • Marc Bohan • Christian Lacroix • Karl Lagerfeld • Ottavio and Rosita Missoni • Miuccia Prada • Zandra Rhodes Emanuel Ungaro • GianniVersace •Viktor & Rolf
| | |
|
Yesterday was the dress rehearsal of the Met's season-opener, a new Anna Bolena with Anna Netrebko in the title role.
With David McVicar in the driving seat, no-one will be surprised to learn the production has a traditional look. For inspiration, costume designer Jenny Tiramani referenced court portraits, tapestries, actual relics and even wills detailing the deceased's garments, as Vogue.com reveal in more detail.
By happy and flattering coincidence, the historically-accurate swathes of satin and velvet frame Anna's impressive acres of bosom heavage whilst shrouding the remainder of her voluptuous assets in mystery.
| | |
|
The German Chancellor, who clearly finds it hard to pass up on a free ticket for an opera premiere, has fallen foul of the Salzburg fashion police. German-language newspapers have been up in arms about her appearance at last week's Die Frau ohne Schatten, and not merely because they'd noticed their hotel curtains had gone missing.
No, Mrs Merkel's crime was to wear the identical outfit to successive Salzburg Festivals. The pictures above may look the same, but they were in fact taken on three different nights - in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Predictably enough, none of the papers have commented on the fact that her husband, shown in the right hand photo, sports the same kit every single time he steps out for the evening.
(By the way, I regret to point out that the Chancellor's ensemble, levitating clutch bag and all, was positively tasteful compared to some of the monstrosities on show.)
| | |
|
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.
| | |
|
Panniered silks mushroom from tiny waists and scarlet feathers sprout from ratted topknots - Dame Vivienne Westwood's fabulously nutty baroque designs have found a natural home in Hannover, where director Ludger Engels and dramaturge Andri Hardmeier have adapted Handel’s Semele for KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen.
The Herrenhausen gallery has been turned into a catwalk/stage where for 70 minutes singers and models play out a radically reworked version of the opera.
| | |
|
Is that a recycled Valkyrie helmet?
Legendary soprano Dame Anne Evans led the Rule Britannia singalong at a Royal Wedding street party on Quick Street in Islington earlier today.
| | |
|
Since New York Fashion Week moved to Lincoln Center, security guards have had more than just snap-happy divas to contend with. It seems New York's geriatric opera lovers are keen to get in on the fashion act too.
Reports the New York Post:
"Security at Lincoln Center has endured all types of people claiming to be “on the list.” One guard tells us most of his headaches come not from fashionistas, but from the opera crowd. “As soon as the opera finishes, people come over here wanting to go in — they think that Lincoln Center is ‘their place,’ so they can just walk in!” he said."
| | |
|
Recent Comments