Opera Haute Couture

Joanna Klimas was the first fashion designer to work for the Polish National Opera. In 2002 she devised costumes for Mariusz Treliński’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Onegin.

The bright stage lighting revealed scanty lingerie-like constructions wrapped up in tulle juxtaposed with evening wear accessories, stiffened tulip skirts or flowy ones secured with spikes, see-through tops, feather adornments, bonnets and fascinators, strangely geometrical dresses.

Draperies arranged on cage crinolines. A period look combined with a contemporary print: silk fabric in colourful stripes. Unfortunately, the printed effect was not to the designer’s satisfaction, so a few hundred meters of material was painted by hand. The dresses exceeded everybody’s expectations: they became a wonderful example of handicraft.

The characters in Mariusz Treliński’s production of La Traviata inhibit a fast-paced contemporary metropolis. Their looks are inspired by the pop-art style popularised by the guests of New York’s famous nightclub Studio 54.

Gosia Baczyńska’s task was to style Violetta as a burlesque star. No female lead had bared more than a low cleavage or a bit of a leg on the Warsaw stage before. To give the singer some extra coverage, the designer dressed Violetta in a turquoise feather coat, a clear burlesque influence. It covered just part of the singer’s body, but it gave the singer more confidence onstage.

The featherwork headdress designed by Baczyńska was directly inspired by the world of fashion. After the birds-of-paradise feathers were finally obtained, which was not an easy task, it turned out that the spectacular headdress was to large for Violetta’s coffin. A fashion show is a difficult enterprise but an opera production is an even more complex affair.

‘Digital prints turned out to be the key to translate the baroque style into contemporary design. The prints looked much more vibrant on tyvek than on fabrics. We achieved fluorescent, psychedelic colours.'

He used colour to express the characters’ personalities. That is why they are so unambiguous. They rely on elementary symbolism.

Asymmetry was the main feature of his work. He paired baroque corsets with his flagship crosswise lacing and one shoulder puffed sleeves.

...I remember we used krylon, which you had to soak in intense dye and knead. We then covered it with a layer of very thin interfacing imported from the States. When I saw the costumes on stage, illuminated by stage lights, the krylon, which is a rather cheap material, glinted where it had been creased, looking as is it were God knows what. It took my breath away,’ says Ewa Majewska, head of the women’s costume department.