When Fashion Takes Center Stage

NEWS | January 18, 2021

As simple decor or indeed a driving force behind the plot, costumes are the highlights of some of our favorite theater masterpieces. Here, we revisit three memorable collaborations between designers, directors, and choreographers.

Riccardo Tisci x Marina Abramović

In 2013, while he was serving as Artistic Director at Givenchy, Riccardo Tisci was already designing the costumes for Maurice Ravel's Boléro, presented at the Opera de Paris and choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet. In honor of the occasion, he created long capes in black silk that contrasted with the white lace ensembles. This year, Burberry's Artistic Director has taken on a new collaboration, this time with Serbian artist Marina Abramović as she takes the stage alongside Willem Dafoe in The 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, an opera whose incredible sneak-peeks have already traveled around the world.

Olivier Rousteing x Sébastien Bertaud

For his first creation for the Opera de Paris in 2017, a ballet entitled Renaissance, Sébastien Bertaud orchestrated a winning combination when he called on the talent of Balmain's Artistic Director. Playing on the most literally brilliant aspects of his signature style, Rousteing decked out the 22 dancers in positively luminous pieces, strewn with precious stones, pearls, and sequins. Classicism and modernity clash onstage, with their collision creating a vibrant homage to the performing arts as well as creator Pierre Balmain himself, who, 70 years earlier, designed the costumes for Serge Lifar's dancers.

Rick Owens x Hiroshi Sugimoto

In 2019, Rick Owens entered another kind of Hall of Fame — one dedicated to costume designers whose pieces have adorned performers at the Opera de Paris' iconic Palais Garnier. Celebrated for his extraordinary graphic creations, the designer was called upon by famous artist and director Hiroshi Sugimoto to imagine the costumes for At the Hawk's Well. Stars Hugo Marchand, Ludmila Pagliero, and Alessio Carbone donned these incredible pieces by the "Pope of Goth," dark garments axed on deconstruction, envisaged in harmony with the abstract musical compositions provided by composer and videographer Ryoji Ikeda.