Monday April 13, 2009
Soul on stage
By JANE F. RAGAVAN
For over two decades, Christian Lacroix has told stories through his costumes for the stage.
CHRISTIAN Lacroix typically appears on the runway at the end of his fashion shows to a shower of carnations from his adoring public.
He received the same reception at his recent spring/summer 2009 haute couture show in Paris, where the French designer presented a collection of draped chiffon gowns, matador jackets with a feminine twist and ruffled polka-dot dresses in his signature rainbow of colour.
Shower of carnations: People throwing flowers at French fashion designer Christian Lacroix following the presentation of his Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2009 fashion collection in Paris. ‘Drawing for dance or theatre allows me to breathe,’ Lacroix once said. At Christian Lacroix the Costumier, an exhibition of his costumes for the stage presented at the National Museum of Singapore (NMS), one is struck by how the clothes, many created over 20 years ago, could just as well have featured in his latest collection.
Silhouette-enhancing gowns with intricate folds, colourful frilly dresses, and bull-fighting outfits in black velvet and gold embroidery are just some of the 75 costumes from France’s Centre National du Costume de Scène (CNCS) and Lacroix’s personal collection on display, along with 60 of his illustrations and sketches. It was the puffball skirt that made the 58-year-old a fashion icon but his life-long love affair with the stage “has become much more than a recreation, as this art cannot bear mediocrity or lack of passion” and this drives him to design for one production every year.
“Drawing for dance or theatre allows me to breathe,” Lacroix once said.
While many fashion designers have been known to parade overly dramatic ensembles down the runway, Lacroix has long had an outlet for his theatrical side away from the couture shows.
His first commission for stage costume design was in 1986 for Chantecler, in which all the characters were animals. Even then, Lacroix refused to be bound by expectations, opting to reinterpret the animal characteristics in fabric and pattern instead of feathers and fur.
He went on to design costumes for more than 25 productions, including Mozart’s Cos? fan tutte, the musical Zoopsie Comedy and Shakespeare’s Othello, fully utilising his academic background in art history. The clothes were fanciful and fantastical, but rooted in a deep understanding of historical costume and clothing.
“Christian Lacroix often says that if fashion for him was not such a success, he would have done costumes and stage design full-time,” says Delphine Pinasa, CNCS deputy director and curator of the Lacroix exhibition.
Madame curator: Delphine Pinasa is passionate about the preservation of stage costumes. – Photo by Ludovic Combe “Even as a child, his mother would take him to the opera, theatre or ballet, and he would come home and redesign the costumes he saw on stage,” she explains at a press preview.
“In fact, when he won his first award in costume design (France’s national theatre award, the Molière, for Phèdre in 1995), he was happier than winning any fashion award.” (Lacroix won a second Molière for Cyrano de Bergerac in 2006.)
Lacroix is known for mixing the old with the new, a common trend in his costumes. He is also not averse to using flea market finds or theatre outfits found rotting in old trunks, which he then reworks by distressing, dyeing and stencilling to “give fabrics a soul, a past, a depth and unity.”
NMS director Lee Chor Lin points out that Lacroix’s costumes show how art can thrive in challenging economic circumstances.
He always has the comfort and ease of movement of the performer in mind. For example, instead of using heavy damask, lighter material was lined and then embossed to create a relief effect, while parts of the emperor’s costume in Eliogabalo were made of Tyvek, a highly breathable synthetic material that resembles paper.
(In Phèdre however, Lacroix used latex to imitate embroidery and armoury, which made the costumes very heavy.)
The clothes are also constructed in collaboration with the performers. In CNCS’s collection are costumes worn by renowned opera singer Maria Callas and ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, made exactly to their needs.
Couture cancan: Lacroix’s drawing for a costume in Gaite Parisienne. “Between the seams of Callas’ costume, there is elastic ... Nureyev had a very tiny waist, and wanted certain panels to be added,” says Pinasa.
“Often we use more fabric than necessary so that a costume can be transformed for different actors. On some of the dresses, you can see all the modifications made over 20 years.”
The exhibition is the first trip abroad for a major collection of costumes and drawings by the celebrated designer. The clothes are displayed in shop window-like cases against glorious printed backdrops of lace and embroidery together with images of Lacroix’s beloved carnation and cross, and other cultural symbols he grew up with. Inspired by black box theatre, the exhibition space at the museum is virtually dark, with all the focus on the separate vignettes and the walls adorned only with the illustrations and sketches.
“Natural light is bad for these costumes, and we keep it dark to preserve them,” says Pinasa. “At CNCS, we can control the temperature and humidity in all climates. We have some costumes hanging, some lying flat.”
Mannequins are built specifically for each garment.
But for Pinasa, an art historian and specialist in costumes and textiles, preservation doesn’t only come from having the proper storage conditions.
“There’s no way to preserve all this if the public don’t appreciate it. If we don’t show it to the public, we won’t educate young people ... they can copy masterpieces (on display), know the story behind the costumes and drawings.” she says.
Heavy duty: The costume for the character of King Theseus in Phedre is fashioned out of latex to resemble embroidery and armour. Lacroix received his first Moliere Award for Best Costume Design in 1995 for this opera. The CNCS, located in the small town of Moulins located two and a half hours south of Paris, has already received about 200,000 visitors since it opened in June 2006, and a quarter of that figure visited the Lacroix costume exhibition.
Fashion is notoriously fickle and clothes that stand the test of time are an anomaly in that world. But forget for a moment Christian Lacroix’s name as a fashion designer and think of the stage costume as a tool for the actor.
“We can see how the body and mind can be helped by the costume,” says Pinasa.
Then, you begin to understand the thought put into every stitch.
“Drawing for couture means creating garments that are meant to be seen on their own and at close range,” Lacroix has said.
“Theatre costumes, however, must tell a story from far away and be part of a whole on stage.”
That the visitor gets to be so close to the costumes is perhaps this show’s biggest draw.
The detail and incorporation of items into a costume that would not normally be used on garments are fascinating. A gypsy dress from Carmen, for instance, is trimmed with large corded upholstery fringe, while a folksy, flamenco dress used in Arsa y Toma is a patchwork of colour reminiscent of a rustic quilt made from textile scraps. In Cos? fan tutte, an 18th century opera, a gossamer gown is in the style of a modern-day urban hoodie and women wear tulle over trousers.
Like the productions they are designed for, these clothes represent fantasy, beauty and wonderful storytelling ... and are timeless.
“At this exhibition, people can dream,” says Pinasa.
“The imagination, the passion that has gone into the costumes is inspirational. It shows anything is possible.”
Remember that when you visit the exhibition. Carnations optional.
The exhibition will be held until June 7 at the National Museum of Singapore. For more information, call ☎ 02-6332 3659/6332 5642 or visit nationalmuseum.sg
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