Stage Directions: Go behind the scenes of San Francisco Opera's upcoming production of Turandot with Galen Till, Costume Production Supervisor, in the SF Opera Costume Studio. She shows us the costumes with designs of David Hockney in this eye popping production of Turandot!
4 comments:
I understand the pop-arty, super colorful vibe the original designer was going for in these Turandot costumes, and honestly on its own the look would be pretty nice. Where I felt a disconnect was between the first three costumes shown and the headpiece and armor. The first costumes were color blocked, bright and oversaturated with graphic patterns and little embellishment save the solid colored designs and maybe some slight patterns made from fabric. The headpiece, meanwhile, seemed intricate and realistic, with jewels and tassels done in a metallic gold and beautiful detailed work. Separately, these two examples would seem like they were from two entirely different shows! The disconnect there, for me, brought these costumes down despite them ALL being well executed and fitting the show in different ways.
In the video, it is mentioned that the costume pieces are not exactly specific to a time period or a region. Instead, it is creating a fantasy world using the influence from the real history. However, my eyes could detect a certain region and a time period from the costumes. It is almost similar to claiming that a toga does not represent certain time and region because the fabrics are popping rainbow colors and the designs are simplified. It is not close enough to the reality to represent the history, but at the same time not far enough to claim a fantasy world with its own beauty and fashion history. Because it is neither too close or too far, the design falls into this awkward territory where the intention behind the design gets muddy and therefore hard to read. Right now the costumes look and feel like crude imitation pieces of what people think of as 'Chinese' garments. Maybe they will look better and more original under the stage lights?
JinAh, I absolutely agree with you. I thought they looked like the 1960’s version of Chinese garments. I understand and appreciate that the designer did not want to do what is always done and wanted to add his own flair, but I do not think it went far enough. It could easily be an opera set in an unspecific time and place, especially since it is in Italian and based off a Persian poem which was set in Russia.
I was looking at pictures of their previous shows. I do not like their aesthetic as a company. Nothing is as ornate or as much of a spectacle as I want in my operas. I don’t mean that nothing can be modern, but, if the opera is going to be modern, it should really say something. I think opera is supposed to be all about the spectacle. In America, we have musicals to fill that niche of live spectacle, but in Europe, it is all about the opera and it shows.
I think the pop-art aesthetic of the designer was very interesting to pair with the show it was representing. Like Sylvi and JinAh mentioned, the video said the costume pieces were supposed to not be representative of a certain time period or region but I felt that they rather combined an aspect of a distinct culture with an aspect of a distinct time period. I think it was a bold choice to have very ornate, metallic, and intricate headpieces in comparison to the bold, block colored, pop art garments that made up most of the costumes they showed. I think there is a disconnect between the pieces visually that might not be easily read, but the designer's intention in these varying pieces could have been to create a ambiguous time period. Overall, I think the costume designer's choice was bold but difficult to interpret.
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