PARIS — Stéphane Rolland has caught the opera bug.

After staging his fall high fashion present on the luxurious Opéra Garnier, the couturier and his enterprise companion Pierre Martinez designed the costumes for a brand new manufacturing of “The Magic Flute” on the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The present, which opens on Tuesday and runs till Nov. 24, marks the opera debut of French director Cédric Klapisch, recognized for cult motion pictures together with “L’auberge espagnole” (“The Spanish Residence.”) 

The filmmaker, whose most up-to-date function was set on the planet of dance, has given Mozart’s comedian opera a contemporary twist by turning it into an allegory of nature versus expertise.    

Rolland and Martinez performed into the idea with costumes that distinction metallic materials with colourful elaborations impressed by the Amazon rainforest. A working example: Papageno’s black duchess satin boilersuit, fringed with neon inexperienced feathers on one sleeve and topped with a punk-like crest of plumes.

“We had been on board with the city, streetwear spin, however we had so as to add a dream dimension, as a result of that’s opera and that’s what the viewers expects. Frankly, you don’t come to me for a plain jacket and pants,” Rolland informed WWD. “It needed to be easy and minimal, however extraordinary on the similar time.”

Klapisch is understood to favor a naturalistic strategy for his movies, however appreciated working with the couturier, who has dressed everybody from Beyoncé and Rihanna to Céline Dion.

“It was nice, and it was actually acceptable for this undertaking as a result of there may be grandeur, and on the similar time, you don’t know if it’s traditional or modern. It’s each, really,” he mentioned after the opera’s gown rehearsal on Sunday night time.

Consistent with custom, probably the most extravagant outfit went to the Queen of the Night time, performed by Aleksandra Olczyk, who beforehand carried out the position on the Metropolitan Opera. “After I noticed my costume, I mentioned, ‘Now I do know I’m within the capital of vogue,’” the Polish soprano enthused backstage.

Her robe required 55 yards of gold lamé material, whereas her glittering headdress is the work of textile sculptor Isabelle Léourier, who has beforehand created headgear for Rolland’s couture shows. 

“It’s a sequence of circles product of piano string, woven with threads like a spider’s net, and coated with a sort of paint that’s dipped in gold and glitter and embroidered with crystals. The quantity of labor is insane. It’s actually made to be seen up shut, though the impact from a distance is unbelievable,” Rolland mentioned.

The glowing coif needed to be adjusted so as to not put stress on the singer’s neck and danger altering her voice throughout her famously tough arias. Likewise for the graphic human-hair ponytails sported by the three women. “There’s a complete metallic construction inside to attain that form,” mentioned Rolland.

Klapisch wished the {couples} within the storyline to be simply identifiable, so the designers used matching coloration codes. As an illustration, Tamino wears a fluttering crimson cape that pops towards Clémence Bezat’s starkly lit units, echoing Pamina’s hairdo with its cascade of vivid silk petals. 

As well as, the singers put on daring slashes of make-up impressed by indigenous tribes. “Usually for an opera, they’ve a name time of 6:30 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m. present. Right here, they’ve to return in at 4:30 p.m. and so they have an hour of make-up elimination after the present,” famous Martinez. 

Rolland’s director of improvement and advertising and marketing is an opera buff who has inspired the designer to deepen his relationships with cultural establishments. Rolland dressed Fairly Yende for the coronation of King Charles III and can reunite with the South African opera singer for an upcoming efficiency.

For the Expo 2020 world honest in Dubai, he created practically 200 costumes for the United Arab Emirates’ first opera “Al Wasl” and in recent times, the designer has staged couture reveals in a sequence of efficiency venues within the French capital. 

His fall 2023 present on the Opéra Garnier, an homage to Maria Callas on the centenary of her delivery, will function in French director Claude Lelouch’s upcoming movie “Finalement.”

With a thriving enterprise — the model expects to ship 250 clothes this 12 months, up 40 % versus 2022 — the companions say their clientele appreciates a little bit of theatrical aptitude.

“Our high fashion buyer is searching for an inventive and non secular dimension to clothes that’s completely different from the garments that you simply purchase off the rack,” Martinez mentioned. “They like this dramatization.”