In previous posts we looked at the restoration project of costumes for Puccini's "Turandot" launched by the Prato Textile Museum. Throughout the decades, different costume designers worked on this opera, coming up with their own visions or getting inspired by the original costumes donned at the 1926 premiere.
Among them there is also Italian composer, director and costume designer Sylvano Bussotti, who maintained in his creations a strong connection with Umberto Brunelleschi's sumptuously magnificent fable-like illustrations for Puccini's "Turandot".
When Bussotti staged in 1982 the opera he moved from Brunelleschi for the volumes of his costumes: quite a few of the main characters donned monumental collars rebalanced by oversized wigs. Bussotti would built these giant structures on rigid felt supported by a foam base.
The Grand Mandarin costume featured for example a 90 cm-wide black felt collar covered in lavish appliqued motifs of dragons in gold, silver and orange, and was decorated with silver and mother of pearl shells, gems and rhinestones.
Turandot's collar was the same size but covered in decorative gold and silver swirls, enriched with coloured synthetic gems, brass feathers and leaf-shaped sequins, and finished with a golden fringe.
Bussotti borrowed the elegant heron motif in some of his costumes from Galileo Chini's set design, but he also turned to the Italian Commedia dell'Arte (Comedy of Manners) for other characters such as Ping, Pong and Pang, who donned attires (that included giant collars) that featured combination of colours that usually characterised Brighella, Pantalone and Tartaglia's costumes.
You like fashion, but don't know much about opera? Well, you'd better start working on your opera knowledge: Comme des Garçons's Rei Kawakubo is currently busy working on the costumes for Olga Neuwirth's opera "Orlando" for the Vienna State Opera scheduled to be staged in December, so, the genre may become very fashionable in the next few weeks and months. Are you ready to jum on the opera bandwagon?
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