Last night at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofìa in Valencia was staged the premiere of La Traviata, beloved opera by Giuseppe Verdi. A production of the Teatro dell’Opera in Roma and the Foundation of Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti.
A new chapter of the storied opera La Traviata with stage costumes designed by the Maison Valentino. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, creative directors of Valentino in 2016, designed 120 costumes for the cast, chorus and for the tenor Alfredo (Arturo Chacón Cruz/Giuseppe Talamo), the baritone Giorgio Germont (Plácido Domingo/Luis Cansino) and the mezzo-soprano Flora (Anna Bychkova).
Violetta’s costumes (Marina Rebeka/Tina Gorina) are designed by Valentino Garavani and crafted in the Maison’s atelier. Sofia Coppola—the American director behind Marie-Antoinette—saw her debut as a lyrical opera director and Nathan Crowley (he of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) directed the set design. Coppola’s direction of this Traviata, deliberately traditional, avowedly indebted to that of Luchino Visconti with Maria Callas at Teatro alla Scala in 1955….and maybe even Valentino Garavani.
During the press conference, Valentino has claimed that the costumes “have to make beautiful the singer, not dressed in raincoats or ridiculous costumes” as you have seen in some adaptation of an opera “so big” and “so important”. In his opinion, La Traviata is “the first among all” operas because it is romantic, has the atmosphere sometimes sad and some cheerful.
The costumes worn by Marina Rebeka as Violetta were stunning! In the first act, Violetta wears a black ballgown with a long aquamarine trail: it is not only beautiful, but is the result of mastery that only an Haute Couture Maison can own.
The same for the white dress with a ruffled sheer liseuse that Violetta wears during the countryside scene and the explosion of red Valentino in the off-the-shoulder ballgown at the party of Flora. The power of Valentino’s ultra-femme, iconic garments.
In the third act, a suprising nightgown with tulle sleeves filled of silk roses.
Beautiful, modern, elegant, weightless clothes of Flora, Annina, the actors and choir created by Chiuri and Piccioli: they have transformed the stage into a catwalk of delicate beauties that don’t attack or distract the ‘eye of the spectator from the scene but fill him with wonder.
Photos: Maison Valentino, Vogue Italia, Las Provincias, Siria Chiesa
OPERAFASHION 