Article from de Volkskrant: After their designs for stars like Lady Gaga, this fashion house ventures into something new: costumes for the 'Nutcracker' ballet.
December 13, 2024
By: Naomi Habashy
When designers Livia Stoianova and Yassen Samouilov of the Parisian couture house On Aura Tout Vu visit Introdans in Arnhem, it is a crisp Tuesday morning in October. They attentively scan the racks of costumes, occasionally selecting one for closer inspection. Today, the Arnhem dancers begin rehearsing in the costumes the duo designed twelve years ago for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. The designers are here to see how the costumes perform in dance and to determine if any adjustments are needed.
Originally from Bulgaria, Samouilov and Stoianova have been working together at On Aura Tout Vu since 1998, a name that roughly translates to: “I thought I’d seen it all” or “Well, I never!” Samouilov had founded the label three years earlier with Portuguese designer Andre de sa Pessoa. What began as a small fashion house with imaginative collections and a love of jewelry and embellishments has grown into an internationally adored brand.
Previously, On Aura Tout Vu collaborated with stars like Madonna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Megan Thee Stallion. The rings Lady Gaga wears in the campaign for her cosmetics brand Haus Labs were designed by the Parisian couture house. Likewise, the catsuits Megan Thee Stallion wore during her Hot Girl Summer tour are by the brand.
From Couture to Costume
About twelve years ago, Belgian choreographer Jeroen Verbruggen created his version of The Nutcracker for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, which premiered there in 2014. For this, he asked On Aura Tout Vu, with whom he had previously collaborated on a smaller production, to design and create the costumes.
This was one of the duo’s first costume design projects. “Until then, we mainly created our own couture—collections, exhibitions, and collaborations with major artists,” says Stoianova, dressed in a glittering rainbow sweater and black trousers, her short hair dyed red. “That’s a completely different world from costumes made for the stage, where intensive dancing is involved.”
In parallel with the choreography’s development, the designers spent two and a half years creating their costumes, from the initial sketches to affixing the final embellishment. Verbruggen, who is now restaging his ballet with Introdans, wanted to create a completely different Nutcracker than what traditional ballet audiences expect.
As ballet enthusiasts know, The Nutcracker tells the classic story of Clara, who saves the Nutcracker from the evil Mouse King on Christmas Eve. Together with the Nutcracker, who turns out to be an enchanted prince, she travels through a dream world to the Sugar Plum Fairy to reclaim his kingdom. Verbruggen stripped the fairy tale of traditional elements like the Christmas theme and the dream world. The main character, Clara, was given back her original name, Marie. “It’s still magical, but darker this time. More of a Tim Burton-esque nightmare,” says Verbruggen.
With such a reinterpretation of a classic fairy tale, a different approach to the costumes was inevitable. That’s why Verbruggen enlisted these contemporary and unconventional designers, who in turn were eager to temporarily step out of their fashion bubble. But designing for dance entails something entirely different than they were used to.
Samouilov, dressed in a black turtleneck and large gold chains, talks about the initial shock: “Up until then, we were always creating very voluminous, extravagant pieces, but in dance, movement must always be the first consideration in the design.” This imposes limits on a costume’s volume; it can’t be too heavy or too large, and costumes must also be washable and easy to transport.
The first time the design duo presented their plans to the Geneva company and the choreographer, it was, according to them, a terrible experience. “At the end of our presentation, the initial response was: ‘Great, but how are we going to fit this into two trucks?’” Stoianova recalls with a laugh. “We were so shocked! Two trucks, that was never going to work!”
“But we still wanted to create something unusual, something people wouldn’t expect from a ballet performance,” Samouilov continues. “This required a lot of research into different materials and techniques.” For example, in one scene, the character Marie wears a cage structure on her hips covered with a fabric that resembles silk but is actually synthetic. “We had to use fabrics that were stretchy and wouldn’t tear easily,” Stoianova explains. “Silk and chiffon were, therefore, ruled out.”
In their couture work, the designers often incorporate cage and harness elements, usually made in one piece. But since you can’t dance in that, they divided the costume structures into multiple parts, connected at hinge points on the body, such as the shoulders or hips. This allows for easier movement.
World Building
The duo was also responsible for the set design. “To draw the audience into the story, a whole new world has to emerge on stage,” says the choreographer. “That’s why the costumes and set must complement each other.” The many stones and light-reflecting shapes on all the costumes come together as a unified vision on stage, where a chandelier hangs. Here too, there was a challenge to create something grand and extravagant that is also easy to transport.
To achieve this, they worked extensively with resin, a glossy material that hardens under UV light, to mimic the effect of a diamond but without the weight. To save space, they decided to cut the chandelier in half, making it flat on the back. “A lot of things look heavy but actually aren’t,” Samouilov says. “This way, anything becomes possible.”
Now, twelve years later, in the Arnhem studio, their first costumes hang on racks, outfitted with new labels bearing the names of the dancers who will wear them. The designers’ quiet pride is palpable. They still remember the many discussions over their designs and the budget issues related to their material choices.
“It was going to be too crazy a project, far too expensive,” Stoianova says. “We may have lost those discussions often, but in the end, we won the battle and made what we envisioned.” The result is over ninety danceable couture pieces that breathe fashionable new life into an old fairy tale.
