Fashion Week 2017: A Unique “Traviata” Designed By Valentino Haute Couture in Valencia

By Lady Maxwell

This article was done in collaboration with OperaFashion, a blog dedicated to fashion and the opera world. 

On Feb. 9 at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofìa in Valencia, “La Traviata,” Giuseppe Verdi’s beloved opera, premiered in a new production from the Teatro dell’Opera in Roma and the Foundation of Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti.

The production included 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 as well for the lead roles of Alfredo (Arturo Chacón Cruz/Giuseppe Talamo), Giorgio Germont (Plácido Domingo/Luis Cansino) and Flora (Anna Bychkova).

Violetta’s costumes (Marina Rebeka/Tina Gorina) were designed by Valentino Garavani and crafted in the Maison’s atelier. Sofia Coppola, the American film director behind “Marie Antoinette” saw her debut as an opera director and Nathan Crowley (“Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”) designed the sets. Coppola’s direction of this “Traviatawas deliberately traditional, avowedly indebted to that of Luchino Visconti with Maria Callas at Teatro alla Scala in 1955 and even Valentino Garavani.

During the press conference, Valentino claimed that the costumes “have to make the singer beautiful, not dressed in raincoats or ridiculous costumes as you have seen in some adaptations of an opera so big and so important.” In his opinion, “La Traviata” is “the first among all” operas because it is romantic, sometimes sad and sometimes 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 Flora’s party. The power of Valentino’s ultra-femme, iconic garments.

In the third act, Violetta wears a nightgown with tulle sleeves filled of silk roses.

 

Flora’s clothes consisted of beautiful, modern, elegant and weightless clothes. Chiuri and Piccioli designed Annina, the supers’ and choir’s wardrobe. With all the beautiful designs they transformed the stage into a catwalk of delicate beauties that didn’t attack or distract the ‘eye of the spectator from the scene but filled it with wonder.

Photos: Maison Valentino, Vogue Italia, Las Provincias, Siria Chiesa

 

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