NATIONAL: Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper and Romance Was Born are among a wave of labels turning their hand to costume design in 2011.
Walker has teamed up with the Royal New Zealand Ballet to create costumes for Scenes Des Ballet, a brand new work by New Zealand choreographer Cameron McMillan. The ballet is part of the company's 2011 Stravinsky Triple Bill and represents the first time Walker has designed for the stage.
Fellow New Zealand designer Trelise Cooper has created costumes for the Victorian Opera and NBR New Zealand Opera's co-production of Handel's Xerxes. The opera will be staged in Wellington and Auckland in March following earlier performances of the show in Australia in 2009.
Meanwhile the creatives behind Romance Was Born, Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett, have been recruited by the Sydney Theatre Company to create costumes for Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness. The play features fantasy elements reminiscent of the label's established aesthetic, and will open to audiences in June.
Finally, Akira Isogawa is in the midst of creating pieces for 70 dancers from The Australian Ballet. The costumes will form part of the company's September 2011 production of Romeo and Juliet and follows Isogawa's recent collaborations with Bloch and Blur Optics.