Cinderella costumes – a bit of old and new

Posted by Sian Ellett on 6 February 2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: Cinderella, costumes, interviews, Julie Nelson, Victorian Opera, designers

Richard Gill’s Cinderella pantomime was a new venture for Victorian Opera –celebrating an age-old tradition with a new audience! Set & Costume Designer Julie Nelson writes about her view of the traditional panto and why Cinderella’s ballgown was blue…

Inspiration

Derek Taylor (Director) and I have both been inspired by the traditions of the Drury Lane theatre and Victorian toy box theatres and it seemed appropriate to continue with the Victorian period in the design of the costumes. I took a broad approach to period accuracy to get the best shapes and designs for the production, such as the Ugly sisters dresses that were actually from the 1830’s - high waisted designs that are easier to fit on a man!

Designing Cinderella’s gown

I felt Cinderella’s ball dress had to be the sort of dress that every little girl would want in her dress-up box. White was the obvious base colour so she would stand out against all the other costumes in the ballroom scene and once I found the beautiful fabric for the Prince, it was obvious that Cinderella should match so her skirt was made in a blue silk, shot with purple.

Fabrics around the world

Finding exactly the same fabrics that I can see in my head when I’m drawing the costumes is always a huge challenge for me. However, some of the greatest rewards come in finding ones that I didn’t even know existed. The colourful diamond fabric used on the bodices and waistcoats of the Willies was one of these discoveries. It looks fabulous on the stage and also references Harlequin of the Italian Commedia dell’arte, from which our modern day ‘Panto’ takes it traditions.

The materials that were used range from silks to very ordinary cotton. It took Ross Hall (Costume Co-ordinator) and I about a week to find all of the basic fabrics for all of the costumes. The patterns for the Ugly sisters are silk curtain fabrics! Most of the costume materials come from Australia but with the benefit of the internet we were also able to source some things from overseas - Cinderella’s kitchen shoes are espadrilles from Spain!

Sharing the panto tradition

I’m very happy to be involved in a production which has had its heart and soul in the traditions of the theatrical experience. I am from the UK and had some unfortunate childhood experiences of pantomime involving TV stars miming (badly) to rewritten pop songs, which is probably enough said!

I hope Victorian Opera’s lovely traditional panto will inspire the next generation of theatre-goers and maybe even designers!