Iris van Herpen held up a light-as-air fabric, constructed in a honeycomb pattern. “Do you mean every one of these squares has a stitch?” Marc Happel, the director of costumes at New York City Ballet, asked. He put his head in his hands.
“We did it for Beyoncé,” van Herpen said.
“If it’s good enough for Beyoncé,” Happel responded, “it’s good enough for us.”
Van Herpen, the Dutch fashion designer known for her dazzlingly futuristic, sculptural inventions, was in her Amsterdam studio in July, walking Happel through her designs for a new ballet by Jamar Roberts. The piece, “Foreseeable Future,” had its premiere on Wednesday night at City Ballet’s annual fall fashion gala, which began in 2012 when the actress Sarah Jessica Parker, a board member, suggested commissioning new works that paired choreographers and fashion designers.
Over 13 galas and more than 30 collaborations, there have been some hits but also frequent misses. “A lot of the time, choreographers are thinking about the movement,” Happel said, “the designers are busy with their own shows, and the costumes happen at a later stage. Then I have to try to delicately collaborate in coming up with something that is more danceable. But not in this case.”
The Concept
The first step, Happel said, is talking to the choreographers to discuss whether they have thoughts about designers. “A lot of the time, they aren’t so connected to the fashion world,” he said, “and don’t have strong ideas. But it was totally different with Jamar, who sat down and said ‘I would love to work with Iris van Herpen.’”
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The post Honeycomb Wings and Jellyfish: These Costumes Dance Too appeared first on New York Times.
