Equinox

Costumes, 2015
Croatian National Theatre Zagreb

Responsibilities

Development of the narrative approach
Concept design
Specifying and selecting materials
Creative oversight of realisation

Collaborators

Director: Igor Pison
Set designer: Nicola Minssen
Light designer: Claudio Rojas Wettig
Musical director: Nikša Bareza
Costume assistant: Petra Dančević
Production: The HNK costume workshops

Context

Equinox (orig. ‘Ekvinocij’) is an opera by Ivan Brkanović. It is set in a fishing village on the Croatian coast. The place is marked by economic decline. ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ is the question that shapes the characters’ thoughts and actions.

Audience

The production was geared towards an audience of culture lovers with an interest in contemporary issues and music from Zagreb, wider Croatia and Slovenia.


Costume sketches for the chorus for 'Equinox'

Challenge

To connect emotionally with the audience, the characters had to relate to their lived experience.

To transport the narrative, the costumes had to communicate the characters’ social status and personal traits.

To ensure the characters remained recognisable across the entire length of the auditorium, the costumes had to account for a range of viewing distances between 9–20m.

Costume sketches for the soloists for 'Equinox'

Solution

The director, the set designer and I placed the narrative in the early 2000’s, not long after the end of the Yugoslav wars.

My costume design took inspiration from the fashion of the time and place. I employed a slightly simplified stylistic language to draw out the characters’ key characteristics.

Production photo from 'Equinox'
Production photo from 'Equinox'
Production photo from 'Equinox'
Production photo from 'Equinox'
Production photo from 'Equinox'
Production photo from 'Equinox'