The higher model of the top grey hat was not used in the


end, because it caused too many balancing difficulties for the actor, which affected his singing


THEATRICAL MILLINERY


the neck. On the other hand, wide pieces can affect the acoustics and also shade the faces. We’re constantly trying to find solutions for the picture the costume designer has in mind and what works well for the artists. All the king’s servants in the opera L’etoile (2014) were dogs, dressed in livery. We made twelve dog masks that were worn almost all evening. The designer actually wanted an all-over hairy fabric, which would be too hot for the actors, so this was not possible. The mask had to look as realistic as possible, which was a challenge as well because the eyes of a dog are set differently to humans. To see with the mask on, we used a transparent mesh on the front. We also used it for the top to allow the heat from the head to escape, so apart from the nose and the back of the head, the entire mask was transparent. This was not noticed by the audience, as from a distance it looks completely closed.”


Sharing productions and knowledge


Everything Ton knows about making hats, he learned during his career at the theatre. As he knows there’s only one way to learn the trade, he believes that being involved in education is important. Therefore the theatre regularly takes in third-year textile and millinery students from the SintLucas and the HMC


“It’s always a challenge to find the right balance in a design


between as light as possible and as strong as possible. The solution will vary for each design.”


Photos: Piet de Meijer & Elly Stemerdink


vocational colleges in the Netherlands. Ton regrets that there is no active exchange of knowledge or information between costume departments of operas worldwide. “But we do learn from other theatres, as nowadays more and more operas start as a co-productions. Of the twelve to sixteen productions that we work on every year, about one third are revivals or have been co-produced with other opera houses. We share, for example, productions with the Metropolitan Opera in New York or the Royal Opera House in London. When a co-production is created elsewhere first, all costumes and costume props are made there. When everything arrives at our theatre we reclassify the items to our artists, to see what can be used, adjusted or what needs to be made new. By working with items that were made by another theatre, you learn a lot about the techniques and materials they use.”


It took Ton a month to complete


the embroidery for the king and queen’s outfits. Text


had to be worked into the embroidery, and he included some hidden personal witticisms such as ‘Pay Rise? Ok!’.


At the end of a production, all costumes and props are stored in a warehouse in Amsterdam. Since every year four or five new productions are produced, the warehouses fill up quickly. If you have a chorus of 100 people with two costumes each, it adds up to 200 costumes and the soloists may well have multiple costumes. Therefore every five years or so the theatre sells an amount of old costumes


For the last few years, Ton’s department has had a large vacuum machine which is used for plastics and thermoplastics. With this machine you can heat a plastic sheet until it becomes soft and is then placed over a mould and


drawn in by a vacuum. When it has cooled you


have a shape which can then be


further processed and painted, etc. – for example, to make armour, helmets and ornaments and to make them look like metal.


may 2019 | 53


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