Corky
Practically Family
- Messages
- 507
- Location
- West Los Angeles
To Tux or Not? Concert Attire Redesign Focuses on Musicians' Comfort
Sleek leather and decorative lace for women. Breathable mesh and stretchy wool for men. These were the calling cards of new orchestral garments unveiled Sunday evening in a concert and runway show at Parsons The New School for Design.
Making-of Video: BSO and Parsons Reimagine Orchestra Attire
The outfits are the product of a year-long project between Parsons, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Mannes College of Music, intended to create new concepts for fashionable orchestra attire.
The project, which involved students in the Parsons’ fashion and design technology programs, began with a challenge from Marin Alsop, the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: to envision how symphony orchestras can project a fresher, more contemporary image, and to make garments better suited to the physicality of performance. The eventual goal: to outfit the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony.
Sunday’s concert also underscored some of the challenges when it comes to rethinking traditional attire, not just because it is so familiar to audiences, but also because it raises the question of what follows next.
The evening featured three chamber music performances, ending with a Mannes string quintet wearing the students' prototypes. On the surface, the men's tuxes were nearly indistinguishable from the standard white tie and tails now seen on most orchestra stages. One had a fitted, tailored look; another was slightly more modern and boxy. Two women quartet members wore variations on traditional full-length evening gowns, albeit with more modern fabric and tailoring.
(Cont'd at link)
Sleek leather and decorative lace for women. Breathable mesh and stretchy wool for men. These were the calling cards of new orchestral garments unveiled Sunday evening in a concert and runway show at Parsons The New School for Design.
Making-of Video: BSO and Parsons Reimagine Orchestra Attire
The outfits are the product of a year-long project between Parsons, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Mannes College of Music, intended to create new concepts for fashionable orchestra attire.
The project, which involved students in the Parsons’ fashion and design technology programs, began with a challenge from Marin Alsop, the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: to envision how symphony orchestras can project a fresher, more contemporary image, and to make garments better suited to the physicality of performance. The eventual goal: to outfit the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony.
Sunday’s concert also underscored some of the challenges when it comes to rethinking traditional attire, not just because it is so familiar to audiences, but also because it raises the question of what follows next.
The evening featured three chamber music performances, ending with a Mannes string quintet wearing the students' prototypes. On the surface, the men's tuxes were nearly indistinguishable from the standard white tie and tails now seen on most orchestra stages. One had a fitted, tailored look; another was slightly more modern and boxy. Two women quartet members wore variations on traditional full-length evening gowns, albeit with more modern fabric and tailoring.
(Cont'd at link)
