Karl Lagerfeld Designs Chanel Costumes for ‘Boléro’ Pas de Deux
COSTUME PARTY: There’s no slowing perennial overachiever Karl Lagerfeld, who has designed two Chanel costumes for the pas de deux of “Bolero,” which will be performed by Diana Vishneva, prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Ballet, and Aurélie Dupont, director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet, at the latter company’s opening gala at the Palais Garnier on Thursday night.
The performance will be part of a new entry into the repertory of the Paris Opera Ballet: “Decadance” by Ohad Naharin, one of the world’s foremost contemporary choreographers, as a one-shot special appearance.
“Ravel’s ‘Boléro’ has always been one of my most favorite pieces of music in the world,” Lagerfeld said. “It was the first classical record I bought when I was 16 years old.”
Dupont said that after weeks of rehearsing for a show, “where we work on the positions and reflect on the role, putting on the costume allows us to completely metamorphose, to embody a role.”
“The costume is the finishing touch that allows you to become the character,” she added.
Opening with the presentation of the Ballet Corps — a tradition established by Serge Lifar, a friend of Gabrielle Chanel — where the opera dancers will parade to “La Marche des Troyens” by Hector Berlioz, the black-tie event, cohosted by Dupont and in collaboration with Le Fooding, will be followed by a seated dinner for 750 guests in the site’s grand foyers.
Joining Lagerfeld at the event will be Chanel ambassadors and friends of the house including Keira Knightley, Isabelle Adjani, Marion Cotillard, Elodie Bouchez, Caroline de Maigret and Anna Mouglalis.
Chanel and Rolex are the main patrons of the evening.
Having worked as a costume designer for ballet, theater and film in the Seventies, Lagerfeld, like Chanel before him, has designed costumes for a number of productions across the years. They include a commission by Benjamin Millepied for “Brahms-Sch?nberg Quartet” at the Opéra Bastille in 2016, and the English National Ballet’s “Apollo” in 2009.
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