Nicolas Ghesquière Creates Costumes for Hit Musical ‘Starmania’
STARSTRUCK: Nicolas Ghesquière is turning his hand to stage costumes for the first time. When a new production of 1970s French rock opera “Starmania” — arguably the most famous and successful French musical of all time — hits Paris in November, it will be with costumes from the designer, currently at the helm of Louis Vuitton’s women’s collections.
“Like many, I was nursed in childhood by ‘Starmania,’ it is a work with a visionary dystopian dimension that fascinates me,” Ghesquière stated.
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The new production, which opens at the Seine Musicale on Nov. 8 before a national tour from February through June next year, is directed by Thomas Jolly and choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
For his costumes, Ghesquière said he wanted to “imagine how the emblematic characters from ‘Starmania’ would be dressed in 2022.” The themes of the musical, he said, “resonate more than ever today, and I wanted to elaborate an ultra-contemporary wardrobe accordingly.”
The costumes are adapted from Ghesquière’s collections at Louis Vuitton as well as some new designs. “Each character embodies one of my collections, like a repertoire of the vocabulary of the house,” he said.
“Starmania,” with music by musician and composer Michel Berger and words by Luc Plamondon, was originally staged in 1978 and many of its songs have since become part of French popular culture.
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