After fifty years at the Comédie-Française, this great master of costumes still cultivates the art of wrapping actors in high-precision fabrics.
La serva amorosa”, by Goldoni, directed by Catherine Hiegel, at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, in Paris.” title=”Photo Laura Stevens/Moods for Télérama”/>
Renato Bianchi created the costumes for “La serva amorosa”, by Goldoni, directed by Catherine Hiegel, at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, in Paris. Photo Laura Stevens/Moods for Télérama
Published on November 10, 2024 at 1:00 p.m.
The thin mustache and goatee were just tinged with gray. The glasses with black winged frames retain their devilish appearance. The great costume designer Renato Bianchi always wears long, sharp nails – “ to better feel the fabrics; without them I cut badly » – and those minimalist dark suits – « I handle too many colorful fabrics. Without a neutral look, I wouldn’t find the right tones as well. And then the black calms me down “. At 80 years old, the former head of the workshops and clothing departments of the Comédie-Française (where he worked from 1965 to 2013) remains admirably faithful to himself, to his passion. This is evidenced by the magnificent costumes he imagined for The loving servant, by Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793), which Catherine Hiegel is currently directing at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin and which Isabelle Carré divinely embodies.
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Isabelle Carré and Catherine Hiegel brought together by “La serva amorosa”, Goldoni’s feminist masterpiece
Inspired by Visconti’s costume designer
Renato Bianchi takes his method from the much admired filmmaker Luchino Visconti, and from the way of working of his costume designer, the artist Lila De Nobili. Thanks to them, he introduced a costume culture into France which did not exist there, unlike England and Italy. “ We still applied the patterns and cuts of street clothes from the 1950s, according to a decorative and gendered vision: thin waists and shell breasts for women, broad shoulders for men. Fortunately in 1977, the actor Jean-Luc Boutté asked me, for his production of Actors of good faith, from Marivaux, more authentic costumes – before we didn’t even have access to archival documents! – and flexible to allow freer movements. In 1978, finally, The Resort Trilogy, by Goldoni, put on by Giorgio Strehler in 18th century costumes, lets us discover the extraordinary Italian know-how. The science and awareness of costume entered the Comédie-Française. »
I read the play ten times, to absorb it. It is then up to the director to explain to me his dramaturgy for each character.
Return to Goldoni with The loving servant. « When I am the costume designer myself, I read the play ten times, to immerse myself in it. It is then up to the director to explain to me his dramaturgy for each character. When I started, the actor simply had to look his best. No research on the psychology of the role or its social belonging. But for me, a successful costume is a “just” costume in relation to the subject, which goes to the essential, to the pure line. Even no more pimples in my loving servant ! Catherine agreed. » But no agreement for the little black hat that Renato Bianchi had planned for the heroine’s outings in town. So he wears it himself. Daily now.
Photo Laura Stevens/Modds for Télérama
The object: scissors
I always have thirty centimeter scissors nearby. I control the big ones better than the small ones, which chop up the fabric. It is with the point that we cut. First, the costume pattern on kraft paper, then according to this pattern, the canvas which allows a fitting on the actor’s body. Like in haute couture. And I still cut the canvas on the bodies of the actors, I model it like a second skin: they can no longer tolerate constrained bodies. If I don’t cut it myself, I’m not satisfied. It is the cut which gives the shape, the movement, the sign of the creator. Working with great stylists such as Christian Lacroix and Thierry Mügler prevented me from falling into routine. Even though Mügler’s magnificent but unrealistic costumes in 1985 for Macbeth in the Court of Honor of the Palais des Papes, in Avignon, damaged the show. Costume is learned. I have spent my life studying it.
The loving servant, directed by Catherine Hiegel, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin Paris 10ᵉ, tel. : 01 42 08 00 32.
