National Opera & Ballet Costume Sale in Amsterdam: 9,500 Costumes Sold to Enthusiasts

ANP

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 20:27

National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam put 10,000 costumes on sale this weekend. 5,000 enthusiasts had obtained a ticket to view the opera costumes worn in the decorating studio. Ultimately, according to the organization, 9,500 costumes were sold.

Stijn Schoonderwoerd is director of National Opera & Ballet. “The website was down when the tickets went on sale, they were sold out in no time. Normally we make our sets and paint our backdrops in the decor studio.”

Digitizing costume storage

The opera and ballet company wants to use the proceeds to finance a digitization program. Costumes will then be given a barcode, among other things, so that they can always be traced quickly.

“I’m going to defend my dissertation in February and I’m looking for something one of a kind is”, says a visitor. There were also costume enthusiasts from abroad. “I drove four hours to be here,” says a visitor from Ghent. She wants to score some “cupcake costumes.” Later that day she walks out of the decorating studio with two large boxes. “We did it, two cupcakes!” she says with a smile.

“It remains special that people wear all kinds of things at such an event,” says Robby Duiveman, costume designer, “and then continue shopping partially or completely dressed up in these creations.”

In addition to costumes, hats, shoes and leftover fabrics were sold. The items come from almost seventy productions of Dutch National Opera, such as Marco Polo and Le nozze di Figaro. Most prices ranged from 1 to 450 euros, but there was also a dress for 1250 euros. The showpiece was a four-meter-long pink dress from a performance about the French queen Marie Antoinette.

“I prefer not to sell anything”

The sale of handmade pieces always hurts, says Duiveman. Until last summer, he was director of costumes, hair and make-up at National Opera & Ballet for 23 years. “I prefer not to sell anything. Especially because the costumes are made by us in a creative process. But I do like to see that people are happy here. of becoming and costumes get a second life.”

Director Schoonderwoerd: “Many people find it special that they are wearing something that has been worn on stage.” In addition to refined handicrafts, pre-owned clothing from HEMA was also sold. For example, the director says about the T-shirt of a soldier’s suit: “We don’t need to have such a T-shirt custom made.” They did, however, sew the name of the chorister and the production where it was worn into the shirt. “And that makes the shirt special,” says the director about the soldier suit that was for sale for 10 euros.

National Opera organized the previous costume sale in 2018. Then there were long lines at the music theater in Amsterdam and 4,000 old costumes were sold.

2023-11-26 19:27:17
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