The turn of the screw

Photo by: Pia Leisner & Paula Pucher

the turn of the screw

Costume design for an opera

May 2024
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, BA Textile Design

In collaboration with the HSLU Music School, we designed the costumes for the opera "The Turn of the Screw" as part of this module. We were allowed to do everything ourselves, from concept to production. Together with Anja Rüssli, I designed the costumes for the roles of the prologue and the governess.

prolog

We have received a description from the director of how they imagine the prologue:

Trouser role
elegant
distant
dandyish
indefinable
cool

We then created a sketch of the costume idea, incorporating materials we had sourced from our own fabric collections or from secondhand shops and thrift stores. After discussing it with the director, we made minor adjustments and began making the costume.

We found the pinstripe trousers in a thrift store and adjusted them to the right size.

We designed and knitted the knitted part of the top ourselves. We also constructed the pattern for the blue organza shirt ourselves and finally sewed everything together.

Photos by: Pia Leisner & Paula Pucher

Here, too, we received a description of the role in advance from the director:

The governess comes from a humble background and increasingly opens herself up to the tasks at Bly. But at a certain point, she must make a decision and fight. She protects herself, figuratively "dressing up warm" to fight the ghosts.

Our idea was to give the governess a costume that changes throughout the play. It was meant to demonstrate her gradual opening up, as she repeatedly removes garments during the process. When she needs to "dress up warm," she puts the previously discarded garments back on, but this time differently and "wrongly" to represent her increasing madness.