KARL LAGERFELD DESIGNS COSTUMES FOR OPERA BASTILLE

Karl Lagerfeld has designed some 100 costumes for the “Brahms-Schönberg Quartet” ballet at Opéra Bastille, orchestrated by choreographer Benjamin Millepied. It debuts on July 2 and runs through July 15. In typical Lagerfeld style, the legendary designer dipped into the part with meticulous precision and inventiveness creating frothy tulle tutu skirts with smoky degradè effects reminiscent of soot or peach colored versions, both matched to graphic black and white bustiers. Masterfully executed, they will swoosh gracefully against a blurry backdrop depicting a dreamy fantasy castle in the wilderness of Mitteleuropa. Lagerfeld’s inspiration for the costumes spanned from the Vienna Secession to Gustav Klimt to Josef Hoffmann to the Wiener Werkstätte porcelain. Brahms–Schoenberg Quartet is a ballet created by New York City Ballet original ballet master George Balanchine to Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor. It marked Balanchine's first abstract ballet created for the New York State Theater stage and was spurred by conductor Otto Klemperer, who conducted its premiere performance in 1937 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.