For this conceptual design project, I was working as costume designer, designing for the “Alice in Wonderland” opera, libretto by Unsuk Chin. Collaborating with fellow MA opera director student, Talia Stern. I have a deep passion for theatrical productions, and I knew this opera would provide ample opportunities for creativity. From our first meeting, Talia and I decided to take a contemporary approach to the opera with Talia’s brief to me being “Go big!”.

We envisioned Alice as a young girl living in the modern world, surrounded by objects from the past that come to life as characters in her dreamlike world. To begin my research, I attended operas at the Welsh National Opera, immersing myself in the world of opera for the first time. Visiting the Wales Millennium Centre backstage, where our conceptual project would be staged, provided valuable insights into the scale and size of our design research. Wanting to avoid being influenced by the original opera, I listened to the score without viewing any performances. Instead, I let the music, lyrics, and emotions I felt guide my initial research. I also explored various adaptations of “Alice in Wonderland” and read the original book by Lewis Carol.

Inspired by Talia’s vision of bringing the opera into the contemporary world, I brainstormed ideas of Alice surrounded by eclectic objects from the past to serve as a setting.

A visit to a local antique store in Cardiff provided further inspiration, with its eclectic mix of items and colourful graffiti artwork nearby, I was hugely inspired by the contrast of old worn buildings and the bright artworks that adorned them. The eclectic mix of gold frames in the antique store inspired my set design. I envisioned using overlapping frames of different sizes to create platforms and viewpoints on stage. Additionally, I researched projection methods, considering how these projection frames could be used to create dynamic size changes for my character Alice during the performance.

I conducted customer research visits to High Street stores to observe current trends in young girls’ fashion, inspired by the prevalence of the butterfly motif in contemporary fashion. I decided to incorporate it into my design. The butterfly symbolises various themes, such as sexual maturity, independence, solitude, vulnerability and strength, which deeply resonated with me. It added layers of meaning to my portrayal of Alice, enhancing her character with a sense of vulnerability and resilience. Moreover, the connection between the butterfly and the caterpillar in the story reinforced the coherence of the design concept.

Alice undergoes a transformative costume change upon entering Wonderland. I envisioned distorting her original tight attire, oversizing her Hoodie and manipulating the fabric. I did lots of fabric samples to explore this design using old hoodies from the charity shops. I drew inspiration from historical garments as I wanted to retain elements in the cut and silhouette of the costume of the beloved original character. Additionally, I wanted to emphasise the butterfly motif by distorting the image and incorporate and shapes reminiscent of butterfly wings. I also then decided to incorporate this print into all the characters costume designs in some way. This gave the costumes a harmonious and unified look and created a cohesive aesthetic.

I was deeply engaged in researching every aspect of this performance. I delved into current issues, Exploring profound themes such as anxiety, depression, self-worth and human pressures. Recognising the opera’s dreamlike yet dark undertones, I aspired for my final designs to possess the same authenticity as the source material. I wanted my designs to ignite the power of imagination and curiosity from my audience.

I decided to present all of my final designs in a large 18-page handmade A1 book. This was symbolic to the thematic motif of scale prevalent in “Alice in Wonderland.”  I created my designs, using paint, ink and collage, and I believe my costume design book serves as a vivid narrative of Alice’s transformative journey in wonderland.