Whenever I see a movie, a play or stage performance my mind is always admiring and taking in the costumes. This weekend my family and I went to see Cirque de Soleil-Kooza in Portland. I sat there in awe of the performers, the set and the music. If you are not familiar with Cirque de Soleil, all I can say is GO AND SEE IT! This particular show had a Moroccan influence in the set and the music as well as the musicians costumes. A large tent was created on stage that was made of handpainted, gauzey, sheer fabric in muted lavenders and maroon colors. The costumes reflected the grandeur with gauzey, sheer dresses in the same color palette with halter tops and flowey tent style skirts. Very bohemian and beautiful without being overly glitzy. I tried to find pics to post, of these dresses, to no avail. I did find however a picture of one of our favorite acrobats wearing an amazing bodysuit stenciled with lace tattoos. I kept thinking, someone will love this so much they will go out and have their entire body tatted that way. As I was researching these costumes I find out some very interesting statistics on Cirque de Soleil:
-The costumes have a lifespan of 20 shows, with multiple costumes per performer costing about $10000 to produce.
-the BEATLES LOVE show in Las Vegas has 2500 costumes and uses 300 wigs
-Since the start of LOVE in 2006 they have gone through 6000 costumes
-Many special effects are built in to costumes, such as the Pig costume in LOVE gets blown up with air every performance prior to coming on stage.
-there is a studio in Montreal where most of the Canadian cirque costumes are made, they source fabric from all over the world, most are handpainted and custom dyed as well as the sets.
