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| Eloise Kazan is the award-winning costume designer of El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Final Dream of Frida and Diego). |
From the Royal Shakespeare Firm to Paris’s trend home Hermès to opera homes all through the world, Eloise Kazan has captured consideration together with her gorgeous costume designs, units, and illustrations. Her work has been showcased in productions at Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and Ópera de Bellas Artes (Mexico). On this dialog, Kazan solutions questions on her profession, being half Mexican and half Croatian, and her creative model.
SEATTLE OPERA: Inform us about your path to costume design.
ELOISE KAZAN: I at all times knew, in a roundabout way or one other, that I needed to be within the visible arts. I believe this has to do with the actual fact I’m Mexican Croatian. My household moved so much. Many instances we moved to locations the place I didn’t communicate the language. Drawing was a technique for me to speak with folks. And I’ve at all times loved trend. A lot of the ladies in my household appreciated stitching and trend. Costuming combines drawing, stitching, and trend.
I used to be fortunate as a teen, as a result of my first job was in theater. I used to be an assistant to an assistant—mainly a manufacturing runner. I actually loved it. I assume that’s how I started. I actually love teamwork in theater, opera, and dance. I’m at all times impressed by my colleagues, and I get pleasure from seeing a venture come collectively. It’s nearly like magic!
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| Frida Kahlo’s gown designed by Eloise Kazan. The orange colours had been impressed by the Campasuchil, the Aztec marigold, generally known as “flower of the lifeless.” The flower is synonymous with Día de Muertos (Day of the Lifeless) festivals. Eloise Kazan, photograph |
SEATTLE OPERA: What are your impressions of the way in which Frida Kahlo dressed?
ELOISE KAZAN: I believe Frida, in a means, was a fancy dress designer. Garments communicate to who we’re. I consider Frida appreciated that. She understood that clothes can inform your story, specific your roots, and hook up with your loved ones and ancestors. Her garments embraced her ethnicity and expressed her persona. And she or he broke boundaries by dressing in males’s garments infrequently.
As I labored on this opera, I discovered inspiration going to locations and occasions that Frida might need visited and exploring traditions that surrounded her. I even imagined her in at this time’s world—seeing our world by means of her eyes.
SEATTLE OPERA: Why is Frida Kahlo relatable to us at this time?
ELOISE KAZAN: She’s relatable as a result of she is imperfect. I believe everybody can relate to tough relationships, well being points, and issues going flawed. That’s life and all of us expertise joys and disappointments. I do know that’s what I actually love about her. The contradictions in her life make her relatable. On the one hand, she’s a feminist—impartial and conscious of her capabilities. And on the identical time, she’s deeply depending on a person, even to the purpose of tolerating issues that girls at this time wouldn’t. It’s fascinating that she’s highly effective and submissive on the identical time. I believe folks will discover that fascinating.
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| Two La Catrina costume sketches. La Catrina is without doubt one of the most iconic symbols of Día de Muertos. Initially created round 1910 by Mexican printmaker Jose Posada, she is now a well-liked determine acknowledged all over the world and can be featured in Diego Rivera’s well-known mural Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon within the Alameda Park). Eloise Kazan, photograph |
SEATTLE OPERA: Your method to design is influenced by fantasy worlds, darkish themes, and powerful visually storytelling together with adapting cultural imagery. It seems this opera carefully aligned along with your design model.
ELOISE KAZAN: You’re completely proper about that. I do assume that there are two issues that align right here very a lot. The primary is that I can completely relate to Frida’s artwork. I discovered her surreal imagery very compelling that matches properly with my design course of. The second is Mexican tradition and historical past. I’ve at all times discovered it extremely inspiring. It’s a topic I like and there may be at all times one thing new to find.
As a result of I am half Mexican and half Croatian, I type of see Mexico from the within and from the skin on the identical time. As a child, grandmother—who was Mexican—adorned an altar for Day of the Lifeless. She defined its cultural and household significance to me. My Croatian mom noticed the competition as international and unique and never one thing to honor. It was a conflict of two worlds inside my small household circle. So having the ability to see Mexico from the within and from the skin made this venture distinctive.
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| Character sketches from El último sueño de Frida y Diego. Eloise Kazan, photograph |
SEATTLE OPERA: What do you hope audiences take away from this opera?
ELOISE KAZAN: I’m hoping the opera illustrates Frida’s life, particularly her concepts of favor and clothes. I’m hoping the costumes speaks to her bravery, playfulness, and freedom. From a bigger perspective, I’m hoping the opera reveals the richness of Mexican tradition and artwork and reminds us of why we love music and artwork and the wonder that surrounds us.
El último sueño de Frida y Diego is on stage January 16–30, 2027 at McCaw Corridor. Study extra and purchase tickets at seattleopera.org/frida.
