#star princess
Into the phantom verse?
“ ℎ !”
Beatrice Penny Toure as Christine Daae (x)
When you look at this costumes concept are you think “Good God, where do I even start?” and to be honest that’s how I felt. I wanted to be true to the original concept art but also add things from different versions of the dress to it.*
I wanted:
- The length and fullness of the Hamberg skirt.
- The shape of the West End skirt.
- The West End shaped bodice.
- The beautiful and full decorations on the West End bodice.
- And yes I actually adore the “swim floaty” arm pieces!
Now the hardest thing to find for this costume is the bodice fabric. It fades, in the West End version, from a royal purple to a generous salmon pink. Where on earth do you find that? To tell the truth, it’s easier if you have the cash. A couple people have designed it and but it online for you to buy**. But those can be very expensive! $17 and up a yard! Personally I don’t have the pocket money for that, nor do I really want to spend the money on a costume that I am probably only going to wear for a photoshoot and then be done with. So how did I find the fabric? Well let’s back track a little. When I was 15 I set determined to make all of Christine’s costumes, I started with the dressing gown because I heard it was the easiest***. Finished that:
It was okay, not the best but it did the job for one Halloween.
After that I was determined to make the Star Princess, it seemed to be the easiest next to the dressing gown. So for weeks me mother and I went to fabric store after fabric store, we went up to LA and spent the whole day asking poor fabric sales men if they had this crazy insane fabric. Nothing.
About 2 months later I said I wanted to try one more time, so we went to this little Ukrainian run store around the corner from my house. I guess we should have gone there first because I was just wandering around and suddenly I see it. I think my eyes must be fooling me but no! It was the fabric! Even better it has little tiny rhinestones already in the fabric! It was a terrific find!
Never made the costume.
A few months back I said to myself that I needed to get on it again and so I opened up my box and started again. I forgot all the goodies I had before I stopped:
- Transferring color fabric.
- Salmon fabric for the skirt.
- Plastic stars.
- Purl beads.
- Crinoline.
- Lots and lots of beads.
And to tell the truth It’s a God send I did stop. At the time I was around 20 pounds heavier than I am today. If I had made the dress then it wouldn’t fit me now.
And so I started on the skirt, let me tell you. You will never want to make another petty coat again!
I think the first skirt had 10+ layers under it. It was insane. It is so repetitive and boring it will make you want to stop. It’s pretty bad! Not to mention the top layer is also a very time consuming piece. But here is the nice thing:
I might be able to use it if I make the Aminta costume.
After that is guess what: MORE PETTICOATS!
Petticoats and then lace (inspired by the Hamberg dress) the lace was so much fun! Actually the Salmon was fun too, mostly because of the scallops at the bottom. To tell the truth, I find the thing that makes sewing so much fun is the puzzle. This one was pretty easy. Find a pattern that kind of works and add to it the scallops:
Once it was done I felt so achieved in life! I felt I had defeated a giant! and in truth I had! This skirt, while just repetitive, is hard to get through you feel great when it is done and looks good!
Next up will be the bodice.
* Colby Thomas (Hamberg), Katie Hall (West End u/s), Katy Treharne (West End u/s), Rachel Barrell (West End), Concept Art (RIP Maria), Colby Thomas (Hamberg), Gina Beck (West End), Colby Thomas (Hamberg), Robyn North (West End)
** Here is one that enchantedseastudio put up: [LINK]
*** It’s a total lie don’t fall for it! The Hannibal Ballet costume is FAR easier than the dressing gown! It’s is the opposite of the Start Princess skirt. It is a lot of different things. instead of the same thing over and over. [Will place link later]
After two years looking for star princess fabric and finding something like it but it was sheer, then looking around 5 more years I finally found some! One side looks like the Germany version colors and the other side the London version! Whoo! Quite a bit of it will probably end up on my etsy!
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Was in a Masquerade mood today. A page of red death from memory that turned into doing Star Princess gesture studies.
Three documented wearers of Maria Bjørnson’s original and revamped costume for Christine Daaé in “Phantom of the Opera”
- Row 1: Maria Bjørnson’s original and revamped design.
- Row 2: Sarah Brightman in the original costume in West End (1986), and revamped costume on Broadway (1988).
- Row 3: Claire Moore in the original (1987) and revamped (1988) costume in West End.
- Row 4: Rebecca Caine in the original costume in West End (1987), and the revamped costume in Toronto (1989).
Other candidates: Maria Kesselman (West End 1986-1988), Jill Washington (1987-1989, 1990-1995). Both understudied the role, and they were also both in the original cast. Maria Kesselman might have left before they implemented the costume for all, not just the principal. Jill Washington might not have performed the role before AFTER they implemented it. But in both case they were at least around to see both costumes in use.
I do have a soft spot for the original.
I have seen somewhere Maria Kesselman confirm that the Star Princess was ‘before her time’. I find this odd as my belief was that Maria was in the production until around 1988. I always believed the costume was implemented in London after or around the time for the Broadway production. There is a photo of Claire Moore in the Star Princess costume with Michael Ball which would imply this was the case. Also, Jan Hartley Morris joined the cast Feb 1988, replacing Rebecca Caine, and as far as I’m aware she only wore the Star Princess costume. I guess what I’m asking is, when did Maria Kesselman leave? Was it as early as Feb 1988? This seems to be the time the new costume was installed in London!
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Star Princess tiara: From humongous to non existant
- Sierra Boggess, Paris: Gotta give it to Paris: They modeled this after the actual moon, scale and all… Interestingly, it doesn’t have a visible fundament. It’s all about the moon!
- Sarah Brightman, Broadway: Also a huge moon and little fundament. This did alas not last long on stage.
- Viktoria Krantz Tocca, Copenhagen: The Swedish/Danish original tiara had a big silvery star and a visible fundament AND big stars, making it an impressive construction.
- Rebecca Caine, Toronto: Back to less fundament, but ONE GIANT BLUE MOON. Epic look.
- Harriet Jones, West End: A modest blue moon as such, but one helluva star studded fundament. SO MUCH TIARA.
- Emilie Kouatchou, Broadway: Fairly small faceted mirror star, backed with small stars, and a modest fundament.
- Claire Lyon, World Tour: The original Aussie and World Tour tiaras had tiny silvery star, but a big “starburst” fundament. In all fairness they’re totally not reflecting on the costume design, but they’re cool.
- Celinde Schoenmaker, West End: Being a tall Christine, they composed a brand new tiara for her, with an askew moon attached to a silver cluster on a tiny fundament. As far as I know, only Celinde wore this.
- Lucy St Louis, West End Revival: OK, so the tiaras are quite regular sized blue moons. But when you wear it as a hairclasp at the back of your head it’s no longer a tiara.
- Colleen Besett, Vienna: Since original Viennese Christine Luzia Nistler was considered very tall they changed her tiaras to just glittering diadems. For mysterious reasons this was also done for all the other Christines, whatever height.
As a reference, Maria Bjørnson’s design DO feature a gigantic tiara with no fundament. The silvery tiara is star studded and placed down the forehead of the wearer, a bit askew. Thus, the two first might seem overwhelming on the actresses, but they do in their own way reflect on the costume design.
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Bodice closure: The Star Princess
- World Tour (hooks and eyes)
- Broadway (zipper)
- Broadway (zipper)
- Tokyo (hooks and bars)
- Hamburg (hooks and eyes)
- Oberhausen (hooks and eyes) (same as 5)
- Hamburg (hooks and eyes + bars)
- West End (hooks and bars)
- West End (hooks and bars)
- Copenhagen (hooks and bars + thread loops)
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