echothe new Cirque du Soleil show, is breathtaking for the sporting performances of the artists but also for the technical feat of the costumes.
My exchange with Nicolas Vaudelet, the costume designer, confirmed that the simpler it seems, the more complex it is. With this new production, the team has developed a more sophisticated and contemporary approach to style, a far cry from the usual flourish of cirque costumes. One could almost speak of a fashion aesthetic. Some might even fall in love with multiple looks from the show, as the tailored approach ranges from suits to trench coats to cropped jackets.
Illustration by JF Savaria
A few weeks after the show’s world premiere, Nicolas continues to work on the costumes. “There’s always small changes to be made, there are sometimes new artists, you always have to think about backups, etc.” A show never ends, we keep refining things, and luckily that’s because it allows us to take the creation very slowly to leave,” explains Nicolas Vaudelet.
Review of the different Echo costumes with Nicolas Vaudelet.
The “puzzle” print
Photo provided by JF Savaria
Echo begins as Future and his dog, Ewai, take the stage. They are wearing suits showing a blue sky with white clouds. The two artists enter into a symbiosis, Ewai is a domesticated wolfhound that takes on the colors of man, his master. In the original idea, the figure of the future through the clouds represents the dream, the future.
“We have seen cloud pressure many times. It was born from the inspiration of Magritte and surrealism before Louis Vuitton popularized it in its fashion show! Cloud print is difficult to manage as the quality can quickly degrade. Too bright a cloud on stage, that’s cheap! In addition, Future and Ewai’s costumes are cut from different materials to meet the needs of the two performers. It was very confusing but it makes sense. “It works well, a surreal print in a monochrome universe,” says the costume designer.
Banquine number and human build
Photo provided by JF Savaria
The banquine and human frame number is the most colorful of all. “No two colors are the same. The aviators, who are closer to the light, wear warm tones, while the floor performers wear cool tones. “We want to emphasize the ethereal aspect of the number,” Vaudelet specifies.
Double trouble manipulation
Photo provided by JF Savaria
The double trouble manipulation act is the comedic part of the show. The two protagonists represent the age of industrialization. “Red orange, orange with fluo, is a synthetic color that represents consumption and commerce. Her hat is a nod to the English businessmen of the 1940s,” explains the costume designer.
Capillary suspension of fireflies
Photo provided by JF Savaria
The hair-hanging artist’s costumes are daring while the fireflies light up. “It’s very new to include electronics in an acrobatics act because it’s very fragile and the connections need to be protected. “It was also necessary to undress the two artists as much as possible while respecting the aesthetics of the show,” Vaudelet specifies.
eagle mask
Photo provided by JF Savaria
The pieces he is most proud of are the masks. “I am very attached to all masks. We explored things we had never done before. Usually masks are not put on the acrobats for reasons of safety, performance and not to dehumanize the performers. It was dangerous to design a goat, antelope or bull mask while still allowing lateral vision and retaining the characteristics and volumes of each species,” says the designer.
The cartographer
Photo provided by JF Savaria
The cartographer is a mysterious character who wears a suit with a silhouette from another time. “He is our discoverer and our architect. Its silhouette is that of the 19th century, on which an imprint of the game “Connect the Dots” has been applied. You have to work with the body and the personality of the artist. It has passed through several stages of creation and will soon evolve into another. Since Piotr Kopacz has beautiful arms, we will show them. The jacket is also short to lengthen his legs,” says Nicolas Vaudelet.
A new approach to costumes
Echo’s costumes deviated from the usual Cirque du Soleil visual style. They are both simple and minimalist, and deviate from the costume look. “We are used to the cirque having a richness in costumes and a certain baroque aspect in the ornaments, prints and embroidery. It is an aestheticism that is recognizable. It was therefore a challenge to follow this idea of simplification, which is downright fashionable in costumes,” emphasizes Nicolas Vaudelet.
Photo provided by JF Savaria
Impressive are the white suits, the fabric of which looks like crumpled paper, because this type of clothing is not associated with the circus world. “It was a technical challenge. So we tried Tyvek, the material for painter dogs, but it was impossible with the daily cleaning in the washing machine. The circus is also the genius of the workshop, which is a great laboratory. In order to achieve the desired effect, we carried out folding tests on polyester fibres,” says the costume designer.
Photo provided by JF Savaria
“Simplification doesn’t always work. There really has to be a set and all the designers are in the same boat. “The simplification of the costume, without the genius of Martin Labrecque in the lighting, the staging by Mukhtar OS Mukhtar and the choreography by Andrew Skeels, it wouldn’t work,” he says.