It’s impossible to talk about Cinderella without talking about fashion. It is, after all, the ultimate glow-up tale, where a servant becomes a princess, rags transform into ballgowns, and a well-fitting pair of shoes is everything.
And it’s impossible, too, to talk about the Royal Ballet & Opera’s upcoming Christmas run of Cinderella without talking about the costumes – or its costume designer, real-life fairy godmother Alexandra Byrne.
‘[Cinderella is] the ultimate party,’ she says. ‘The ball, whole preparation for the ball, and the story of transformation... It’s just a magical thing. It literally takes you away from everything.’
Bryne is the sartorial mastermind behind many of the stage’s – and the screen’s – most powerful moments. She’s worked on everything from The Phantom of the Opera to The Avengers, receiving six Academy Award nominations along the way – and scooping Best Costume Designer for Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2007. But she had never costumed a ballet until she joined the Royal Ballet & Opera for Cinderella.
Credit: Bea Shepherd & Nunez Muntagirov
The restaging of Frederick Ashton’s classic ballet first took to the stage in spring 2023, with a new floral theme running through the set designs and costumes – think floral projections and freshly dressed flower fairies. And it’ll be more of the same floral fiesta this December but with fresh Cinderellas like Francesca Hayward, Mayara Magri, and Anna Rose O’Sullivan.
Our members will watch the Christmas iteration of Cinderella from the best seats in the house on 4th December, complete with a backstage tour of the costume department. So, we spoke to Bryne a few weeks before the curtains opened about designing for the ballet, fabulous florals, and that fairy tale transformation – all in five questions, of course.
Credit: Louise Burrows
Costume design is all about storytelling – and Cinderella has a huge fashion element to it, from the dress to the shoes to the stepsisters’ gowns. What kinds of stories were you trying to convey with these costumes?
Cinderella has to be a magical fairy tale. You have to invite the audience into a world where they completely leave everything behind. I think part of that work is done just by walking into the Royal Opera House, hearing the orchestra tuning up and seeing the auditorium. You are entering an extraordinary world. From there, it's the job for me (the costume designer), the set designer Tom, and the lighting designer David to create a magical world that supports this extraordinarily romantic, wonderful well-known story.
You’ve done a lot of costume design for theatre and film. What considerations do you have to take into account when designing costumes for ballet dancers vs actors?
It’s always about movement. I design costumes for a lot of Marvel films and that’s all about how they move, how actors wear the clothes, and how they inhabit them. And with dancers, yes, it’s about movement, but these people are so supremely talented that I felt very strongly that I needed to respect and underscore that in any way I could.
In any costume, it's about the balance of proportion and seam lines. But on the dancers, [I had to] work out the lines and how to balance the body with not a lot of fabric covering the body – despite its many layers, a tutu is a very small piece of clothing. The number of cast members also took me by surprise. I had nine Cinderellas, and each has to fit perfectly.
‘Cinderella’s dress is very innocent and beautiful. It’s kind of couture meets fairy tales; Dior-inspired but also to do with meadow flowers.’
– Alexandra Byrne
Nature and flowers play a central role in this production’s aesthetic. How did you incorporate these motifs into your costume designs, and what was your inspiration behind them?
Wendy Somes [former Royal Ballet principal and now producer of Frederick Ashton ballets] is a fantastic, passionate gardener and her love of flowers was very clear. Her passion for them became a very good theme for the story. Cinderella has magic and nature, but it also has the sisters and their obsession with appearance and artifice and buying things. You can translate that into the world of flowers very easily.
Cinderella’s transformation is a key moment in the ballet. Can you talk us through the design process for Cinderella’s ball gown and how you made it a visual reflection of that magical moment?
Again, I used the world of flowers. In the ballet, Cinderella herself is very much to do with nature and meadow flowers, and I wanted her ball dress to reflect her roots. The floral decorations are wildflowers, whereas the stepsisters are hot house cultivated, slightly artificial flowers like orchids and passion flowers. Cinderella’s dress is very innocent and beautiful. It’s kind of couture meets fairy tales; Dior-inspired but also to do with meadow flowers.
Credit: Nunez Muntagirov
Are there any costumes or moments in the final performance that are, for you, true ‘wow’ moments?
This is always a hard question to answer because, particularly on a piece like this where there are so many costumes you're working on, the first time you see it all together is the first dress rehearsal. That’s when it starts to come together, and you have to look quite hard to see how it's working. So, I think I enjoy the moments when it all comes together more than the costumes.
That’s why I’m never a fan of costumes on mannequins after productions because they seem dead and static – particularly for a ballet, because it is about the movement and the experience of the whole thing.
Quintessentially members will attend the opening week of Cinderella, complete with backstage access and a Champagne reception in the Dorfman Conservatory. Cinderella runs from 3rd December–16th January at the Royal Ballet & Opera.
