Summer 2025
High C's Meet Haute Couture: Christian Lacroix's Spectacular Costumes
By Claudia Bauer
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Get ready for onstage fireworks when the Versailles Royal Opera performs La Fille du régiment at Festival Napa Valley on July 18. Beloved for its enchanting music and adventurous romantic-comedy plot, Donizetti’s 1840 opera features dazzling coloratura passages for the ingénue Marie, sung by Manon Lamaison, and the spectacular “Ah! Mes amis” aria for her paramour, Tonio, performed by tenor Sahy Ratia. Famous for its string of eight high C’s — and sometimes a ninth, when the tenor is feeling especially daring — the aria is one of the most thrilling displays in the bel canto repertoire.
But this production, which received its world premiere in April at the Versailles jewel-box opera house that was the pride of Queen Marie-Antoinette, is equally memorable for its spectacular costumes, designed by acclaimed couturier Christian Lacroix. As vibrant, sparkling, and captivating as his runway collections, “Lacroix’s costumes are a story in themselves,” raved the critic for Le Monde, “dressing the production in fantasy, burlesque, and at times poetic high fashion.”
For La Fille director Jean-Romain Vesperini asked Lacroix to create costumes that suited both its French and Tyrolean settings and looked lively and original. “Jean-Romain wanted to avoid taking it too seriously, so the costumes are at once realistic and whimsical,” Lacroix says. In designing the dozens of Empire gowns, Tyrolean dirndls, and military uniforms, Lacroix deftly balanced his passion for history with his uninhibited artistry. “I looked at period engravings and had fun re-drawing them in my own style. It’s a kind of work I enjoy,” Lacroix added.
The result is a visual fantasia, with silhouettes that evoke the 18th and 19th centuries yet are influenced by doll dresses, tailored from vivid floral taffetas, infused with the pastel hues of macaron cookies, and embellished with reproduction antique laces and upholstery silks. Lacroix thought of every detail, literally “from head to toe,” he says, “including patchworks, buttons, stockings, shoes, and freely inspired wigs.”
But the gowns for the ballroom scene needed no embellishment. “They may seem ridiculous and overly exaggerated,” he says, “but I merely copied, down to the ribbons, colors, and decorations, authentic engravings from the time of Marie-Antoinette.” Not for nothing is she considered the queen of fashion.
The entire Versailles production of La Fille is coming to the Festival Napa Valley Stage at Charles Krug: the singers, the orchestra, and of course, the costumes. The performance marks the Versailles Royal Opera’s North American debut, and a high note for lovers of opera and fashion alike.
Vintner’s Luncheon at PlumpJack Estate Winery
Friday, July 18, 11:30am, Costumes by Christian Lacroix on display
Manetti Shrem Opera: La Fille du régiment
Friday, July 18, 6:30pm
Festival Napa Valley Stage at Charles Krug
