Work / Opera 1
Opera 1
- Role
- Costume Design & Making
- Year
- 2026
- Performer (Carabiniere)
- James Emberson
About
Guildhall School of Music & Drama — second-year opera production.
Opera 1 was a second-year production assignment at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama — a staging of Menotti’s one-act Amelia al Ballo relocated to mid-century Italy. The brief paired a line-up of 1950s womenswear with a uniformed Carabiniere officer, and this project follows both the design and the making.
The design began with the full costume plate: four principal women’s looks — a floral halter sundress, a baby-blue shirtwaist, a purple brocade gown and a chartreuse silk cocktail dress — alongside the navy caped uniform of the Carabiniere. Period research narrowed the officer from a wide field of 1940s–60s Italian military dress to a specific 1961 Carabinieri reference, which set the cut, insignia and detailing.
From there the officer’s costume was built from scratch. Working from a military-tailoring block, the tunic was drafted and adapted to the design, toiled on the stand, and fitted on the performer — each round of fitting notes feeding the next set of pattern adjustments. Fabric was sourced in person, matching silk weights and colours to the palette and finding the right prints for the women’s looks.
The result is a complete record of one costume from first reference to finished tailoring, and the design language for the production around it.
Sketches
Costume design line-up — four principal women’s looks and the Carabiniere officer, annotated with construction notes. Design rendering for the Carabiniere officer — a navy caped greatcoat over the service tunic.
Patterns
Drafting the tunic sleeve from a military-tailoring block, adapted to the design. The tunic front pattern, marked up with chest canvas, tailoring and adjustment notes.
Process
Period research — 1940s–60s Italian military and Carabinieri uniforms, narrowed to a 1961 reference for the officer.
Sourcing fabric — a tropical floral cotton for one of the women’s looks. Weighing silk colours and weights against the palette during a fabric-shopping day. The tunic toile on the stand, with collar, shoulder-pad and pocket samples pinned for review. Fitting the toile on the performer, with the notes that drove the next round of adjustments.
