The costumes in the apple Onegin
Mariinsky-2, June 2015, costume designer: Irina Cherednikova
What I love about this recording, in addition to the fantastic voices, is the stage design. It’s tastefully sparse, with a dramatic dark backdrop, which sets the characters into focus. Since the first time I watched it, I was impressed by the costumes, so I though to write a little something about them.
Disclaimer: I know nothing about costuming! In fact, literally everything I know about clothes and fashion comes from Karolina Żebrowska’s videos. In all fairness though, what matters is what I feel when I see the costumes, and ether way, a regular opera-goer doesn’t have a historical database to reference in order to understand the “accurate” story told by the costume designer. Therefore, this will be an entirely personal observation, told with love for the opera and absolutely no research. The pictures in this post are screencaps from the recording, and they don’t necessarily show the costumes that well - but instead of apologizing for the low quality, I’ll urge you to go watch the entire thing :)
And so, without further ado, a little and non-comprehensive ramble about the costumes in this Onegin:
The design tells us what the text doesn’t. What we need to know about the Larin family is that they’re living in the countryside: it’s an idyllic, simple and domestic life, far from the glamour and excitement of the big city. They’re in harmony. The peasants we see in the background are dressed in a mix of styles heavily inspired by Russian folk clothing.Â
Here’s a shot of the Larin girls’ dresses - simple, for the country life. In the background, you can see their neighbor Lensky’s sharp riding costume.
Here’s a better look. Note the stripes, they show that Lensky is in love. Look out for when you see a striped scarf again…
[The apples! They are telling us a story! But we’re not talking about the apples now…]
At first glance we see Onegin is a dandy from St Petersburg. Sharply dressed, hat and gloves, buttoned up - unlike his friend Lensky, who’s already opened his heart to the Larins and has his coat unbuttoned. Under this first visit, Onegin doesn’t unbutton his coat, and he carries his riding rod with him - closed off, in control. Meanwhile, Tatiana is shaken…
During the letter scene, Tatiana wears her white nightdress, which we’re used to see in almost all productions. I have nothing new to say about this scene’s costume, but the rejection scene….!
Look at Tatiana! She’s dressed up - her dress is much more fancy, and although you can’t see it here, she’s also changed into nicer shoes than the boots she wore until now.
And. Look. At. The. Scarf! She’s wearing it, but when Onegin starts speaking, she takes it off and fiddles with it. It’s her heart she wears on her sleeves, and holds in her hands - but Onegin doesn’t reciprocate.
Onegin wasn’t rattled at all by this all. He’s wearing the same outfit as before, but he did unbutton his coat. He opened up by his own confession, yet he remained sharp and collected.
I love the design for Tatiana’s party! The Larin home looks so, well, homely, and I love the rural feel of the partygoers’ dresses - they’ve dressed up their best, but haven’t upgraded the clothes according to the latest fashions. The nuggets of fashion history I know give me the feeling that Tatiana and Olga have new dresses for the party - they seem the most modern - while everyone else have a mix of older fashions. The servants were dressed in simple but nice clothes, and my favourite detail was the sofa where everyone’s coats are piled up - they don’t have any proper wardrobe, it all goes on the Chair!
I love how Triquet looks like he’s been tucked away in an attic somewhere since the 1700s, only being taken out for parties once a year.Â
The most important - and my favourite - clothing choice of this party is how Onegin’s dressed:
Here he is greeting Larina - dressed in a black tail coat. You immediately notice he’s overdressed for the party - certainly very suitable for a ball in St Petersburg, but no-one else has a black tail coat in the village! I adore how it immediately marks him as the outsider. Everyone in chorus noticed him too, and started gossiping about this dandy.
Painnnn….. Another important detail: Lensky is wearing the same clothes he wore the night before - he’s been up all night, sleepless. Meanwhile, Onegin has been at home, getting a change of clothes, presumably a little sleep as well.
After his years of travel, Onegin is back in St Petersburg. He’s yet again in a tail coat, but I notice it’s a slightly different cut: he’s upgraded to the latest fashions. This ball he’s ended up on is completely different from Tatiana’s party: here, it’s high society. There are many officers in uniform, and those uniforms are so decorated, his black-and-white formal wear seems almost underdressed. The ladies don’t have uniforms, but they are uniform: the dresses are of a similar cut, and it appears blue is the colour currently en vogue. The servants, of course, are wearing fine livery.
Here’s a snap of the ball, and in the background - could that be… Tatiana? That same girl Onegin met in the village, so regal, so beautiful?
Tatiana’s dress is a nice black velvet piece (and, notably, she’s wearing a малиновый берет, a crimson beret, which is always sung in the text but rarely seen on stage). It’s starkly different from all the other dresses. That simple yet very fine design sets her apart from the crowd, what prince Gremin appreciates in his aria about her. She’s a part of this high society, and yet a bit of an outsider. Her scarf is white: she has the utmost respect for her husband, even if it’s not romantic love.
After seeing Onegin again, Tatiana is shaken. And when we see her again, she is dressed in white. Just like in act 1, back in the village - she’s turned into the girl she was!
And. Look. At. The. Scarf!!!!!!! IT’S THE SAME ONE AS BEFORE - but now she’s wearing it inside out, the bright part outside, the dark part inside - their situation has inverted! Now it’s Onegin asking for her love, and Tatiana is doing the rejecting!
I love this production so much… The artists are amazing, from Goncharova’s Tatiana, to Bondarenko’s Onegin, to the maestro Gergiev at the conductor’s podium. It’s visually sharp, too, I loved the backdrop. I can wax lyrical about this production until the end of time, but for now, I’ll stick to the costumes. There’s probably a lot more they tell! Maybe I’ll notice it on my next rewatch…
