Remember the stunning costumes that Maria Callas wore in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Medea? All the sublime costumes for Luchino Visconti's films, from Il Gattopardo on? Bertolucci? Scorsese (The Age of the Innocence)? The costume that turned Maria Callas into Violetta for la Scala's eternal production of Traviata, the Giulini-conducted Visconti staging? Even the costumes that made tiny teeny Marc Jacobs muse/testimonial/bff&e Sofia Coppola Marie Antoinette the visual feast that it is (not a good movie, ok, we watch them for the costumes and sets, whatevS)?
For that, and so much more, you can tip your hat to Sartoria Tirelli. //ok now put ur hat back on silly.
It's all about the costumes, see -- just ask the zillion-award-winning Sartoria Tirelli. It's the legacy of the late Umberto Tirelli, the genius son of a peasant that went on to became cinema's -- and opera's -- most elegant costume designer, and tragically passed away in 1990 ("Tirellino"'s work -- a loving nickname given by Maestro Visconti himself -- is still continued to this day by his priceless team).
Opera Chic is constantly awed by such creativity and craftsmanship -- on stage for musical theatre and drama, in cinema, and on television. Lucky for those who aren't familiar, a one-hour documentary titled "Sartoria Tirelli vestire il cinema" will sk00l your a$$, as starting April 17 at Rome's Casa del Cinema, it will be accessible to the public (well, those in Rome, at least).
Premiered at Roma FilmFest 2006, the Italian-language documentary is narrated by Isabella Rossellini, and stars our very own Franco "frengo" Zeffirelli. The film narrates the story of Tirelli's theatrical costume atelier (created in 1964 in Rome's Quartiere Prati) and its rise to becoming the worlds most prominent and respected (and internationally awarded) costume workshop.
The atelier Tirelli became the trusted co-conspirator of cinema artists, and as we said worked exclusively with giants such as Luchino Visconti, Martin Scorsese, Milos Forman, Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Liliana Cavani, Kenneth Branagh and Bernardo Bertolucci, providing unique and breathtaking costumes.
For the past fourty decades, they have built a gigantic collection of over 15,000 pieces (many of them unique vintage and antique historical pieces), and have worked closely with famous opera houses such as Bologna's Teatro Comunale, Rome's Teatro dell'Opera, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, Teatro San Carlo in Napoli, etc. etc., infinity.
