For the new 2020 Royal Opera House production of Fidelio, designed by Rainer Sellmaier, I was asked to provide the waistcoat embroidery for the character Florestan performed by Jonas Kaufmann. It is based on the design from Otto van Randwijck, however I have redesigned a lot to make it neater and the colours have changed a great deal. All the French Knots are hand embroidered on top of the machine embroidery, as it is screened in cinemas too so great detail was required. The waistcoat has been constructed in house by the tailoring department and then got broken down. On the second and third photo you can see the waistcoat in its full glory. This is the cover waistcoat which I got to construct myself, including his breeches and also other costumes for the chorus.
Production photo credit: Bill Cooper
Image stills taken from the BBC Broadcast.
