Costume designed by Alix Stone for a Whore in Jules Massenet's opera Manon. English National Opera 1974.

18th century style dress with short frilled sleeves, pointed bodice and open fronted skirt with frilled petticoat. The dress is of pale dusky pink corduroy with the stomacher of gold synthetic fabric overlaid with gold/aquamarine crystal organza overlaid with vertical bands of narrow beige velvet ribbon and edged with narrow ecru cotton lace; at the upper edge are two groups of pink synthetic silk flowers. The open skirt fronts are edged with a broad band of olive yellow synthetic slub silk overlaid with a lattice of white crystal organza, held at each intersection and sides with a pink synthetic silk flower, the panel is edged with ecru cotton lace. The sleeves finish in a triple flounce of off white synthetic fabric, the end frill finished in narrow ecru cotton lace; the flounce is topped with a narrow band of olive yellow artificial silk. The skirt is lined with white cotton, except at the front, where the 'petticoat' is of oyster synthetic satin overlaid with frills of white synthetic fabric, each topped with a band of gold ribbon. The bodice is lined with white calico and stiffened with rigelene and has uplift pads to give the 18th century shape.

This costume was designed by Alix Stone for a Whore in Jules Massenet's opera Manon for English National Opera in 1974.

Historical significance: The costume is an example of how a designer creates period costume in the theatre; while bearing the essence of the period it will equally bear the traces of the period in which it was created. Thus 18th century in style, the use of fabrics like corduroy, are characteristic of the 1970s when the production was created.

Historical costume on stage is never an 'authentic' reproduction; theatre designers adapt historical dress to make it acceptable to a contemporary theatre audience. Thus the fabrics, cut and style of a theatre costume are at once recognisable as historical period and yet bear the signs of the age in which the production is being staged. If the play was produced twenty years before or twenty years later, the costumes would be treated quite differently.
Alix Stone's design for a Whore in Jules Massenet's opera Manon, was created for the English National Opera in 1974. The silhouette recreates the 18th century style in terms of the 1970s, mixing corduroy, crystal organza and synthetic fabrics with velvet, lace and gold ribbon trims. Corduroy was known in the 18th century, but it had a working or country connotation, and would never have been used in dressing following the fashionable style. In using it, designer and maker are giving a subtle indication of the character's situation and station in life - aping society but standing outside it.

S.20-2004