Thousands of spectacular and colorful costumes greet me when I enter one of the two costume warehouses of the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. These days hundreds of costumes are being taken out of this warehouse to be sold this coming Sunday to the general public in preparation for Purim.
“When we do sales, the line usually stretches across all of Sderot Shaul Hamelech,” says Yulia Pevzner, director of external relations for the opera. “It’s very popular, a bit crowded at times, but people can find very special things here. We’re preparing for a large crowd of hundreds of people.”
“Pressure, a lot of pressure,” describes the atmosphere, Obi Bossi, manager of the costume warehouse. “In this warehouse there are made-up outfits that have already come off. Everything is more or less divided by periods, by styles, by different categories. I go through the outfits, saying ‘I haven’t used this in a long time, you can put it up for sale.'”
Obi Bossi, manager of the costume warehouse (photo: Aloni Mor)
Except for those looking for a costume for Purim, workers from various theaters also come on this occasion looking for a specific outfit. “For most of the buying public it’s a costume, for us it’s an outfit,” Pevzner says.
“The sale has been held for over ten years, but not every year. Some years yes, some years no. We always try to do it for Purim. The last sale was in 2020, two weeks before the corona virus. These are costumes that usually belong to productions that have already been and are not will take the stage again, so it is very important for us to find them a new and warm home. In the end, even in the opera’s huge warehouse it is not possible to keep all the costumes because new costumes are constantly being added and must be thinned out. Therefore, the sale is also an essential need. Costumes that can be upgraded for Other productions, combine them, paint them – we don’t sell them. The costumes in the warehouse are a good basis for many things: many times we take costumes and paint them artistically or change their shape and they get a completely new life.”
There are those who are looking for more than just a costume for Purim among the multitude of outfits. “Sometimes people buy costumes not as a costume, but as clothing for anything. For example, a couple came who bought fur coats, one in green, one in beige,” says Bossi. Although there are thousands of outfits in the warehouse, Bossy knows each and every garment. “Here, this outfit is from ‘Lucia’, while this one is from ‘Julius Caesar’, where everything was gold,” she points to the outfits. To be safe, the outfits are also sorted in a computerized catalog.
Cinderella for 500 shekels
The upcoming sale will take place this Sunday (February 12) between the hours of 12:30 and 16:30 in the portico of the Shlomo Lahat Opera House (Cheech). Including the operas “Rigoletto”, “La Traviata”, “Nabucco”, “Othello”, “Attila” and many others.
A few days before the sale, the price tags were already attached to the costumes: if you want to be Cinderella from Rossini’s opera, you will part with NIS 500, the same price you will pay for the costume of Cinderella’s stepsister. Flora from “La Traviata” by Verdi will cost 250 NIS and Juliet from “La Traviata in Masada” will sell for no less than 600 NIS, Mustafa from “Italkia in Algiers” by Rossini also carries a price tag of 500 NIS.
Violetta from “La Traviata in Masada” (photo: Aloni Mor)
“The price starts from 50 shekels and can reach hundreds of shekels,” says Pevzner. “The pricing is determined according to the uniqueness of the outfit and according to the production cost. If it’s an outfit that cost thousands of shekels to make, if it’s handmade, then we might sell it for 800 shekels. Some of the outfits have labels and you can see which character it belonged to and which singer wore it her”.
On the right is Ashlyn from the Knight of the Rose and on the left is Cinderella’s distraught sister (photo: Aloni Moore)
Who really wore them?
“In ‘La Traviata in Masada’ in 2014, the singer Aurelia Florian was Violetta. Violetta’s outfit is huge and it was very difficult with her because of the heat and the size. So it’s not easy to walk with a dress like that, you have to learn to walk with it. The outfit offered for sale by Mustafa from ‘Italkia Balg ‘Yir’ was worn by the singer Simona Alimo and he had a very hard time with the outfit because of the path, he kept getting into trouble and it took him time to internalize the outfit and make it one that he feels comfortable and free with.”
Mustafa from ‘Italkia in Algiers’ (photo: Aloni Mor)
“Do you know how much work was done on these outfits? They are priceless,” states Bossi. “It hurts me a lot to give up outfits, they constantly argue with me about it. It’s hard for me to put them up for sale.” “As with any breakup, it’s a little sad and a little happy. There are mixed feelings,” continues Pevzner.
Learning to let go
A floor above the costume warehouse is the opera dressmaker’s, where Iris Ratinsky, the director of the dressmaker, and the team of seamstresses who work with her are located. “Most of the costumes, about 90%, are sewn in our seamstress over the years. Sometimes we found costumes at all kinds of second-hand fairs, in the market in Bezalel, in the flea market. Designers would hang out with me in all kinds of places,” says Ratinsky, who has worked there for about 20 years . “There are 13 of us working in a seamstress. Much of the work is done by hand – embroideries, applications, dyeing, sewing of endings. We also make jewelry and dye shoes, bow ties and ribbons.”
How long does it take to sew an outfit?
“A period dress or a very complex period suit can take about a week to make. Sometimes there are hundreds of costumes in one production so we divide the work over time. It’s all planning. It can take several months to sew costumes for a production, even a year. Which production is the most complex? Maybe the productions of Masada, because of the large number of players.”
How do you feel when you see the result on stage?
“When you get the sketch and the schedule, you say, ‘It’s a big challenge, it doesn’t seem possible.’ When you finally see it on stage, it’s very satisfying, a feeling of ‘we did it.’ It’s very difficult to release the outfits, it’s a war. There are dresses I haven’t released for years for sales, but over time you learn to release.”
During the sale, there will be dressmakers and assistants in the warehouse to help the general public to measure. “I will come to the sale to help buyers measure and put on the garment,” Ratinsky says. “Many times people are interested in knowing which production the outfit was from, which singer wore it, what can be done with it afterwards, and where to store it. I recommend hanging it up like a coat, it’s better not to fold it.” All outfits in the warehouse undergo regular maintenance, which includes dry cleaning, vacuuming and more.
Boris Godnov’s cloak (Photo: Aloni Moore)
Towards the end of the tour, I am presented with Boris Godnov’s fancy cloak from Mussorgsky’s opera, which is difficult to lift due to its weight. The outfit, which was made in 1994, weighs about eight kilos and is made of sequins, and is absolutely not for sale. “These days we don’t make such heavy costumes anymore,” explains Bossi and disappears among the multitude of hangers and costumes.