Misty Turnbull

My graduate collection is inspired by the costume designer Erté and his muse, opera singer Madame Ganna Walska. I discovered that Madame Walska suffered from stage fright and was unable to pursue opera singing dreams to her desire, where I resonated with her due to my struggle with anxiety. I used texture and surface details to translate my symptoms of anxiety, through the touch of fabrics and their appearance. The opera theatre itself inspired my collection for the drapery that resembles their iconic curtains and the gold cord that ties them, also symbolic of how my anxiety constrains me. I combined historical extravagance of dress and contemporary flamboyance to create a theatrical collection. This collection reverences Erté and Madame Ganna Walska’s collaborative relationship where the aspiration is that if Madame Walska was able to perform in an opera show today, what would she wear?