April 2020 – Aria Couture

I’ve had a few people inquire over the last several days about if my pricing will change a lot since there’s this event later this year or that next year that they’re hoping to still get to attend. Since I just read something concerning that I knew was likely to happen, but now have confirmation, I’m going to address this here. Money is never a comfortable topic, but even less so now that the world has been upended.

Many fabric manufacturers have stopped producing fabrics for the time being. I’m not sure who all retailers and wholesalers those manufacturers ship to, though I do know that Gap Inc (owner of Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy) is among them, and I’m not sure yet what that will mean for us here in the future. Right now, I do have a stash to fall back on (thank goodness–I was called obsessed and crazy and all kinds of things by old friends for my stash…well, good thing I didn’t listen), and will be trying to stock up on anything else I can that I anticipate needing to try to prevent having to increase pricing, and to lower some where I reasonably can, effectively a pay cut.

That’s the short answer. Of course a short answer means there’s a longer, expanded answer as well.

Continue reading “Money-matters during a time hard to think about money” →

Women’s ensembles are usually the ones that get the attention, whether that’s a ballet tutu or an 18th century robe a la française.

Héloïse Bourdon and Christophe Duquenne as the princess and prince, photo mu Tal Gomita

But men’s ensembles can be just as intricate, sometimes even more so. This costume, worn by Christophe Duquenne, is a great example of this. The beautiful embroidery and crystals on beautiful jacquard, the gathers in the back…

Of course the bottoms are always plain. The dancer’s legs shouldn’t have to compete with a bunch of detailing. Standard men’s dance tights are worn that allow very free movement, and very free admiration of the hard work male dancers do in perfecting their bodies. It’s one thing to be lean, but another to sculpt their bodies the way they do. Sparkles and tons of textures would draw attention away from them getting to show off. And let’s face it. If you’re a male dancer, you want to show off what you’ve built just as much as you want to show off your skill. Take it from me and every gym rat I know–it’s far easier to get lean than to build muscle mass to show off. Continue reading “Paris Opera Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty’s Prince” →