The Hannibal/Elissa Costume

The HANNIBAL/ELISSA costume
from "Phantom of the Opera"

Going from "slavegirl" to queen Elissa in a few seconds.
(This is achieved by removing the rope skirt and attaching a grand skirt with a false bodice continuation)

STARTING POINT
I may be wrong about this, but I think "Phantom of the Opera" designer Maria Bjørnson was inspired by the Minoan snake goddess figures for the Elissa design, at least in Carlotta's costume. When comparing some of the elements from the figures to the Carlotta sketch there are some strong similarities: the apron in front, the "bare" breasts, the pleated hem, the X-decorations at the hem etc.

Still, Maria Bjørnson's design is just as much an way of showing how the Victorians would envision earlier historical periods, as an attempt to recreate a specific historical epoque or style on it's own. So it's a Victorian vision of the past she has designed. As far as stage costumes goes, I'm basing my own version on European versions, with an extra emphazis on UK, Germany and Denmark. The costumes used in Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Mexico and Belgium had a red skirt rather than the green design from most other productions (including the original). I got to see the Danish costumes up close, and loved what I saw, so I decided that I wanted to copy that colour scheme. For a long time I assumed the Christine sketch would be merely a simplified version of the Carlotta one. The Carlotta sketch is fairly detailed, with a green skirt, a red apron, hanging tabs and various drapes. But then I finally got to SEE the Christine one, and it's highly different. It barely shows any skirt at all, only the hanging tabs and a hint of an apron. It's like the tabs are replacing the rope skirt. This explains the extreme simplicity of the original Elissa costumes in West End, with the alternating green and red tabs, and it also explains why both red and green skirts has been made later on - the skirt wasn't meant to be there, and hence it wasn't sketched!

KEY COSTUME
The Hannibal slavegirl costume is Christine's key costume, because it's adapted and used in several scenes in the first act. She starts out as a ballet girl, wearing the same costume as the rest of the corps de ballet. This is the red and green striped bodice with rope skirt she wears in "Hannibal". Early in "Think of Me" the rope skirt is removed during a blackout (European versions remove the golden belt with rope skirt attached, and this is the version I'm trying to recreate. The US version only removes the front piece, to mention one alternaltive), and the big Elissa skirt with faux bodice is attached to the waist. The faux bodice gives the impression of Christine wearing a pointed bodice, like Carlotta. In the middle of "Angel of Music" the Elissa skirt is removed, and Christine puts on a dressing gown, only revealing the golden collar of the Hannibal bodice. I could of course had made my Elissa costume in the Carlotta version, with skirt and a pointed corseted bodice on top. It would LOOK the same. But I wanted to be able to recreate the whole process with the Hannibal slavegirl bodice, especially since I had already made the dressing gown.

The "slavegirl" bodice is kept for all 3 costumes

THE SLAVEGIRL COSTUME

The bodice is made of 10 panels; each panel a double layer of boned unbleached cotton, and on top a velvet layer, alternate green and red. The area over the bust is not boned, allowing natural curves to show. The seams are trimmed with golden ribbons, alternating between a broad and a narrow one. Along with the curved vertical seams, it gives an illusion of the waist being slimmer than what it is.

A golden "collar" is attached in front. A similar golden belt with ropes forming a skirt is attached to the bodice by snap buttons. There is also several rows of beads in the skirt, similar to those over the shoulders of the bodice. The collar has a base of unbleached cotton, and overneath there's black tafetta. On top I've used a massive golden ribbon with pattern of alternating big flowers and fans (see gallery). I cut out some of the flowers and used them at the bottom, laying a little out over the edges of the collar (similar to Brightman's original West End costume). I've decorated the gold with red and green "jewels", not many but enough to add a splash colour. The same method was used for the belt, the tiara and the wristbands. READ MORE HERE

The skirt consists of cording in red, green and black, in the manner of the European and Japanese costumes. Other version has broad fields of red and green echoing the panles of the bodice, while European versions use alternating red, green and black all the way around to make a dense skirt. Though I am a fan of both looks, I think the latter one correspond better with the costume design, and it's also what I intended to make originally. The original West End costume had a third look: broad fields of green and black (mixed), and with red marking the outlines of the bodice panels. I slightly regret not trying that out, because it sticks very close to the costume design, but on the other hand I am much content with the achieved look.

The ropes are gathered on a thick string, alternating black-green-red-black-green-red, and then attached inside the belt. The belt will later be lined so that the end of the ropes will not be visible. The black cording is the broadest one, while the red is the "slimmest". Ideally they would all have the same width, but I got the black and red for free (huge bolts with app. 200 metres on each). They were perfect in colour and look, so I ignored the fact that they were different in size, because it saved me huge amounts of money. I bought the green cording (probably the biggest expense of the whole costume....), and I choose a size in-between the others. So the three different ropes are of different texture and width, but looks good together.

THE COSTUME DESIGN

1. Slave girl costume design I, Maria Bjørnson ca. 1986
2. Slave girl costume design II, Maria Bjørnson ca. 1986
3. Christine Daaé in Hannibal, Maria Bjørnson ca. 1986
4. An unused costume idea for the Degas costume, Maria Bjørnson ca. 1986

MY REPLICA IN PROGRESS

1. Renée Knapp as Christine, Hamburg, ca. 1991
2. Backside of the half-finished bodice, ca. 2006
3. Bodice without belt/rope skirt , ca. 2006
4. Almost-finished costume, early 2008
5. Almost-finished costume, early 2008
6. Re-done belt, late 2008

DETAILS

1. Inside of the bodice, with bound fabric ends and boned panels
2. The beads of the shoulder decorations. Some are of glass (=too heavy), and need to be replaced
3. Collar with various "gems" attached, inspired by Sarah Brightman's original West End costume
4. Ditto for the belt front
5. The rope skirt, made of three alternating ropes (beads are used in front)
6. Various golden appliquï¿½es used to make the collar and the belt

MATERIALS USED FOR THE SLAVEGIRL COSTUME

FABRICS AND TRIMS
-1,5 metres of green viscose velvet (bodice)
-1,5 metres of red viscose velvet (bodice)
-3 metres of unbleached cotton (double layer of bodice lining + base for belt and collar)
-0,5 metres of a black silk tafetta (belt)
-5 metres of a broad golden ribbon (covering panel seams)
-6 metres of a golden agraman ribbon (covering panel seams)
-3 metres of a gorgeous, broad golden appliquéee ribbon (belt + collar)
-4 metres of a narrow golden ribbon (trimming outerlines of belt)

OTHER
-7 metres of rigilene (boning of bodice)
-6 golden appliquées (to fill in on belt and collar)
-55 metres of green cording thread (rope skirt)
-55 metres of red cording thread (rope skirt)
-55 metres of black cording thread (rope skirt)
-9 metres of a golden bead ribbon
-4 rows of greenish bead-ropes
-16 red and green "jewels" for decorating the collar
-app. 1700 green, red and golden beads (shoulder decorations and front skirt)
-8 hooks and eyes (back closing)
-1 metre of elastic ribbon, made skin coloured with makeup (shoulder straps)

THE ELISSA COSTUME

Most skirts used by Christine are build up by several layers of stiff netting, while the Carlotta versions have hoop skirts. I think this is because it's easier to attach a netting version to Christine during the 10 seconds blackout, compared to a big hoop skirt. So that's what I'll use for my own costume as well. The black netting skirt is with many rows of ruffles and pleats. I am halfway done with it, but it needs more "puff" (especially over the hips) to do the width of the skirt justice.

For the main skirt I choose a gorgeous red/golden sari fabric (app. 4,5 metres), which I decorated with lots of golden sequences. The bottom is trimmed with golden/green pleats, and overneath I added two rows of a golden ribbon forming X shapes all around the hem. The middle of the X-ribbons were decorated with 24 metal flowers with "jewels" (they were once ear clips....), as well as big tassels. For the back I am working on some yummy waterfall backdrapes, in alternating green and red (with golden details).

PICTURE GALLERY

1. Minoan snake goddess statuette ca. 1600 BC
2. Minoan goddess statuette
3. Sarah Brightman, West End 1986
4. Design for Christine's Elissa costume, Maria Bjørnson 1986
5. Design for Carlotta's Elissa costume, Maria Bjørnson 1986
6. Janine Kitzen, Stuttgart ca. 2002
7. Susanne Elmark, Denmark 2000 (a heavy altered Swedish skirt)
8. West End, probably Charlotte Paige, ca. 1999

DESCRIPTION
For the tabs I used unbleached cotton as base and with green poly silk on top, and with winered velvet partly covering the green poly silk. The velvet is cut so that it allows three flower appliquï¿½es to form a sort of globe. The velvet is decorated with another globe/floral theme, as well as some spiral like shapes made out of the same golden ribbon used in the collar base. The outshape of the velvet is trimmed with two ribbons - a green spiral patterned one, and a golden sequence/flower shaped one. The outshape of the tabs are trimmed with a golden "pyramide" shaped ribbon.

The green apron also have a base of unbleached cotton, and with a green/golden fabric draped upon it. The apron is trimmed with golden tassels, and also a pyramide shaped golden ribbon reminding of the one used on the spears. I've made a very special "belt" for the apron, consisting of three red/turquoise jewelled brooches, and with strings of pearls between. The Canadian version served as inspiration, but I used other materials. The big brooces were bought at Indiska, and it originally had purple and turquoise/green stones. I replaced the purple ones with red, and kept the green ones. Each brooch has three hanging strings of beads, as well as three rows connecting them.

Most European versions makes the faux bodice continue in the back as well. I didn't want this. I've always loved the rounded appearance of the backside of the US costumes (except they add some oversized pleatings instead, which I'm not too crazy about), and I was happy to discover something similar in a Hamburg version worn by Colby Thomas. So I made my false bodice stop at the sides, continuing only the golden trim to the back, making a smooth transition. The faux bodice is made of the same materials as the slavegirl bodice, with alternating red and green viscose velvet trimmed with golden ribbons at the seams. The base is of unbleached cotton, and it's not boned.

A piece of advice: buy a velvet with as short pile as possible for the slavegirl bodice. This will give a more consistent colour appearance, and it will be more in sync with the stage costumes as well. My velvet is a bit too "fluffy", and the lovely green colour sometimes appears black, especially in pictures. It gives a rich look to the costume, but I think I would have choosen a shorter pile if I were to make another version.

PICTURE GALLERY

MATERIALS USED FOR THE ELISSA SKIRT

FABRICS:
-4,5 m. of a red/golden sari fabric, with sequences added (main skirt)
-4,5 m. of a red poly lining (skirt lining)
-2 m. of a two-nuanced green fabric with golden details + sequences sewn on (apron)
-1,5 m. of unbleached cotton from Ikea (apron base)
-3 m. of an emerald green satin (backdrapes)
-3 m. of a blood red sateen (backdrapes)
-3 m. of a stripy green/golden fabric (made into a pleated 20 cm high hem)
-1 m. of a dark green fabric for additional height to the pleated hem
-7 m. of black netting for the underskirt. Need about twice as much....
-2 m. of moss green poly lining (tabs/spears, five in total)
-1 m. blood red velvet (for tabs, from scrapped Hannibal bodice)

RIBBONS:
-2,5 m. of a broad green/golden trim (backdrapes)
-2,5 m. of a broad red/golden trim (backdrapes)
-5 m. of a golden/reddish trim for the pleated hem
-4,5 m. of a golden tassel ribbon (for tabs and apron)
-1,5 m. of a pyramide shaped golden ribbon (apron)
-12 m. of a pyramide shaped golden ribbon, with sequences (outerlines of tabs)
-9 m. of a flowery golden sequence ribbon (tabs)
-9 m. of a golden/green looped trim underneath the one above
-6 m. of a glittering golden trim (for tab decorations)
-5 m. of a green/golden narrow ribbon (for covering the transition of the pleated fabrics in hem)

OTHER:
-15 gold/green sequence decorated flowers, cut out from Pakistani shawl (for tabs)
-3 big brooches from the Swedish store Indiska (for the belt)
-5 big metal plates (for the tabs - bought in Rome!)
+ lots and lots of beads, sequences, hooks and "jewels".

My "Phantom of the Opera" costume replicas