MILAN — There are several reasons that led Lavinia Biagiotti Cigna to create costumes for the upcoming New Year concert at the La Fenice theater in Venice.
“This is a project dear to me, Venice is the city of my heart. With my parents I went many times there as a child,” said the designer, who has been carrying forward the Laura Biagiotti brand since her mother’s death in 2017. “Venice has long been an inspiration for us, it’s the name of the successful perfume we launched in 1994, and following the 1996 fire that destroyed the theater, my mother Laura donated the grand curtain in collaboration with the Amici della Fenice [friends of the theater]. The curtain is a metaphor of life, a strong symbol of rebirth every time it goes up.”
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In green velvet, it is embroidered by hand with 1,000 daisies in gold filigree. Also, she pointed out, next year will mark three decades since the fire and since the death of her father, Gianni Cigna, who was instrumental in building the company with his wife. On the curtain, there is a tag in memory of her father.
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The costumes will be worn by étoiles Eleonora Abbagnato and Friedemann Vogel and the dancers of the Ballet Company of the Rome Opera House, choreographed by Diego Tortelli.
Biagiotti Cigna also underscored the strong relationship she has with Abbagnato, who has repeatedly attended her fashion shows and also performed on the catwalk. “This is the 10th project we do together; she is a dear friend whom I respect and admire so much. It’s the circle of life; my mother had the same kind of relationship with Carla Fracci and by chance it’s the same for me and Eleonora,” said Biagiotti Cigna, referring to the late legendary prima ballerina and ballet director.
In designing the costumes, she was mindful of the freedom the dancers need on stage, “so that the clothes can fuse with the movement,” conceiving for Abbagnato three looks: a feather-light white gauze dress; a silk dress with Swarovski crystals under a cashmere hooded cape, and a white suit for the opening on TV.
For Vogel, the shapes are more sculpted, with a suit in white double cashmere with a 3D knot on a pullover. The knot is a leitmotif of the costumes.
For the dancers, she designed cashmere and silk bodysuits with Swarovski crystals, also with a central knot and tiny sequins, and leg warmers in braided cashmere.
“I would define this a dance-couture collection about Venice filtered through the Biagiotti imagination — white and luminous,” she said.