Latest news with #aModBallet
Fashion Network
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Paul Smith creates costumes for Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia 'Mod ballet'
Quadrophenia has been an album, a rock opera and a movie and now it's become a ballet with on board to design the costumes. The Who's landmark 1973 album Quadrophenia debuts this month as 'Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet', presented by Sadler's Wells and Universal Music UK. It's at Sadler's Wells in London until 13 July and will also tour the UK over the summer. Smith's involvement is perhaps fitting given the mod obsession with sharp tailoring and the designer's beginnings as a tailor in the 1960s and 70s. As the press release says, he 'played a pivotal role in the reinvention and modernisation of men's tailoring in the 20th century. His eponymous company has continued to champion his playful, irreverent ideals during the intervening six decades, making Sir Paul and his team uniquely placed to create the costumes for this new vision of Pete Townshend's opus'. The brief for the ballet was to design and make suits that 'faithfully replicate mod fashion's famously razor-sharp lines whilst also giving the dancers a full range of movement'. Paul Smith has created suits that 'are immediately reminiscent of the 1960s, with slim trousers and jackets featuring narrow lapels, longer vents, and additional buttons. Working with the cast, each suit has been made bespoke for each dancer, to ensure they are entirely unrestricted while dancing'. A greater range of motion has been achieved through the implementation of design details, such as articulated sleeve gussets and specially cut trousers. That materials include tonic suiting, subtle checks, and details like the famous 'target' motif. A full-length stone-coloured raincoat, adapted from the company's AW24 collection and similar to a piece seen in the 1979 feature film, will also be worn onstage.
Fashion Network
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Paul Smith creates costumes for Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia 'Mod ballet'
Quadrophenia has been an album, a rock opera and a movie and now it's become a ballet with Paul Smith on board to design the costumes. The Who's landmark 1973 album Quadrophenia debuts this month as 'Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet', presented by Sadler's Wells and Universal Music UK. It's at Sadler's Wells in London until 13 July and will also tour the UK over the summer. Smith's involvement is perhaps fitting given the mod obsession with sharp tailoring and the designer's beginnings as a tailor in the 1960s and 70s. As the press release says, he 'played a pivotal role in the reinvention and modernisation of men's tailoring in the 20th century. His eponymous company has continued to champion his playful, irreverent ideals during the intervening six decades, making Sir Paul and his team uniquely placed to create the costumes for this new vision of Pete Townshend's opus'. The brief for the ballet was to design and make suits that 'faithfully replicate mod fashion's famously razor-sharp lines whilst also giving the dancers a full range of movement'. Paul Smith has created suits that 'are immediately reminiscent of the 1960s, with slim trousers and jackets featuring narrow lapels, longer vents, and additional buttons. Working with the cast, each suit has been made bespoke for each dancer, to ensure they are entirely unrestricted while dancing'. A greater range of motion has been achieved through the implementation of design details, such as articulated sleeve gussets and specially cut trousers. That materials include tonic suiting, subtle checks, and details like the famous 'target' motif. A full-length stone-coloured raincoat, adapted from the company's AW24 collection and similar to a piece seen in the 1979 feature film, will also be worn onstage.
-Johan-Persson-(12).jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26auto%3Dwebp%26quality%3D75%26trim%3D0%2C0%2C0%2C0%26crop%3D&w=3840&q=100)
Scotsman
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet, Edinburgh review: 'brings mods and rockers back to life'
With a talented cast, arresting design and a phenomenal score, this show captures what it was like to be young at an important cultural moment, writes Kelly Apter Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh ★★★★ When something iconic starts life in one genre and evolves into another, it always comes with challenges. Books turned into TV programmes never quite match our imagination, and in the case of Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet, you have to leave your celluloid memories behind and embrace the show on its own terms. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet | Johan Persson Replicating the 1979 film on stage, with its huge fight on Brighton promenade, pulsating dance club scene and engine-revving motorcycles and scooters, would be impossible. That said, however, this new production certainly gives it a good go. It's very much Pete Townshend's baby: he wrote the storyline (and the original album) but has clearly handed over the reins to specialists to deliver his vision, in particular the arresting video design, which fills the entire stage with the choppy waters below Beachy Head, amongst other locations. Similarly, Townsend's wife, Rachel Fuller (along with Martin Batchelar) has turned The Who's album into a phenomenal orchestral score, which does much of the emotional heavy lifting. Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet | Johan Persson Directed by Rob Ashford, this production focuses in on lead character Jimmy's mental health issues, and we often see him surrounded by four aspects of his personality - the tough guy, the lunatic, the romantic, and the hypocrite - which gives choreographer Paul Roberts an interesting palette of moves to work with. Roberts and Ashford also take a deep dive into the lacklustre relationship between Jimmy's parents, which bears poignant fruit. Sign up to our FREE Arts & Culture newsletter at Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Despite this, the show doesn't make us feel quite as much as we should, which is a shame. What it does do, though, is capture what it was like to be young at this moment in British history: the energy, the rivalries, the disillusionment and love affair with fashion. The talented 22-strong cast never falters, bringing mods and rockers back to life through dynamic group scenes, a sensual imagined ménage à trois, and some dramatic cliff-edge moments, as Jimmy wrestles with his future.
