Les Indes Galantes

Part IV of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s rarely performed opera Les Indes Galantes was semi-staged by Opera Lafayette in 2017 at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In this opera, the arrogant Spaniard Dom Alvar and the fawning Frenchman Damon vie for the hand of the North American Indian princess Zima, but both lose out to the Native American chief Adario. The Washington Classical Review noted, “The neon-bright costumes by Patricia Forelle provided a dash of much-needed visual color” on the austere stages of both houses. The cultural aspect of this project was a most interesting challenge: how to sensitively and accurately present indigenous people. I had conversations with several scholars, especially from the National Museum of the American Indian. The curators were most kind to share their knowledge and their exhibitions are gorgeous! The intricacies and messages carried by the embellishments of these native garments was of great interest to me as a designer. I chose to keep the native costumes simple with basic colors that reflect the available and traditional indigo and red. The second challenge was how to portray the supposedly rich cultured Europeans with all their decorations. I purposely chose to make Dom Alvar’s and Damon’s costumes garish in contract to the more earthy Zima and Adario.