Christian Lacroix - La Source and the Paris Opera Ballet

This exhibition provides an intriguing invitation to discover the costumers and accessories create for the ballet, La Source, offering insights from their conception by Christian Lacroix to their creation by the costume workshop of the Paris Opera Ballet.

The forgotten romantic 19th century ballet, restaged at the Paris Opera last year, tells the story of Naïla, the water spirit, and her love for the hunter Djemil.

Transported to the heart of the costume workshops at the Palais Garnier, the exhibition reveals, room by room, the different costumes of the characters in the ballet, retracing for each one the stages of development, technical research and artistic interest. The scenography of the exhibition recreates the workshops, while Lacroix has provided the rich iconography of images that inspired him along with numerous costume drawings

Embroidered with delicate Swarovski crystals, the costumes are often tinted with orientalism and shimmering colors, bearing witness to the dream world of Lacroix.

This exhibition runs at the Centre national du costume de scène et de la scénographie at Moulins, France, until December 31, 2012