Anita Yavich

Here is the design for Ao Guang, the Sea Dragon King-performed by the fabulous @baritonejoowonkang I wanted his armor /robe to feel like 3D cast metal, this costume required a totally different technique- 3D quilting and embroidery- Thanks to the Genius and Patience of @fabiotoblini he was able to come up with a new experimental technique to manifest this design and the result is pure elegance and magnificence! We had to collaborate closely on the embroidery- and again, the shape and size of each piece of the pattern has to be predetermined before we fit the quilting design on them. Santiago Suanes was the Draper who figured out how to drape and construct this 3D costume! Here we have also mixed in laser cut collar and belt buckle, created with the help of @jessepoleshuck I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #quilting #embroidery #3dquilting #customembroidery #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here is a glimpse of the complex design process for The Monkey King Himself/themselves in 3 forms: magnificent singer @kangwang amazing dancer @huiwangzhang and the adorable puppet by @basiltwist3 ! I started with the idea of creating a graffiti motif out of the Chinese Character Monkey and use that as his signature and a way to create his own stamp onto the world. This motif is worn as his armor, the color of this armor needs to be able to shift to different colors with his movement…That was a tall order and it really took everyone - every department at the San Francisco Opera shop- Draper Santiago Suanes, Milliner Paula Wheeler, and Craft Artisan Jersey McDermott, with @jessepoleshuck creating different possibilities solutions and the costume shop manager Jai Alltizer’s hours of glueing to manifest the final form!!! Also @jpkny.inc helped us with the initial phase of the R&D on developing the motif! So much work!!! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here is the design for the Jade Emperor- I wanted this to feel like a 3D mountain of Jade, this costume required a totally different technique- 3D quilting and embroidery- Thanks to the Genius and Patience of @fabiotoblini he was able to come up with a new experimental technique to manifest this design and the result is pure elegance and magnificence! We had to collaborate closely on the embroidery- and again, the shape and size of each piece of the pattern has to be predetermined before we fit the quilting design on them. Santiago Suanes was the Draper who figured out how to drape and construct this 3D costume! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #quilting #embroidery #3dquilting #customembroidery #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here are the designs for the Chorus and Ensemble of Monkey Nation! We have so many monkeys in this opera! They also have baby monkey puppets created by @basiltwist3 , who has created so many beautiful puppets and scenery for the opera! These characters have the most amazing masks created by the head of crafts Jersey McDermott and her amazing team! The chorus need to be able to sing and hear in these masks and the ensemble dancers need to be able to have great peripheral vision while they are tumbling!!! As you can see, she has come up with some really amazing ideas to satisfy all the needs!!! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here are the designs for the Principal characters Ao Guang (who is the sea dragon King) and his Crab General! These characters have the most amazing headdresses made by the head of millinery dept Paula Wheeler at the San Francisco Opera costume shop! As you can see, she has come up with some really amazing ideas to create these headdresses!!! these designs are laser cut metallic or hologram leather, heat set vinyl transfer and embroidered. These designs need to be custom fitted to each pattern pieces- so we had to determine a lot of details on the prelim fitting before we could proceed on the graphic and drafting of each piece of each costume! Some of my sketches of these motifs were too complex for this technique so they needed to be simplified and then drafted in different software programs to work- there were a lot of back and forth but I was so lucky to have a great designer and artist my great friend and colleague @jessepoleshuck with his team of collaborators to help me realize the forms in drafting!!! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here are the designs for some of the Gods(there are a lot of them partying in heaven!)-But the Gods would not look as Magnificent without Amazing Hair!!! Without @jeannamparham creative aesthetics these gods would have been at a total loss!!! Besides creating these outrageous make up designs, Jeanna and her team hand dyed all the hair for the wigs and facial hair and they have come up with so many creative solutions to these anti gravitational wigs!!! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here are the designs for some of the Gods(there are a lot of them partying in heaven!)- these designs require quite a complicated process - they are laser cut metallic or hologram leather, heat set vinyl transfer and embroidered. These designs need to be custom fitted to each pattern pieces- so we had to determine a lot of details on the prelim fitting before we could proceed on the graphic and drafting of each piece of each costume! Some of my sketches of these motifs were too complex for this technique so they needed to be simplified and then drafted in different software programs to work- there were a lot of back and forth but I was so lucky to have a great designer and artist my great friend and colleague @jessepoleshuck with his team of collaborators to help me realize the forms in drafting!!! Sally Thomas and Amy Ashton-Keller were the Inventive Drapers who figured out how to drape and construct these 3D costumes! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here are the designs for the Gods(there are a lot of them partying in heaven!)-these designs require quite a complicated process - they are laser cut metallic or hologram leather, heat set vinyl transfer and embroidered. These designs need to be custom fitted to each pattern pieces- so we had to determine a lot of details on the prelim fitting before we could proceed on the graphic and drafting of each piece of each costume! Some of my sketches of these motifs were too complex for this technique so they needed to be simplified and then drafted in different software programs to work- there were a lot of back and forth but I was so lucky to have a great designer and artist my great friend and colleague @jessepoleshuck with his team of collaborators to help me realize the forms in drafting!!! Sally Thomas and Amy Ashton-Keller were the Inventive Drapers who figured out how to drape and construct these 3D costumes! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

Here are the designs for some of the Gods(there are a lot of them partying in heaven!)-the Six Brothers of Erlang - these designs require quite a complicated process - they are laser cut metallic or hologram leather, heat set vinyl transfer and embroidered. These designs need to be custom fitted to each pattern pieces- so we had to determine a lot of details on the prelim fitting before we could proceed on the graphic and drafting of each piece of each costume! Some of my sketches of these motifs were too complex for this technique so they needed to be simplified and then drafted in different software programs to work- there were a lot of back and forth but I was so lucky to have a great designer and artist my great friend and colleague @jessepoleshuck with his team of collaborators to help me realize the forms in drafting!!! Sally Thomas and Amy Ashton-Keller were the Inventive Drapers who figured out how to drape and construct these 3D costumes! I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! Here are some of the designs for a sea creature and a couple of rehearsal photos! They are masterfully created by Jersey McDermott, the Senior Crafts Artisan and her team at the San Francisco Opera!!! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! Here are the sea creatures lining up getting ready for their own adventures! They are masterfully created by Jersey McDermott, the Senior Crafts Artisan and her team at the San Francisco Opera!!! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang

I had the great honor to design the costumes for The Monkey King Opera composed by Huang Rao with libretto by David Henry Hwang- a story that I grew up with- these designs would not come true without the uncompromisingly creative and beautiful work of all the great drapers, artisans, tailors, milliners, wigs and make up design team, and the foresight and support of the Costume Director Daniele McCartan and Costume Shop Manager Jai Alltizer from San Francisco Opera! I hope this series of posts will open the window into all the ingenious creativity and hard work behind the scenes that everyone at the opera has put into this production! Here is one of the designs for a sea creature, masterfully created by Jersey McDermott, the Senior Crafts Artisan and her team at the San Francisco Opera!!! #themonkeykingopera #themonkeyking #sanfranciscoopera #sfopera #costumemaker #behindthescenes #crafts #millinery #costumedesign @sfopera composer @huang.ruo @thedavidhenryhwang