MEG STUART / BLESSED

Costumes / Design & Production / Client: Damaged Goods

A shifting illusion, where paradise dissolves and the body is left exposed.

When Meg and I first discussed the project, we talked about the illusion of paradise and the brutal reality of its collapse. For this piece, I didn’t want to design static costumes. I wanted to showcase transformations.
It start with a contemporary Faun. A man in pristine white, a tourist of his own life, comfortable in a cardboard Eden. Throughout the performance, there is a constant flow of garments, a parade of textures and layers. But ironically, among all these elaborate pieces, the true star of the show is the most mundane one: a cheap, transparent plastic tourist raincoat.
As the rain begins to fall, the costume becomes an adversary. As the set melts, the fashion shifts into grotesque moments. I introduced contaminated elements to bridge the gap between the human and the artificial.
For me, Blessed is an experiment in vulnerability. It’s about what remains when the social fabric falls apart, leaving nothing but the raw, struggling body underneath.