The Magic Flute

This project for The Magic Flute was originally an exercise in design concept ideas, but was later realized as a theoretical project in Special Projects in Costume Design. The Magic Flute, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written as an allegory to the Enlightenment Era as it was written to serve as an introduction to the secret society of Freemasons. The period of the Enlightenment itself was known as “The Age of Illumination” as it changed the way people thought about applying the principles of the newly scientific revolution with the goal of improving human society. Researching works of art from the period, with paintings by Joseph Wright were fascinating as they clearly represented the Enlightenment, both focused around the ideas of scientific discovery and reasoning. Looking at the style of paintings themselves, they experiment with light vs. dark and the space around them which also correlates to the themes of light vs. dark or good vs evil within the opera. This idea of light vs. darkness led me to several images of space and how space can correlate to the idea of light and darkness as seen in Enlightenment paintings. This ultimately brought me to the big idea of innovative wearable technology in fiber optics within Magic Flute. The Luminescence in the clothing and optics translates t the age of illumination as they represent the awakening or bright ideas of the time period but supporting a new technology. This idea would manifest itself into a space opera aesthetic to where illumination in wearable pieces would be used. Utilizing avante-garde futuristic silhouettes encased with different light sources would give the space opera ample room to play with technology and theatrical elements within the production. This project was one of my first ventures in digital rendering styles utilizing collage and light pen techniques within Procreate.