Designer turns to song for his Spandex ballet Australian fashion designer Toni Maticevski has been enlisted to design new apparel for a new Sydney Dance ensemble. FOR Toni Maticevski, designing costumes for dance isn't dissimilar to his fashion pieces, although there are a few areas that require extra attention. "They have to be able to move freely, of course," says Maticevski. You have to avoid pants going up butt cracks and boobs slipping out. And don't do anything that loops between the legs, because they get caught on it. You also have to get intimately acquainted with spandex, not something the designer uses in his beautifully detailed catwalk pieces. The much-lauded Melbourne-based designer has been working with the Sydney Dance Company on costumes for its new production, Les Illuminations, which opens on Wednesday at the Sydney Opera House. The piece is set to music by Benjamin Britten, in two halves: the lighter, more innocent Simple Symphony, followed by the darker Les Illuminations, based on the work of French poet Arthur Rimbaud. It's not Maticevski's debut designing for dancers. Last year he won the Helpmann Award for costume design (along with milliner Richard Nylon) for BalletLab's Melbourne Festival production Aviary: A Suite for the Bird, choreographed by Phillip Adams. That was his second show with the experimental Melbourne company; later this year he will work with one of the dancers from the Australian Ballet in the new season of Body Torque, the annual showcase of new dance. But his dance design experience did not get Maticevski the job; rather it was the singer Katie Noonan, who performs in the second half of this 45-minute production. Since she bought her first Maticevski dress eight years ago, "I've been watching everyone else discover and fall in love with him," says Noonan, who recommended him for the job. His work does have a really luminous quality to it, I feel, and that lends itself to the feeling of the music in Les Illuminations. It's quite a journey through various moments of Rimbaud's writing, and there are some dark moments and some beautiful, gorgeous, very-much-in-love moments. I thought Toni's style would suit it perfectly. It has a romance but also quite an edge. There are some slightly mad moments in the lyrics, and it's slightly demonic musically. It's not romantic Puccini. The two halves of the show, each featuring four dancers, have different costumes that reflect those musical themes. The innocence of Simple Symphony is reflected in the pale nude colour of the costumes, with some signature Maticevski flourishes including silvery beaded shoulder pads and chiffon that twists around the body. The second, darker, half is in black, much sexier, with plunging necklines and hip cutaways in mesh for the women, and jersey "armour" covering the mesh on the men's torsos. "There's nothing on show, but they're quite suggestive," says Maticevski of the costumes in the second half. He will also dress Noonan, likely in a black gown. "I want to make her a bit glamorous and sexy," he says. I'm so used to seeing her in colours and soft pretty things, I want to give her a sexier, darker edge, especially as what she's singing is a bit darker as well. Rafael Bonachela, choreographer and artistic director of the SDC, needed no convincing that Maticevski was the right man for the job, but he did seek the approval of Adams, as he didn't want to be seen to cut the costuming grass of another choreographer. He was like, 'Amazing, go with it. If I were a woman I would wear his frocks'," says Bonachela of their discussion. So I had his blessing. Bonachela had attended Maticevski's much praised show at Australian Fashion Week in April, a stellar collection that included a neon neoprene gown and contemporary updates on 1950s silhouettes; one sculptural neoprene dress has recently been acquired by the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum in Los Angeles and will feature in the Modern Love exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery in October, alongside international names including Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen. And while Bonachela admits he is a fan of fashion ("I love going to the shows, I love looking at nice clothes and I love seeing people dressing beautifully"), when it comes to dance costumes "if I could I would have everyone naked all the time," he says with a chuckle. Knowing Maticevski's work, "I thought the things about this music, the twists in the darkness, but so elegant and sophisticated, I thought he would get that," says the Barcelona-born choreographer, who celebrates five years with the company in November. Usually when I collaborate with people, I like their work, I admire their work. I am aroused by letting someone bring something (to the production). Previous designer collaborations under Bonachela's tenure include Sydney designers Dion Lee and Josh Goot. Maticevski was aware of bringing something new to the stage. "I didn't want to make it too modern," says the designer. I've noticed a lot of Raf's collaborations are quite graphic and modern, quite hi-tech. And this music's so beautiful and romantic and sensual, I wanted to bring a little bit of that element of what I do. Maticevski says that the design process, while coming together quickly in just over a month, has been relatively autonomous. Raf just let me do my thing. I know what Raf likes in terms of costumes and what he wants to get across, I've listened to the music, it's happened without too much dialogue. Sometimes (too much of) that can kill the inspiration. For this I just fell in line with the mood of it and it happened naturally. Les Illuminations, 28-31 August, Sydney Opera House. Sydneydancecompany.com.