Opera and ballet lovers can consider themselves lucky, now that the National Opera & Ballet is putting thousands of costumes on sale in the last weekend of November – for prices from 1 to 450 euros. All costumes have actually been used in performances over the past thirty years.
Treasury
“I call it the Three Crazy Days of the Bijenkorf,” says Robby Duiveman, former director of costume, hair and make-up at the National Opera & Ballet, “and that times a hundred.” He also organized the previous three sales. “Think of a huge number of people who spend two hours selecting all kinds of fun things and combining them with each other: they become costume designers themselves.” The challenge is that the costume pieces have very specific sizes, because they are made specifically for opera singers.
Five thousand places
Five thousand Amsterdam residents (and interested parties from outside the city) will have five shopping opportunities in the costume store on the weekend of November 25 and 26. Interested parties must purchase a ticket for 7.50 euros. The proceeds will go to an initiative to digitally inventory all costumes in storage, with a barcode.
Tickets are available from November 2 at 12 noon via the National Opera & Ballet website.
Image: Joris van Gennip.