Madame Butterfly

The world is very strange. I am currently studying Textile Design at Leeds University. Last week I had just come out of a Design Theory lecture when a girl ran forward and asked me whether I had been in the Madame Butterfly show 3 years ago. I responded really quizzically, as after all, it was such a long time ago, but discovered she had been in the exact same show. She was blogging about the experience and in doing so came across a picture of us both next to each other. How very very weird. I feel slightly bad in writing this blog as I'm almost stealing her idea, but I think that bizarre coincidences like this must be noted.

The dress that I had made for my A-Level coursework was selected to participate in a large fashion show in the Royal Albert Hall. The fashion show was based upon the themes of Puccini's Madame Butterfly. My dress tied in well with the themes of innocence, escapism, vulnerability and love. The Royal Albert Hall in partnership with the BBC and 15 colleges from London and the South East joined together to stage a massive fashion show on the incredible stage. There were a series of catwalks leading to Butterfly's house centre stage surrounded by water.

It was a really interesting and enjoyable experience. It was fascinating to see how the choreographers and directors managed all the 150 pupils to perform exactly how they wanted. It required immense amount of preparation and organisation but really came together. It was also really exciting to be apart of something so big and to be backstage at the Royal Albert Hall.