The answer came from Posen and GapStudio. It was less of a fashion-world cameo than one might imagine; Posen has designed for ballet before, including New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, and is married to Harrison Ball, the choreographer and former NYCB principal dancer who, just to make the circle even smaller, once danced Opus Jazz himself.
Posen immediately recognized the vocabulary. “Gap and this ballet speak the same language,” he says. “Denim, jersey T-shirts, sweats, fleece, shirting—these are the American classics.” Frohlich’s brief was considerably more evocative. “JP wanted it to have this attitude of walking off the A train,” Posen remembers. “That’s such a Robbins attitude.”
For Miami, that means the street clothes of today: denim, hoodies, button-downs, relaxed trousers, T-shirts. Each of the ballet’s 16 dancers has an individual look rather than a uniform, and Posen developed the clothes accordingly. GapStudio’s Infinity Stretch denim allows for the lunges, jumps, and deep bends of the choreography; seemingly ordinary T-shirts conceal the construction of leotards so they stay exactly where they’re supposed to. “Whenever you’re doing costume, it’s about highlighting the performance and the performers, not inhibiting them,” Posen says. “The challenge was figuring out how to get denim to work for ballet.”
Zac PosenPhoto: Courtesy of GapStudio
