From one of my wife Anne Midgette’s terrific pieces on Christoph Eschenbach in the Washington Post:
He has long ago discarded the standard tailsuit in favor of a crisp
Nehru jacket; at the Orchestre de Paris, where he is music director…a fashion house was brought in to design an
alternative to the players’ traditional formal dress.
So it can be done, unless the players and audience in Paris just hate what they’re wearing now. Any word on that?
(Anne’s other Eschenbach piece is here.)
Added later: I searched online in vain for photos of the orchestra in its designer wear. But I did find this, from a British review last month:
If nothing else, the Orchestre de Paris wins the Best-Dressed Musicians at the
Proms award. They looked wonderfully chic in their natty tunics. I wish my
colleagues on the fashion desk had been there to give you a more expert
description.
The critic then goes on to trash the way the orchestra played.
If there are designers out there that have a line they’d like to propose as a ‘fresh’ look for me which will enhance the visual experience of my concerts, and not detract, and attract new audiences to attend, I am open to ideas. In the end, one must feel ‘right’ with what they wear to coincide with what they are performing. I do alter the accompaniments re tie piece and cummerbund, to match the ‘style’ of music, however gently.