High on Paper: Bea Szenfeld Dresses the Royal Swedish Opera Company with ‘Haute Papier’

Designed by Polish-born, Stockholm-based fashion designer Bea Szenfeld, the collection ‘Haute Papier’ is an assortment of whimsical costumes made entirely of paper. Pushing fashion to its most sculptural extremes, these utterly impractical yet visually gorgeous costumes seem to have popped out of some avant-garde fashion fantasy. With Szenfeld’s creations being truly at the forefront of contemporary fashion, it comes as no surprise that they have been worn by leading fashion icons such as Lady Gaga and Björk; her work has also been presented as part of Utopian Bodies, an exhibition that took place in Stockholm in late 2015 and which explored the future and function of fashion.

In a more recent collaboration, Bea Szenfeld teamed up with creative agency STOCKHOLM GRAPHICS and photographers Karolina Henke, Carl Thorborg and Stina Wirsén to create a photo campaign for The Royal Swedish Opera. Dancers and singers from the opera’s talented troupe were photographed wearing pieces from Szenfeld’s Haute Papier collection, bringing new life and motion to these extraordinary creations. The resulting collaboration is now the subject of an exhibition at Stockholm’s Dance Museum, where musicians and dancers can be seen photographed in unexpected, almost surreal settings. The campaign was directed by Pompe Hedengren, creative director at STOCKHOLM GRAPHICS, who was invited by the Swedish Opera four years ago to reinvent its visual identity.

EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE IS REAL. Opera’s Gina Tse. Photo by Karolina Henke © Dance Museum Stockholm.

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