A First Look at the Costumes of New York’s Immersive Masquerade

Ahead of the start of performances for Masquerade, an immersive new revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera in New York. Nicola Formichetti, Emilio Sosa, and Diane Paulus gave Vogue an exclusive look at Masquerade’s masks, costumes, and overall reinvention of a classic work of musical theater.  

Masquerade begins previews in July at a renovated art-supply store near Central Park South. Excepting a few matinee performances, it will be a 21-plus affair, modeled after the recently shuttered Sleep No More.  

The recent announcement that Nicola Formichetti, Vogue Hommes Japan’s former fashion director and a frequent collaborator of Lady Gaga’s, serves as the show’s director of masks.

Formichetti told Vogue that he was brought into the fold of Masquerade by Shai Baitel, the production’s creative director. Director Diane Paulus then paired him with her longtime costumier, the Tony-nominated Project Runway favorite Emilio Sosa. Though this is Formichetti’s first proper theater job, his appointment will make good sense to anyone who remembers Gaga’s MTV VMA debut in 2009. Performing “Paparazzi,” the then 23-year-old donned a custom Keko Hainswheeler mask and bled out onstage in an extremely theatrical homage to the musical. (Formichetti served as the performance’s fashion director.)

Masquerade requires audience members to “dress extravagantly” in black, white, or silver and to don a mask. (Formichetti designed two for this purpose: one, featuring custom lace and embroidery—“a little punk and slightly erotic”—is included with admission; the other, more elaborate mask is available for purchase.)

Paulus (Jagged Little Pill, Waitress), who has been developing Masquerade for more than two years, drew her own inspiration from the grand balls of fin de siècle Paris—“epic, theatrical events for which people would spend a year preparing,” she noted.

“Tapping into this history of masquerades and asking the audience to be a partner—it starts with, ‘What are you gonna wear?” she added. “And you’re already participating. Our lives can be very casual these days, and the idea of not spectacle, but occasion is really exciting.”

A mirrored mask for The Phantom

Nicola Formichetti: [Designer] Chris Habana and I got to go crazy and initially went a lot of different ways before editing down and finding the masks’ own language. This one was inspired by [the Phantom’s] shattered past—the broken mirror, reflecting yourself but distorted. It’s very handmade, almost a little ugly. There’s a scene in there that’s not in the original story where you find out why and how he became who he is, through the mask.

As a fan, as a loyal student to the Phantom’s story, I would never do anything that is not on-brand. Speaking with Sir Webber, we knew that 19th-century Paris and the Opera Garnier were very important reference points, but at the same time, we didn’t want to do something that was just historical. It’s in a weird world of its own.

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Raoul de Chagny’s “Masquerade” mask

Formichetti: Raoul’s more of a noble person, so we used the scales to represent that sense of justice. It’s very baroque, with different appliqués and a Gothic type of embellishment.

Diane Paulus: What is special about this theatrical experience is that it’s driven by the music, by live singing. Even before I started working on it, the idea that people could experience Broadway-caliber singing two feet away from them was vibrational. I was in rehearsals, looking at Raoul during the masquerade scene, and he’s literally a foot away, singing to me, with those gold scales swinging back and forth on his mask. There is no way you would ever catch a detail like that on Broadway.

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Ubaldo Piangi’s “Masquerade” mask

Formichetti: Piangi’s masquerade mask had to be comedic but a little insane, almost showing what’s inside of this character. It’s this slightly ugly, disturbing piggy that has sort of a sexual connotation, maybe. The “Masquerade” scene is a feast of visual ecstasy.

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Another “Masquerade” look

Emilio Sosa: I wanted movement, I wanted sound. He has little bells on the bottom of his pants, and the fabric is this beautiful brocade. We all wanted the masquerade portion of the show to have a wow factor, to give the audience as many things as possible to look at. So we made that ruffled neck and then exaggerated it just for the sake of theater. I wanted drama and spectacle. Nicola designed what looks like an origami fantasy mask, so the costume had to live up to that fantasy.#

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Carlotta’s “Think of Me” gown

Sosa: This is a little Easter-egg nod to my opera upbringing. Carlotta is the diva of the opera, and this is a gown we would have made at Grace Costumes for a diva. It’s big, it’s bold, it’s too much, but that’s opera. I wanted to give dimension because people are so close. The fabrics, leather, brocade, stones, velvet—it was everything but the kitchen sink. The Hannibal section, for me, was, How could it be the most over-the-top, gold section that I’ve ever designed? One hundred years ago, if I were designing an opera somewhere with all the resources, this is what it would have looked like.

Formichetti: It’s crazy to think how many of [the show’s] songs are so good, just hit after hit, from the drama of the overture to “Think of Me.” I cry every time I watch that scene, it’s so beautiful. Andrew’s genius is to just hit you to the core.

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At far right: Christine’s “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” cloak

Sosa: I wanted to play with fabric manipulation, so we pleated the silk and wool to make the ruffle and then pleated some silk satin to make swoops. This robe is about sumptuousness but also protection. It might be one of the more period-correct costumes in the show because of the nature of the scene, where she’s on the rooftop. When the wind hits it, it becomes a moment in and of itself.