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Australian houses, from architectural masterpieces to suburban family homes, Victorian terraces, mid-century marvels, coastal shacks, city apartments, and everything in between.
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Australian houses, from architectural masterpieces to suburban family homes, Victorian terraces, mid-century marvels, coastal shacks, city apartments, and everything in between.
Award-winning Australian architecture, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top architects.
Award-winning Australian interior design, inspiring homes, and interviews with Australia’s top designers.
In depth features on Australia’s most beautiful gardens and landscape design.
Studio visits with Australia’s most talented creatives, from artists to architects, ceramicists to stylists, furniture makers to lighting designers.
Studio visits with Australia’s top artists, and unmissable art exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and beyond.
Weekly recipes and meal ideas from our favourite cooks, authors and foodies.
Unique travel destinations, design-led accomodation and day trip ideas in Australia and New Zealand.
Today The Australian Ballet are giving us a close up of their button collection in the wardrobe department & they "spill the buttons" of some of their best resources! - Jenny x
Delicate, engraved mother-of-pearl buttons adorn the Columbine costume from Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker while the over-the-top Punchinello suit from Coppélia has buttons of cut stone with angles that perfectly catch the light on stage. But are buttons really important on costumes viewed from a distance by audiences, and, if there are buttons on a costume, are they used as buttons?
The answer is yes! Almost all of the buttons on the Ballet’s costumes are practical, especially on jackets. They are not just there for decoration – though some may be decorative in themselves – except when there is a risk of buttons catching, most often in a pas de deux.
Buttons often complete a costume, helping the dancers get into character. Colin Peasley, a founding dancer with the company and current artist-in-residence, says that wearing a military jacket resplendent with shiny, gold buttons really makes one feel like a soldier on stage.
The buttons are sourced locally thanks to the wide variety available, even when recreating costumes from a ballet created overseas and being faithful to the original design is a must. Jenny Howard, wardrobe’s production coordinator, is a frequent visitor to Buttonmania in the Nicholas Building and Jimmy Buttons in Fitzroy (sounds like a great job, huh?).
As you can imagine, button replacements are needed so a supply is kept in house and the wardrobe staff backstage are always armed with spares. Shelves are packed with buttons made of Bakelite, pressed metal, shell, plastic, wood, leather and more.
- Fiona Howatt, The Australian Ballet
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