Designer Spotlight: Dominique Lemieux

For world-renowned costume designer Dominique Lemieux, “the soul of a costume is in its musicality.” The “internal rhythm” of a production and each of its performers are where Lemieux, who is designing the costumes for the A.R.T.’s production of Pippin, finds her inspiration. While designing, Lemieux is deeply attuned to the needs of the performers, making choices about the fabric beyond aesthetics; she considers the way that silk will float along a performer’s body as he or she traverses the stage, or the safety of cotton in proximity to open flames or flying machetes. Such specifically eccentric thinking comes with the territory, after all. As one of the original costume designers for Cirque du Soleil, Dominique Lemieux has clothed the world’s best acrobats, jugglers, contortionists and clowns.

At Canada’s National Theatre School, Lemieux found a mentor in one of Montreal’s leading costume designers, Francois Barbeau. After two years of assisting Barbeau and developing her signature style, Lemieux received an offer from an odd little circus troupe called Cirque du Soleil to design costumes for their sophomore production, We Reinvent the Circus (1989). Thus began a ten year relationship with Cirque du Soleil, in which Lemieux designed costumes for the first wave of incredible Cirque experiences, including Mystère (1993), Quidam (1996), “O” (1998) and La Nouba (1999). After a six-year leave, Lemieux made a triumphant return to Cirque du Soleil, designing Corteo (2005), ZAIA (2008) and Banana Schpeel (2009).

Designing the costumes for a show as large in scale and spectacle as Cirque du Soleil requires superhuman ingenuity. Each costume is custom-designed for a particular performer and must stand up to the rigor of the performer’s act or skill (a flowing gown, for example, may not be suited for a unicyclist); but each costume also contributes to the mysterious, yet palpable. Lemieux’s work for Cirque du Soleil, and now Pippin, must walk a tightrope between form and function, between artistry and safety.