Sandra Delpierre’s fingers linger on a long blue and white fur coat and touch a pair of angel wings as she walks past the thousands of colorful costumes used in opera performances.

“You can find some real treasures,” the head of the costume design workshops at the Geneva Grand Theater he told AFP.

At a time when Bridgerton-style costume parties are all the rage, the Swiss opera house plans to sell off 15,000 stage costumes, accessories and shoes from major productions over the years.

Delpierre admires the thousands of garments, from vests and tunics to dresses and leotards, displayed in a large warehouse near Geneva.

It shows large animal heads, including a rat and a bull, and an embroidered dress with a ruffled hem made for a production of Handel’s opera “Alcina.”

There’s also a crinoline-inspired costume, a stiff or structured petticoat designed to support a skirt or tutu, but whimsically reinvented using neoprene.

The Grand Theatre, a magnificent building in the heart of Geneva that opened in 1879, is selling about half of its inventory, calling it “a rare opportunity to step behind the scenes and take home a living fragment of a play.”

“From valets to duchesses, three-piece suits to roaring twenties, there’s something for everyone,” it boasts on its website.

The pieces, some of which date back to the 1980s, will be on sale on February 14 and 15, a date reserved for professionals.

Less than $10

Prices range from five to 500 Swiss francs ($6.50 to $650), although the star of the sale is priced higher, at 995 Swiss francs.

That’s because Romanian costume designer Miruna Boruzescu’s work on the piece in question is “monumental,” said Marianne Perreau, who is in charge of sorting, staging and selling the vast inventory.

“It really embodies everything that makes a great costume,” Perreau told AFP, holding up the heavy, green piece reminiscent of a luxurious plant creature, made entirely of overlapping green leaves, embroidered with gold-colored thread and dotted with peacock feathers.

The costume, which exists in several copies, but only one is on sale, was worn by dancers in the opera “JJR (Citizen of Geneva)”, dedicated to the life and work of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, by the Canadian director Robert Carsen.

“Each piece of fabric, each petal, is made of a different material. It’s stitched on top to give the impression of veins,” she said.

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The suit, which consists of a bodice worn over a boned skirt fitted with a farthingale – a type of padded roll that adds volume to the hips – is part of the sale’s ‘Extraordinary’ section.

A little further on, Perreau discovers a light green piece created by Italian costume designer Ezio Toffolutti for one of the fairies in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Several designs are also available childrenin yellow and gray.

Also on display are imposing and extravagant birds in tailcoats, created by Greek costume designer Yannis Kokkos for the male chorus, each with huge, rounded artificial bodies covered in real feathers that have been dyed pink.

‘Hard choice’

After months of sorting, each costume is labeled to identify the production it was part of, the role it was used for and the performer who wore it.

“The collection needs to be rotated, renewed and updated to suit current tastes,” explained Delpierre.

“So we have to part with some of our heritage to make room for other productions.”

Some lightly worn pieces are in excellent condition. Others are a bit shabby.

Delpierre expressed regret that limited storage space is forcing the Grand Theater to give up some outfits.

“We are forced to make a difficult choice,” she said.

But the sale is sure to excite potential buyers.

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Delpierre said the opera house expects independent companies and performing arts institutions, as well as collectors and individuals eager to dress up.

The sale will be perfect, she said, for “people who dress more eccentrically and want to find a truly exceptional piece for their wardrobe.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)