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"They don't make costumes like they used to."
With a sense of nostalgia, Bronwyn Jones, wardrobe coordinator with Opera Australia, sweeps through racks of stage costumes, some dating back to the 1970s.
Over the past six weeks, she has cracked open 52 storage crates and sorted through 10,000 costumes in preparation for the company's first-ever auction.
Within the 400 lots that will go under the hammer, there are roughly 1,500 costumes, props, accessories, artworks and memorabilia from the past 60 years.
"There's been some good history we've unpacked," Ms Jones said.
"Design has changed incredibly ... there's a lot of costumes in this room that performers will just not wear, they're too heavy, too awkward."
Grab yourself a bargain
Among the collection are standout items of a quality Ms Jones said would be rare to find in modern productions.
There's the iconic Madonna gold dress from Puccini's Suor Angelica designed in 1980 and estimated to sell between $3,000 and $5,000.
The elaborate and extremely heavy chorus hats and dresses from the 2008 production of My Fair Lady will likely fetch between $400 and $600.
A striking red Musetta dress designed by Catherine Martin for 1996's La Boheme directed by Baz Luhrmann is priced up to $5,000.
One of Ms Jones's favourite, "more unusual" designs are those from Andre Chenier, designed by Jenny Tate in 2001.
The principal ball gowns with their boned corsets, gilt net skirts and plenty of tulle and faux gems are estimated to fetch between $2,000 and $4,000.
The costumes have all been valued by auction house Leonard Joel, although Ms Jones said the estimated prices were far lower than the cost of making them.
"We've never managed a collection of this nature or category ever, it's a rarity in the world," said John Albrecht, chief executive of Leonard Joel.
"There was little precedent ... so we developed a formula; for the hero costumes, the very important costumes, we put a higher price on, and then we tend to graduate down.
"We've gone at this very conservatively, and some of the finest costumes are estimated in the $4,000 to $6,000 range, but would we be surprised if some of those brought in excess of $10,000? Not at all."
A number of lots also include full collections of costumes like those from the 1989 production of the Gondoliers which Ms Jones hopes will go to a theatre group.
Other members of the public however might find costumes in the pile for fancy dress occasions.
"There's a bit of S&M options in there too, like these conical boobs from Tannhauser," Ms Jones said.
Change in standards
The main reason for the auction, according to Ms Jones, was to get rid of "dead stock" and create space in the company's storage unit in Blacktown.
While the wardrobe department has retained some costumes for display or exhibition, most will never be revived on stage.
Heavy coats designed in 1980 for Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, for example, are so heavily constructed and lined in velvet, wool and brocade that they weigh several kilograms.
"You could never get a singer to wear something like that now," Ms Jones said referring to current occupation, health and safety regulations.
"The biggest change I've noticed is how labour intensive costumes used to be. We just no longer have the money to work the way we did say 40 years ago.
"Film has done this, everything has to be real now, no more papier-mâché armour. It has to be as real as it can look."
The anniversary exhibition will be held from Saturday at The Opera Centre and the auction will take place on June 30 and July 1.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, opera-and-musical-theatre, design, fashion, sydney-2000
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