A costume design empress

SOMEONE should tell Nero to chuck that boring old toga. The infamous emperor has a whole new wardrobe thanks to the singular imagination of Emi Wada.

It seems an odd match at first: a Japanese costume designer famous for Asian period pieces takes on the decadence of ancient Rome. But Wada, who won an Oscar for “Ran” in 1986 and more recently worked on the films “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers,” is no slave to tradition. She has banished the toga and in its place has mounted an array of fantastical couture brimming with modern shapes and bold colors. Her royal line is on stage in Los Angeles Opera’s production of “The Coronation of Poppea,” which was set to open on Saturday.

The sculptural splendor of Wada’s clothes grew directly out of composer Claudio Monteverdi’s baroque melodies. Written in 1642, the opera tells the story of Nero’s mistress Poppea (mezzo-soprano Susan Graham), who schemes her way from the royal bed to the throne.

“Each costume represents a different voice,” Wada recently explained during fittings at L.A. Opera’s downtown costume shop. Speaking softly and through a translator, she said Monteverdi’s music struck her as simple and unadorned. “So I wanted to make the costumes complex and express the textures as much as possible.”

Director Pierre Audi told Wada he wanted a timeless production. “None of the singers wears shoes, which always gives away the period,” she said.

Wada has the rare honor of serving two emperors this season. After finishing at the court of Nero, she’ll move on to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she will help re-create Qin-era China for “The First Emperor,” a new work by Tan Dun and directed by Zhang Yimou. A co-production with the L.A. Opera, “Emperor” is an epic staging with close to 600 costumes.

“The actual design variation is less than that since there are big scenes with the chorus,” explained Wada. For “Poppea,” she is overseeing about 60 costumes, most of which are unique designs. “Each costume symbolizes the rising or declining status of a character in Nero’s palace,” she said.

Standing a little over 5 feet tall and built like a sparrow, Wada, 69, is easily dwarfed by her sartorial inventions. For the philosopher Seneca (bass Reinhard Hagen), who serves as advisor to Nero, she constructed two enormous hand-woven robes, one a deep brown, the other a heavenly beige. When the production was first performed at the Netherlands Opera in 1994, Wada had a special loom constructed so she could personally oversee the weaving process.

For the L.A. staging, Wada has re-created from scratch many of the more complicated costumes. The shimmering robe that Nero (tenor Kurt Streit) wears is made of golden cords mixed with metallic strands. The complexity of the fabric made alterations impossible, so Wada had weaving equipment flown from Amsterdam to L.A. to completely reconstruct the costume.

The devious maid Arnalta (a travesty role played by tenor Christopher Gillett) has the most outlandish outfits. In the coronation scene, he dons a dress composed of about 50 cotton fans, each of which was freshly cut, sewn and arranged for this production.

As an assistant prepared to photograph Gillett in costume, Wada, who had been quietly adjusting nearly every inch of fabric, dashed behind the tenor and held up a portion of the headpiece that had been forgotten.

“The hat is higher,” she indicated in halting English. Standing on tiptoes, she gave the OK for the photo, her hand still peeking above the singer’s head.

At work with big-name directors

KNOWN as Japan’s first lady of costume design, Wada has worked for more than 40 years in opera, film and theater. Her name is synonymous with opulence and majesty, and she attracts directors who share her taste for stylized excess: Akira Kurosawa, Zhang Yimou, Peter Greenaway, Franco Zeffirelli, Julie Taymor.

Reticent in person but a hands-on perfectionist in the fitting room, Wada has been known to go to extremes to get the look she wants. On “Ran,” she worked with Kurosawa for three years to find the right colors and material to bring his storyboards to life. At one point, the movie’s financing ran out, and Wada spent her own money to construct the more than 1,000 costumes.

“When Kurosawa called to tell me that the producers had found more money, I just started crying,” she recalled.

For “The First Emperor,” which premieres Dec. 21, Wada searched Beijing’s antique markets for rare fabrics. “A lot of the material wasn’t available in Japan,” she explained. Wada always sketches her designs by hand, then makes doll-size prototypes at her Tokyo studio. Creating original colors is especially important to her.

“All the sample dying I do myself,” she said. “They’re not fabrics I bought in those colors. I dye white fabric to the specific color I want. In all cases.”

Growing up in postwar Kyoto, Wada read American publications like Life magazine. “I would see Revlon and Max Factor ads, and there were 20 different kinds of red, ranging from pink to orange,” she recalled.

Wada has been obsessed with chromatic variation ever since. During coffee breaks, she puffs on colored Nat Sherman cigarettes, which come in purple, green, yellow and blue. On her left wrist, she wears three watches -- orange, silver and black.

For the costumes that Graham wears as Poppea, Wada devised a color scheme to convey the character’s ascendance. Poppea begins in a skin-colored gown to symbolize her status as Nero’s mistress. She gradually acquires more red and gold until the last scene, when she and Nero wear identical robes to represent their equality.

“Emi knows the historical orthodoxy of a period, but she also knows how to make it new,” Greenaway said by phone. He has worked with Wada on three films and two operas. “She’s incredibly detail-oriented. For ‘Writing to Vermeer,’ Emi went to each city to supervise the fittings, which is the most boring thing imaginable.”

Wada’s old-school approach to detail would have endeared her to Cecil B. DeMille and David Lean. In terms of cultural versatility, she’s probably matched only by the likes of fellow Oscar-winning costumers Milena Canonero and James Acheson. “I’m definitely interested in historical accuracy,” Wada said. “I’m also drawn to pieces with fantasy elements. I know the rules, and I know how to break them.”

Surprisingly, Wada has had only one flirtation with Hollywood. She was briefly attached to “Memoirs of a Geisha” when Steven Spielberg was on board to direct.

Asked what she thought of the movie, Wada responded diplomatically, “It’s a studio picture. The costumes were fine for that purpose.” Prodded a little further, she added, “Let’s just say being from Kyoto and that era made it difficult to watch.”

When actors wear Wada’s costumes, they can expect to look spectacular and to suffer a little for it.

On “Prospero’s Books,” Wada had to persuade the then-86-year-old John Gielgud to wear a 25-pound metallic cloak for the movie’s opening tracking shot. For “The First Emperor,” Placido Domingo, in the title role, will climb a steep set of stairs wearing a gold coronation ensemble with a 10-meter train. (Wada is considering shortening it to 5 meters for safety reasons.)

Wada has spent two years working on “Emperor,” mostly at her Beijing workshop. The opera follows the rise of Qin Shi Huangdi, who unified China and built the Great Wall in the 3rd century BC. During production, Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, asked Wada if they could borrow the armor from “Hero,” which is set around the same period. “I told Peter it wouldn’t work,” she said. “The Chinese actors in ‘Hero’ were too short!”

As Tan’s music took shape, Wada revised some of her designs to fit the evolving sounds. The character of the Shaman (mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung) started out wearing a traditional Qin ponytail and clothes made of cotton.

“When I heard the music, I thought there should be more movement,” Wada explained. So she changed the fabric from cotton to lightweight silk and gave the character a new coif of loose multicolored threads. “It gives him an otherworldly look,” she said.

In one scene, Wada’s costumes will perform double duty as percussion instruments. Tan has instructed the 90-member chorus to rhythmically slap the black leather squares that Wada will sew onto their armor.

At a fitting in August, Wada worked with the cast on measuring the exact placement of the squares. “Are we hitting them at an angle?” asked a chorus member. Wada pondered for a moment and then demonstrated the movement -- arm straight out at a 90-degree angle to the body, then let it fall to your right leg in a swift, controlled motion.

“Emperor” is slated for runs in Los Angeles, Paris and other cities, which means Wada has her hands full for a while. She recently finished working on a Korean film (a fantasy epic called “The Restless”) and she’s considering three movie offers.

“Sometimes I’m so exhausted I just want to retire,” said Wada. “But then directors keep asking me to work. My philosophy is to never repeat myself. Once it stops being new, then I’ll retire.”

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‘The Coronation of Poppea’

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: 7 p.m. Nov. 30, Dec. 7, 13, 16; 2 p.m. Dec. 3, 10

Price: $30 to $220

Contact: (213) 972-8001; www.laopera.com