Alainpaul and its costumes take to the stage with Drift Wood at the Paris Opera

On the occasion of the Contrastes programme, presented from December 1 to 31, 2025 at the Opéra national de Paris, Alainpaul unveils its first collaboration with choreographers Imre and Marne van Opstal. Their new piece, Drift Wood, offers an ideal canvas for exploring the relationship between body, material, and narrative, a space where costumes become integral to movement.

Inspired by the image of driftwood, shaped by time and carried by the currents, Alainpaul’s costumes give physical form to the tension at the heart of the piece: that which both opposes and binds conscious humanity to instinctive nature. Poised between fragility and resistance, the silhouettes move like a second skin, moulding to the dancers’ movements. This focus on texture and construction renders, in visual terms, the contradictions that course through Drift Wood, where bodies oscillate between self-control and impulse.

“A moment of fulfilment”

Conceived as a poetic diorama, the piece unfolds within a landscape shaped by the elements: sound, image, and movement interweave to explore vulnerability, connection, and ambiguity. In this floating world, the costumes play a central role. Rooted in Alainpaul’s signature sculptural clarity and fluidity, they amplify the emotional language imagined by the Van Opstal duo. For the house, this collaboration marks a powerful return to the stage, where clothing reconnects with its primary origin: gesture.

“Collaborating with Imre and Marne, as well as with the Opéra national de Paris’s exceptional atelier, was an immense honour,” said Alain Paul, the house’s founder. “These are the first Alainpaul costumes created for a contemporary ballet, and we are deeply grateful for the trust placed in us for Drift Wood. We have forged a genuine dialogue between movement and the construction of the costumes. Having grown up in the world of dance, this project represents a moment of fulfilment and a profound way of uniting my two worlds.”

Alainpaul, a brand inspired by choreography

This creation forms part of Contrastes, a programme that brings together three choreographic worlds: two major works by Trisha Brown, the entry into the repertoire of David Dawson’s Anima Animus, and Drift Wood, the Van Opstals’ first piece for the Paris Opera. Together, these works explore the tensions and oppositions running through dance today, from minimalist radicalism to sculptural power.

Founded on a choreographic approach to clothing, the house Alainpaul has, from the outset, drawn on the vocabulary of choreographers such as Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham. Its pieces, with their experimental lines and sculptural silhouettes, reinterpret the dancer’s wardrobe within a timeless, urban aesthetic. With Drift Wood, this ambition takes on a new dimension: that of a garment fully animated by movement.