Who was the realMaria Callas?
(Mariaopens in theaters November 27 before streaming on Netflix on December 11.)
And in a film about Maria Callassomeone who was a fashion iconit was important to do a proper job.
Angelina Jolie inMaria.Photo: Pablo Larraín/Netflix © 2024.
Maria Callas photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1957.
(Just take 2016sJackieor 2021sSpencer.)
I am a perfectionist, says Cantini Parrini.
Maria Callas photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1957.
I am a maniac about details.
Angelina Jolie as Maria Calllas inMaria.Photo: Pablo Larrain/Netflix 2024.
Even more of a challenge?
Angelina Jolie as Maria Calllas inMaria.Photo: Pablo Larraín/Netflix © 2024.
I had fun being her last stylist, Cantini Parrini adds.
He dressed Jolie in swaddling coats, wide-brimmed hats, and a near-universal palette of black.
For scenes with a vocal coach, Larrain wanted his heroine in a kind of camouflage.
Callas in 1959. Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
Its a dark process, says Larrain; she wants to be invisible.
In the gilded halls of her apartment, she wears a fuzzy crocheted robea kind of chrysalis.
In those last weeks, she wasnt particularly well, Cantini Parrini says.
Runway image from Erdem’s fall 2024 show, inspired by Maria Callas. Photo: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com.
I wanted to portray how the garments might have protected her.
What you wore back then represented you.
It was your business card
Of course, a costume is nothing without an actor wearing it.
Runway image from Erdem’s fall 2024 show, inspired by Maria Callas. Photo: Launchmetrics.com/spotlight.
Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
What you wore back then represented you.
It was your business card, says Cantini Parrini.
Runway image from Erdems fall 2024 show, inspired by Maria Callas.
Photo: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com.
Runway image from Erdems fall 2024 show, inspired by Maria Callas.
And yet, there may be closer parallels between Callass style and contemporary fashion than you might expect.
And theres the key question again: Who was the real Maria Callas?
Like so many of historys greatest artists, she remains to some degree unknowable.
But Larrains filmand contemporary interpretersare shrewd enough to recognize that the greatest clues may lie in her clothes.
Maria will be in select theaters on Nov. 27 and stream on Netflix on Dec. 11.
