Apparel design watchers, prepare yourself for an evening at the ballet. Although he dropped a big hint on Facebook (a photo of a backstage sign notifying dancers that he is "designing costumes for Matjash's new work" and would be "sketching classes and rehearsal"), Portland designer Adam Arnold says he's "been totally hushed up" about the details of the project. This much we know: The work is a new piece by Matjash Mrozewski, a Canadian dancer choreographing for Oregon Ballet Theater's spring program, Chromatic Quartet, and Adam says it will premiere in mid-April. Mrozewski has said of the endeavor:

“I’ll be choreographing with local Portland designer Adam Arnold for costumes, OBT Resident Lighting Designer Michael Mazzola, and music will be an original electronic score by Vancouver- based Canadian composer Owen Belton, who I’ve worked with on a few commissions over the years. The work will be no longer than 20 minutes and at the moment it looks like I’m going to do a quintet. Because of the amount of duet work in the program already, Christopher asked if could avoid much pas de deux work, so I accept the challenge. I’m going to base the ballet around 5 solos, though I think it will branch off into many different arrangements among the quintet. I want the work to have a very contemporary feel, but as usual with me (and with Adam too) there will be some kind of nod to the past. There might be something ghostly about the piece, atmospheric. If at all possible, I want the ballet to be ghostly, sexy, mysterious, earthy, pedestrian, graceful, and if I’m on a roll, even a bit witty. But hey, anything is possible.”

This will be the second time Arnold and OBT have teamed up, after he dressed dancers for an advertising campaign several years back. Dance-inspired styling has a special place in my heart, so I'm especially excited to see what they come up with. Stay tuned as more details become available.