The Olympians

September 24, 2019 Eifion Griffiths

An exhibition of costumes by Melody Sharples, Fashion and Contemporary Costume graduate, shown at Melin Tregwynt Woollen Mill.

Melin Tregwynt are keen to support the development of emerging designers, and last academic year we selected Melody to receive fabric sponsorship for her final degree collection.

This collection is the result of an investigation into the power of opera. I saw my first performance recently and it was inspirational. I visited Rome at around the same time and was excited by the mix of architecture and culture and loved how opera was a key part of everyday life. For the final project I found a little known opera ‘The Olympians’ this opera had only been performed once in 1949 and the characters were based on Roman gods. From this I was able to combine the two passions and the collection is a reflection of the characteristics of certain gods and also the human form they take in the opera. Much of the design work incorporates textile techniques and some of the fabric was provided by Melin Tregwynt in a sponsorship award for which I am grateful.

Melody Sharples

Diana: Goddess of Wild Animals and the Hunt

Venus: Goddess of Love and Fertility

Two of the costumes from Melody’s collection will be displayed - ‘Diana’ using our Ysbryd Gelli fabric, and ‘Venus’ using our Broadstripe Red. You can see more of her work here.