{"id":3143,"date":"2020-09-25T16:53:52","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T16:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2021-01-13T19:05:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T19:05:40","slug":"eva-peron-first-lady-and-style-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/press\/eva-peron-first-lady-and-style-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"EVA PER\u00d3N: FIRST LADY AND STYLE ICON"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Megan Diehl<\/em><\/p>\n

Since her storied rise to fame and power, Eva Per\u00f3n\u2019s dramatic biography has been one made to be told onstage. Born into squalor in 1919, this illegitimate daughter of a wealthy planter was able to escape her own harsh reality and trade on pure ambition to achieve much more than what was imaginable for a woman of her economic stature at that time. Musical legends and collaborators Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice eventually took on this story in a signature rock opera style\u2014originally recorded as a concept album in 1976\u2014which would go on to become one of the most successful works of musical theater of its era.<\/p>\n

Webber\u2019s score follows Eva Per\u00f3n, affectionately named \u201cEvita,\u201d meaning small or little Eva, through her time as a child in the rural village of Los Toldos, her struggling career as an actress in Buenos Aires, and onto a happenstance encounter that would go on to change her life. Within a year of their meeting, Eva married soon-to-be president Juan Per\u00f3n and became the most powerful woman in the country at the age of 27. She remained in that role for only a few years, but Eva Per\u00f3n would leave a significant political and cultural legacy. In her rags to riches rise to power as the first lady of Argentina, Eva became both a polarizing historical figure and a style icon for the entire world.<\/p>\n

Lisa Zinni has designed for PSF for many seasons, including Les Mis\u00e9rables, Macbeth, Sweeney Todd, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Antony and Cleopatra<\/em>. Her regional theatre credits include theaters from all over the country, such as Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Walnut Street Theatre, Houston\u2019s Theatre Under the Stars, and many more. Lisa also served as the associate costume designer for the Broadway productions and national and international tours of both Rent and Hair, as well as for the recent mountings of An American in Paris, School of Rock, Cats, The Glass Menagerie, <\/em>and The Play That Goes Wrong.<\/em><\/p>\n

Festival favorite and Broadway veteran costume designer Lisa Zinni will adapt Eva Per\u00f3n\u2019s classic style for this summer\u2019s production of\u00a0Evita<\/em>. \u201cThere are a few iconic looks that will always be seen with Eva,\u201d Zinni says. \u201cThe floral dresses from her youth as a poor actress, her famous grey suit with black velvet lapels, and of course the white Dior gown worn on the balcony.\u201d It is from this balcony of the real life Casa Rosada where Eva would address her beloved countrymen and \u201cdescamisados,\u201d a location which would eventually become the setting for one of Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s most famous anthems, \u201cDon\u2019t Cry for Me, Argentina.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her role as the costume designer, Zinni is tasked with displaying both the passage of time and the increasing fame and wealth throughout Evita\u2019s years on the world stage before her early death at the age of 33. Designed through collaboration with director Dennis Razze, Zinni\u2019s costumes will tell the dual stories of both the decades passing in Evita\u2019s life and her struggles through Argentina\u2019s class construct in the early- to mid-20th century.<\/p>\n

As Zinni describes, \u201cEva Per\u00f3n came from nothing, the lowest parts of society, and you\u2019ll see that grittiness visually throughout the show. It\u2019s very much about the contrast of the poor and the extremely wealthy as she rose to power in Argentina despite her circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eva Per\u00f3n lived in a dual existence as she grew, never satisfied with her poor upbringing, but never truly fitting in with the upper classes. As a young actress she bleached her hair bright blonde, and as she rose to fame in the political sphere, her fashion became more and more ornate.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Argentina but descended from French and Spanish Basque ancestry, Eva chose looks that evoked the spirit of her homeland, but much like Argentina itself, she was largely influenced by international aesthetics. According to Zinni, \u201cShe rarely did anything on a small scale when it came to her fashion. Her hair was large and coiffed, she wore plenty of expensive jewelry, and she was draped in mink as often as possible. Even though her influences were from Europe and Hollywood, she had a unique Argentinian style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eva often expressed that she owed it to her country to look glamorous. In her constant fight for the rights of women and the oppressed, she felt her beauty inspired even the poorest in Argentina. She famously owned rooms full of hats and shoes, and legend held it that she once wore 306 different custom-designed dresses in one calendar year. On her famous European tour in 1947, she was accompanied by a full staff of personal maids, a hairdresser, and a dressmaker.
\nShe was both loved and loathed for her appearance and political views. Many of the upper class pointed to the hypocrisy of her indulgence while advocating for the poor, while others admired her romanticized Cinderella story and her passionate political acumen.<\/p>\n

Both in condemnation and praise, Evita\u2019s story has transcended her time, in no small way owing to Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s musical setting. She spoke fervently in support of labor rights and women\u2019s suffrage, condemned the upper classes, and as she grew ill toward the end of her life, her rhetoric became more and more violent. As seen in the musical\u2019s opening scenes, news of Evita\u2019s passing in 1952 at the young age of 33 was met with both a national period of mourning and, in certain political spheres, celebration. Her legacy remains in Argentina as one of their most revered and refuted national figures, echoed in Webber\u2019s complex score and captured in her iconic appearance both in memory and onstage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Megan Diehl Since her storied rise to fame and power, Eva Per\u00f3n\u2019s dramatic biography has been one made to be told onstage. 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