Suited and Booted with RNZB
Photo credit: Stephen A'Court
Tailoring meets ballet — two worlds with their own rules of movement, structure, and artistry, coming together in an extraordinary collaboration. In this interview, we go behind the scenes to share how we adapted for dancers, tackled technical challenges, and helped bring Shakespeare’s Macbeth to life on stage.
How unusual was it to collaborate with a ballet company, and had you ever taken on a project quite like this before?
When people think of ballet, they tend to picture tutus, tights and ethereal movement — not tailoring. So in that sense, collaborating with the Royal New Zealand Ballet on Macbeth was wonderfully unexpected.
That said, Rembrandt has always existed at the intersection of craftsmanship and performance. Over our 80-year history, we’ve been fortunate to work across film, theatre and music, dressing everyone from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to international film productions. Directors and costume designers often come to us because tailoring is what we do — understanding how a garment is built, how it moves, and how it needs to perform under pressure.
What makes this project unique is that it’s our first ballet, and one that demanded a completely different way of thinking about suiting. Ballet dancers are elite athletes. Their strength, flexibility and physicality push garments far beyond the demands of everyday wear or even screen performance. Being asked to help costume Macbeth — a story steeped in power, ambition and image — felt like a natural but thrilling evolution of our work.
There’s also a lovely symmetry in the collaboration itself. Rembrandt began in 1946 as a small tailoring business on Vivian Street in Wellington, built on expert craftsmanship and fit. More than 80 years later, partnering with another iconic New Zealand institution with deep cultural roots felt like a full-circle moment — two legacy organisations bringing their craft together on stage.
Photo credit: Stephen A'Court
Can you describe the process of the collaboration?
The collaboration began with an email — one of those rare ones that instantly lights up the room. From that first contact, the excitement snowballed.
Head of Costume Donna Jefferis visited us with the concepts and sketches from Aleisa Jelbart the costume designer for Macbeth, and immediately identified black-tie tailoring as an area where Rembrandt could meaningfully contribute. What she needed weren’t just beautiful suits, but garments that could withstand the physical demands of ballet: repeated movement, lifting, sweat, heat and the rigours of rehearsal and performance.
Construction was critical. These needed to be properly tailored garments, sewn rather than fused, so they could be altered, reinforced and adapted as needed over time. That aligns perfectly with how our suits are made.
From there, it became a process of problem-solving together. Through fittings and trial and error, we adjusted traditional tailoring principles for movement — higher armholes to allow full range through the shoulders, pleats and higher rises in trousers, and looser silhouettes to accommodate the dancers’ muscular physiques. We selected wider, more relaxed trouser shapes from our collection that allowed strength and line without restriction.
In total, we supplied 63 garments, including dark green and maroon suits, plush velvet pieces for the black-tie elements, and our latest jet-black suiting — the blackest fabric we’ve ever eveloped. Designed to absorb light rather than reflect it, these suits will read as truly black on stage, even under intense theatrical lighting.
From the moment we said yes, the project created a real buzz internally. We’re even taking a team field trip to visit the Royal New Zealand Ballet workroom — seeing the behind-the-scenes craftsmanship on their side has been just as inspiring as the final result.
Photo Credit: Ross Brown
Featuring Soloist Branden Reiners and Principal Ana Gallardo Lobaina.
Ana is wearing jewellery courtesy of Partridge Jewellers.
Suits are mostly designed for structure, not movement. What were the biggest technical challenges?
Traditional tailoring is about structure, silhouette and control — ballet is about freedom of movement. Bridging those two worlds was the central technical challenge.
Every decision, from fabric weight to stretch to construction, had to balance form with function. Jackets needed to maintain a sharp line while allowing arms to lift, extend and rotate freely. Trousers had to move with the dancers’ bodies without pulling, twisting or restricting, even during explosive choreography.
One of the most interesting developments was our jet-black suiting. Stage lighting can dramatically alter how fabrics appear, often washing out darker tones. This cloth was chosen specifically for its ability to absorb light, ensuring the suits remain visually powerful and truly black on stage — an important detail in a production as dark and psychologically charged as Macbeth.
This wasn’t about reinventing tailoring, but about reapplying its principles in a far more demanding environment.
Photo credit: Stephen A'Court
Macbeth explores power, ambition and image. How did those ideas influence the suits?
At Rembrandt, our mission has always been simple: we make men feel confident with the right fit. That philosophy translated surprisingly seamlessly into this production.
In Macbeth, clothing isn’t just costume — it’s a visual expression of power, control, status and transformation. The “right fit” here wasn’t only about physical measurements, but about ensuring each garment felt right for the character wearing it.
We thought carefully about silhouette and proportion — how longer lines, sharper shoulders or more relaxed shapes could reinforce dominance, authority or internal conflict. In that sense, tailoring becomes storytelling. The suit supports the dancer in embodying who they are on stage, just as it supports a man stepping into an important moment in his own life.
While we didn’t directly recreate archival pieces, our decades of tailoring knowledge absolutely informed the work. There’s an inherent timelessness in well-cut menswear, and that sense of enduring authority felt entirely appropriate for Shakespeare’s world.
Photo credit: Stephen A'Court
Anything else you’d like to add?
This collaboration reminded us why craftsmanship matters. Whether it’s for a wedding, a boardroom, a stage or a ballet, clothing performs best when it’s made with care, intention and respect for the body wearing it.
Working with the Royal New Zealand Ballet has been an inspiring exchange of craft — tailoring meeting choreography, heritage meeting performance. We’re incredibly proud to see Rembrandt on stage in Macbeth, and to play a small part in bringing this powerful production to life.
