Mary Traylor designed the costumes for the principal roles in “Turandot,” including that of the title character, shown here in one of Traylor’s renderings. The principal costumes were made in Kansas City. The rest were made in China. That was the choice made by veteran costume designer Mary Traylor for the Lyric Opera production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Turandot,” which next weekend opens the company’s inaugural season at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. She went online, identified a company known by multiple names in Xian, the capital of the Shaanxi province, and decided to give it a shot. “I ordered a sample costume from them a year ago to see if it was even a possibility, to see the workmanship,” Traylor said. “It was lovely and we proceeded to open the lines of communication.” And so emails began flying through cyberspace between Kansas City and Xian, as Traylor tried to explain the opera company’s needs and the color palette she wanted. To this day, Traylor isn’t sure whether she was communicating with a man or a woman. – - Read more

By ROBERT TRUSSELL @ The Kansas City Star