Seattle Opera

Did you know that for all our productions, almost every character on stage is wearing a wig? And all of them are custom built!

Our Wigs, Hair, and Makeup Manager & Designer Ashlee Naegle and her team of wig artisans first take a mold of each singers' head, carefully marking hairlines, growth patterns, and baby hairs. Then, they hand-tie each individual hair—or in some cases, add a whole new front and re-tie the top of a commercial wig—and style each one to have a custom look that complements the performer.

This wig—one of three, for each of our Carmens—took approximately 40 hours to make! Including the principal casts and chorus, our recent production of Carmen had 42 wigs, and took our wig team around 240 hours to create and style.