The Pittsburgh Opera’s annual fashion show, titled “It’s About Time,” will take place on Monday, March 23, at the Bitz Opera Factory. The event will feature a few farewells. Pittsburgh Opera’s General Director, Christopher Hahn, announced his retirement to go into effect at the end of the 2025-2026 season, and the event’s curator, Richard Parsakian, owner of Eons Fashion Antique in Shadyside, announced that “It’s About Time” will be his final fashion show.
Parsakian said, “We’re going out with a bang! This show will be the culmination of my dream to bring together all art forms and the friends with whom I have worked over the years in one interactive evening that gives voice to the artists we need to uplift. Each piece in this show has personal meaning to me and has been chosen for a specific reason. Expect surprises; it’s going to be an epic evening.”
“It’s About Time” will highlight a century of vintage couture curated by Parsakian, spanning the 1890s through the 1990s.
Dancers, actors, and iconic leaders in Pittsburgh’s arts community will strut down the runway, including Delana Flowers (recently seen in “A Dinah Washington Christmas”), Kelsey Robinson (teaching artist and actor), Joey Young (Miss Continental Newcomer 2025), Daisy Jade (KDKA-TV personality), Jezebel Bebbington D’Opulence (a trailblazer in Pittsburgh’s drag scene), Zanny Laird (finishing a run in “Enemy of the People” at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre), Lucas Fedele (artist, educator, director and choreographer, Carnegie Mellon University), and many more. Pittsburgh Opera’s award-winning resident artists will perform and walk the runway, including Shannon Crowley, Audrey Welsh, Lauryn Davis, and other company members.
Parsakian ensures that “It’s About Time” is not your typical fashion runway show. He said, “I hate Zombie models. I hate it when the model walks down the runway with disdain for the audience. I have a term I call ‘Fashion Theatre,’ where the models move and dance to the music. They don’t trot out with a scowl on their face.” Co-founders of Attack Theatre, Michele De La Reza and Peter Kope, will choreograph the model’s runway walk.
Parsakian, a queer activist, artist, and former Pittsburgh Pride Grand Marshal, has worked with costume designers in film, TV, dance, and theatre at Eons Fashion Antique, which will celebrate its fortieth anniversary in July.
Parsakian said that “It’s About Time” was inspired by the 2020 Met Gala, “About Time: Fashion and Duration,” which was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Curator of the Met Gala, Andrew Bolton, drew inspiration from the 1992 film adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel “Orlando,” one of Parsakian’s favorite films.
Jordan Roth, the creative director at ATG Entertainment, also inspired Parsakian. Roth once said, “Fashion has always been a vocabulary for me, a way to express myself to you and to myself. The artistic practice of fashion is a daily act of self-invention. An opportunity open to all of us to recognize a garment as a paintbrush on the canvas of self. We are, each of us, the art of our own design.”
Parsakian said, “I got involved with the Pittsburgh Opera in 2016 as costume designer for Ricky Ian Gordon’s ’27,’ an opera that explores the relationship of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and the salons that they hosted at their residence at 27 rue de Fleurus in Paris.”
Hahn said, “Fashion and theater are intricately linked. Great designers, certainly in the last couple of years, have known that a fashion show is a theatrical production with setting, venue, music, and ambiance. Our fashion shows are my favorite events of the season, and we get to utilize our building here in the Strip District.”
Parsakian announced that “It’s About Time” will be his final fashion show after 45 years of event work. Parsakian pointed out that the title is a double entendre meant to poke fun at Christopher Hahn. Parsakian laughed, “When he told me he was leaving, I thought ‘It’s About Time’ was a great name for the show, but I really want to honor him for all he’s done with the Pittsburgh Opera. Christopher Hahn has been inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ and Black communities. He’s brought his love of opera to a wider audience.”
Hahn, who will be splitting his time between Pittsburgh, PA, San Francisco, CA, and Cape Town, South Africa after the conclusion of the season, said, “Pittsburgh is a gem and a jewel. I am keeping a little flat here, but I don’t want to get in Bill’s way [incoming General Director Bill Powers].”
Hahn plans to get involved with the Cape Town Opera’s board of directors. Hahn said, “I don’t have any big projects planned, but I want to continue working with young artists.”
When Hahn was asked about picking a favorite show from his tenure with the Pittsburgh Opera, he said, “That’s like picking a favorite child! I can’t do that.” After a brief pause, he added, “How lucky I am not to have a favorite show, because we’ve done so many wonderful things.”
Hahn and Parsakian are pulling out all the stops for the fashion show. Hahn said, “When people think of the opera, they think it’s stuffy. This is not stuffy! This is a high-octane, high-decibel evening of fun. People will be talking about it for years to come.”
For Parsakian, planning a fashion show and running a business has been an exhausting exercise, but when asked about why the show was his final, Parsakian said, “I’m Armenian. Cher is also Armenian. She’s had more than one farewell tour. Who knows? Final might not be final.”
“It’s About Time” takes place on Monday, March 23rd, at the Bitz Opera Factory at 2425 Liberty Avenue in the Strip District.