NEW YORK—Vlada Dembovsky’s fascination with silk was amply satisfied by the elaborate costuming in Shen Yun Performing Arts Saturday night. 

Ms. Dembovsky, owner of the Riverdale fashion boutique Scruples, said: “It’s very fascinating in the way the colors are used. And you can see it’s beautiful, innocent, and maybe even ... it’s almost like a fairy tale.”

“The costumes are beautiful,” she said after Shen Yun’s performance at Lincoln Center’s David. H. Koch Theater. “[They] have very distinct, beautiful embellishments of the dress.”

Every Shen Yun costume is intricately handmade and every detail is carefully designed and created.

“The designers stress harmonic balance and contrast,” the Shen Yun website states. “Their objective is an authentic presentation of the attire that comes from China’s divinely inspired traditional culture, and a consummate stage effect.”

Ms. Dembovsky said she had not been exposed to traditional Chinese culture as displayed in Shen Yun, and she was interested in the ancient legends that played out on stage. 

“It looks like it’s almost surreal the way the show started, you know, from the sky and beautiful clouds and celestial beings,” she said. 

Reporting by Huiwen Ji and Charlotte Cuthbertson

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.