Casanova 賈科莫·卡薩諾瓦 ジャコモ・カサノヴァ

Every Venetian Carnival has a theme, and the 2025 Venice Carnival's Theme is “In the time of Casanova” (“Il Tempo di Casanova” in Italian), to honor the 300th anniversary of Giacomo Casanova's birth.

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer who was born in the Republic of Venice and travelled extensively throughout Europe. He is chiefly remembered for his autobiography, written in French and published posthumously as Histoire de ma vie ("The Story of My Life"). That work has come to be regarded as a unique and provocative source of information on the customs and norms of European social life in the 18th century.

Born to a family of actors, Casanova studied law at the University of Padua and received minor orders in the Catholic Church with a view towards pursuing a career as a canon lawyer. However, he had no enthusiasm for the law or vocation for the church, and he soon abandoned those plans and launched instead upon an itinerant life as a gambler, violinist, confidence trickster, and man of letters. Throughout his life, Casanova obtained money and other advantages from various aristocratic patrons by pretending to possess alchemical, cabbalistic, and magical secret knowledge. Among other exploits, Casanova escaped from the Piombi prison, to which he had been confined by order of the Venetian Council of Ten for offenses against religion and morals, and later helped convince the authorities of the Kingdom of France to establish a state lottery as a source of revenue.

The most notorious aspect of Casanova's career are his many complicated sexual affairs with women, stretching from his early adolescence to his old age, which he described in detail in his autobiography. As a consequence of this, Casanova's name has become a byword for a male seducer and libertine, like "Lothario" or "Don Juan". He spent his final years in Bohemia, where he served as librarian to the household of Count Waldstein and resided at Dux Castle.

The amazing Tanja Schulz-Hess - easily the most awarded costumer at the Venice Carnevale comes as Casanova this year. Her costumes are again very different from most costumers.

Tanja often says she lacks the ability to tailor, so she refers to herself as a costume sculpturist rather than a traditional dress maker. Instead, she uses a hot glue gun to create and adhere all of her art pieces, including costumes, wigs, and accessories. Venice's history and carnival are highlighted, along with artistic interpretations of subjects that are still relevant today, in her highly distinctive and ostentatious creations. The "Contemporary Costume Art" she creates is a blend of the past, present, and future.

Always enthusiastic about sharing her love for costumes and for the Venice Carnevale, Tanja has made a dream come true for a wheelchair bound friend, making a costume for her friend and accompanying her friend everywhere. Naturally, they win best costume again at this year's Venice Carnevale.

During Carnevale, the whole Venice becomes a real life theatrical stage, and many of these historical costumes carry deep perspectives...

And as usual, the portraits are just done on the busy streets of Venice and using natural lighting only...