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\n\tThe pop singer Dara\u2019s unexpected victory at the 70th<\/sup> Eurovision<\/a> Song Contest was not just a first for Bulgaria, but also an adrenaline shot for the creative team behind her.<\/p>\n \n\tThe 27-year-old performer\u2019s stylist Ivan Tsutsumanov brought WWD up-to-speed about her style choices and what Dara is really like to work with. Her life took a more public turn as a reality star in 2015, when she was cast on the Bulgarian version of \u201cThe X Factor.\u201d Dara, whose given name is Darina Yotova, won over fans and the Eurovision<\/a> jury with \u201cBangaranga.\u201d Her middle-parted raccoonish dark tresses and intricate stenciled tattoos aren\u2019t her only signature looks.<\/p>\n \n\tEurovision is as much about image-making as it is about performance, not just for musicians and their respective designers of choice, but also for fans and the countries vying for the title. And millions are watching, with last year\u2019s event having raked in a record-breaking 166 million in viewership.<\/p>\n \n\tHaving first teamed up with Dara to shoot the cover of her last album,\u00a0\u201cADHDARA,\u201d a year ago, Tsutsumanov said they have been working together ever since. Deciding on the 27-year-old\u2019s racy look for Saturday night\u2019s finals in Vienna \u2014 pale pink halter, black miniskirt, and pink latex-looking stulpen \u2014 was \u201ca really big team effort\u201d with everything starting from the creative concept for the stage and dance, Tsutsumanov said.<\/p>\n \n\tWorking with the staging director and choreographer Fredrik Benke Rydman and the designer Viktor Garbeshkov, <\/em>Tsutsumanov said the team dreamt up the color scheme first. \u201cFrom there, we knew that Dara had to be able to move freely and that we wanted something rather simple, but impactful and visually appealing,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Relying on a highly skilled team of professionals and artisans in Sofia, Bulgaria, Tsutsumanov said that every part of the costume\u00a0was produced by different people, and it was truly\u00a0a collaboration and team effort. Hundreds of fans, including Sofia\u2019s mayor Vassil Terziev, welcomed Dara home at Vasil Levski Airport on Sunday. As the 2026 Eurovision winner, Bulgaria, a country with just 6.6 million residents, will host next year\u2019s edition of Eurovision \u2014 more than two decades after the country joined the European Union. The country\u2019s triumph came after Bulgaria sat out the past three years of the contest.<\/p>\n \n\tThe team spent days in Vienna, preparing and rehearsing. Tsutsumanov also designed the costumes for Dara\u2019s dancers. \u201cEurovision was quite intense, but it was also so inspiring to see so many people laser-focused on one performance. I have done many big productions, but this was truly beyond,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe hairy-looking dress that Dara sported for Eurovision\u2019s \u201cturquoise carpet\u201d opening ceremony event was also designed by fellow Bulgarian Garbeshkov. Tsutsumanov said he admires the designer\u2019s \u201ceye for drama,\u201d and had been watching his career progress since Garbeshkov was in high school in Sofia. The long-sleeved short dress that Dara wore for the event\u2019s curtain raiser was inspired by the \u201ckukeri\u201d tradition in Tsutsumanov\u2019s hometown of Razlog. Suited up in elaborate traditional costumes, men perform rituals that are meant to scare away evil spirits and cultivate a good harvest, health and happiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tTsutsumanov said that Dara\u2019s frock (which looked like lustrous long dark hair with lighter streaks), was \u201cexactly what we needed to create a moment on the carpet.\u201d Made with \u201csynthetic hair,\u201d as in fibers, the dress is meant to resemble Dara\u2019s striped hairstyle and the color scheme reflected that.<\/p>\n \n\tCoincidentally, another dress that appears to be made with human-looking hair but is actually synthetic strands is getting international attention at the \u201cCostume Art\u201d exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/a>\u2019s Costume Institute. The attribution for \u201cCorpus Nervana 0.0, 2023-24,\u201d also has caused a rift between YH Studios\u2019 designer Yoav Hadari and the British artist Anouska Samms, who previously collaborated on a similar style.<\/p>\n \n\tThis year\u2019s edition of Eurovision had its own dose of controversy. In advance of the event, five countries \u2014 Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain \u2014 dropped out in opposition to the inclusion of Israel, due to the ongoing war with Hamas. \u00a0Israel\u2019s Noam Bettan finished second and Romania\u2019s Alexandra C\u0103pit\u0103nescu took third place. Dara\u2019s 173-vote lead over Bettan was Eurovision\u2019s largest ever. C\u0103pit\u0103nescu\u2019s risque \u201cChoke Me\u201d performance sparked some public debate too.<\/p>\n \n\tBut Dara\u2019s kukeri-inspired frock is meant to amp up Bulagarain heritage and emerging creatives. Aside from Garbeshkov having been \u201cthe perfect fit for what we wanted to say on the carpet,\u201d the stylist said that he wanted to showcase \u201ctrue Bulgarian talent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAnother stylish individual, Victoria Swarovski<\/a>, a pop singer and model, presented the Crystal Microphone to Dara with Michael Ostrowski at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna.<\/p>\n