Hello darlings, and welcome back to Pink-Tutu.com! It's Tutu Tuesday, and you know what that means: a trip through the glorious history of our beloved tutus! This week, I'm packing my pink luggage and travelling by train (of course, in the first-class carriage – wouldn't dream of anything else!) to a very special date: 28th July, 1840.
Why, you might ask, is this date so significant? Well, dear reader, we’re venturing into the very early days of ballet and its magnificent costumes. While the "tutu" we know and love - the airy, almost-weightless skirt of tulle - wasn't yet making a splash, this time period saw some rather fascinating dance fashion developments!
Now, if you know me at all, you know that pink is my favourite colour. It's absolutely radiant, feminine, and just screams "tutu"! However, in 1840, even pink wasn't necessarily the colour of choice for ballerinas. Fashion then favoured a very specific, almost monochrome, look for women's wear, with black being a dominant shade for the "dances" (a word we use now, you'd never say 'ballet' back then - oh, the times they are a-changing).
Imagine a ballerina – long hair pulled back tight, a simple white chemise or a bodice in white, or even in light pastel shades of green or blue, and over it, a flowing white muslin skirt. Imagine the movement of this skirt as the ballerina leaps and turns. Such graceful artistry!
The 1840s, the “Golden Age of Ballet,” were also a time when techniques began to develop. Now, dancers moved away from just simply “dancing,” to showing strength and poise and beautiful lines. Even back in these early days, these lovely ladies of the stage were absolutely perfecting the pirouette!
Of course, fashion - much like our modern society - is a fascinating combination of influences and developments, of course! This meant that in Paris (oh Paris! what wouldn't we give to see those ballerinas glide through the Palais Garnier on a perfect stage in the moonlight - swoon!) where the art of dance had really taken root, some ballerinas, the real pioneers, experimented with shorter skirts! The result was... well, scandalous, really! Some dancers would wear dresses just below the knee, revealing their ankles!
(I imagine there would be gasps from the upper-class ladies watching! Imagine, their ankles showing! Oh, my dears, times have definitely changed.)
There was another influence at play at this time – the emerging interest in Greek mythology and the classic ideal of beauty. This definitely contributed to dancers showing off their long, lean lines. It's why, in our own time, ballet demands such rigorous physicality - the grace of these graceful ladies has always come from pushing boundaries.
Here at Pink-Tutu.com, we want to pay homage to these brave dancers, those daring fashion pioneers who, even without a proper "tutu", gave us the beautiful dance world that we all enjoy today!
Speaking of beautiful things, there’s an absolutely stunning ballet production happening next week in London! They’ve got some real artistry coming from all the major ballet schools, and you know me - I'm just as thrilled about the costume changes as I am for the dancing!
I do love travelling and the freedom it gives us, but honestly, nothing quite beats settling back into the warmth of your own living room in Derbyshire, snuggling up on the sofa in my favourite pink tutu (it's been personalised, it has little pink ballet shoes stitched onto it, divine) and watching my favourite ballerinas dancing the night away on stage.
Oh, and by the way, dear readers - every day is Tutu Day for me! But on Tuesdays, we celebrate our tutus! Let me know which date you'd like me to travel to next, what your favourite tutu is and where you like to dance, you can even send photos of your gorgeous, feminine, tutus, for me to show off here, on Pink-Tutu.com.
Happy Tuesday everyone, and remember - life’s a stage, so let’s all dance and make our own tutus!
XOXO, Emma www.pink-tutu.com
