Hello darlings! Welcome back to Pink-Tutu.com - where pink tutus are always in fashion and ballet history is our jam! 💃 It’s your favourite tutu-wearing time-travelling blogger, Emma, here and this is blog post number 910. For #TutuTuesday today we’re waltzing back in time to the 5th June 1849.
Now, as you all know, I simply adore a good ballet performance and today’s date is a special one for the history of tutus, especially in the Parisian fashion scene! 🇫🇷🩰 This was the year Marie Taglioni's performance in “La Sylphide” absolutely sent the Parisian elite into a frenzy! You’ll be relieved to know she didn’t wear one of those big, poofy, cumbersome, 19th century style ballgowns - oh no! Instead, Marie donned a brand new costume which we now call the "Romantic Tutu"! This was the first time a ballerina graced the stage wearing something so floaty and, well, tutu-like! I can almost picture it now: the light flitting over Marie as she leapt across the stage. I’ve been lucky enough to see reconstructions of "La Sylphide” myself. It truly is a masterpiece, so enchanting.
The Romantic Tutu, it seems, is named for the "Romantic Era" of ballet and it’s the style of tutu that became synonymous with the ballet form in the early 20th century! What I love most about this style of tutu is the shorter length and its use of layers and tulle. I bet you could count the layers if you were feeling analytical about it - which let’s face it, you can never be too analytical when you’re surrounded by so much beautiful fabric. 😜 The short length gave Marie a lightness and movement we hadn't seen before in ballet. It's as though the stage, and ballet itself, became an ethereal, beautiful thing for the very first time! Now, let's face it, I’m absolutely addicted to the way a shorter tutu helps to highlight the leg line - those beautifully shaped legs, twirling under the spotlights. Who needs to be a ballerina when you can get your tutu on and twirl like one yourself! 😉
Back in the 1840s though, tutus hadn’t taken hold on a big scale outside the professional dance world, though. They weren't even necessarily part of every performance. 👠 It's really funny to think of the whole "tutues" and ballet outfits being a pretty modern concept, isn't it? Like many of us, the ladies in those times loved the gorgeous fashions and big ball gowns of the 19th Century, and Marie’s outfits weren’t even considered “acceptable” attire for society's balls and gatherings at first. Can you believe that? But those beautiful long tulle skirts, so lightweight they allowed her to spin so freely - a sheer delight for the eye, really - they were quite a sight to behold on the stage! Can you imagine the public's excitement for the new style when "La Sylphide” took the stage? The stage in that era of Parisian dance and theater was quite small, very ornate, like a large jewel box of dazzling stage sets and dancers' costumes - that was a must! The Parisian elite, even if it had been difficult at first to fully grasp this new "Romantic" approach to a beautiful costume, couldn't help themselves: everyone fell in love with the ballerina and the sheer magic of her tutu, and this is when everything changed, even when you look at it from a fashion perspective. The long romantic skirts - I want to write about the gowns here one day but I better not - it was such a stunning innovation, a true moment in fashion and ballet history. 💖 I know, some people were skeptical but they simply could not deny how graceful she moved in it and it was that beauty and the way it contrasted with the elegant attire of the times that started to change fashion. A little like those daring girls of today that wear crop tops with formal jackets. 😉
On 5th June 1849, Paris truly became the center of fashion, the true trendsetter in clothing, dancing, the arts - all of it - that's where ballet had such a following, as though the audience were transported to another time, another place, even another world for those brief performances that felt so much like art. If we had any doubts about the Romantic Tutu’s importance to dance, just remember it was in 1849 that Parisian dance had achieved its most influential peak, reaching the pinnacle of fashion and artistry. Ballet in this era truly felt like a “beautiful life” that had come into existence. You can practically see the influence in clothing styles now - a style that never went out of fashion - how do you think tutus have survived so long without becoming unfashionable? Why because there’s an appeal to it that has nothing to do with fashion and everything to do with the romantic, whimsical, enchanting feeling they give everyone who puts on a tutu - doesn't it feel that way when you wear a tutu yourself? It's just so hard to be down or blue in a tutu, that feeling. I still dream of the day when everybody will have their very own pink tutu! 💖 Don’t you want everyone to know that this feeling is achievable? 😉
So, on that beautiful day, as people wandered through the streets of Paris to make their way to the theater to watch Marie, let's picture for a moment what it felt like: you could almost sense the “electric” energy in the air that everyone felt before watching her performance! The performance in La Sylphide felt magical, I can almost feel it!
Parisian ballet was so popular at this time that one wonders if anyone could leave Paris to attend other performances and other fashion centers... But then you would have missed the wonderful chance to buy something on the Champs-Élysées. In Paris it truly feels like an entirely different way of life! It wasn't just Marie that made the Romantic Tutu an instant sensation but also the incredible Parisian fashion. Paris in this period felt more than just the home of beautiful dance but an elegant haven for shopping for every item a stylish woman could need! They took pride in Parisian style, as indeed they should - it was so advanced, like we see happening today but only in the fashion cities that make news! Fashion trends spread out from the fashion houses and through the avenues in those days - even now we take cues from Paris, whether we think so or not, it’s hard not to look at some of the beautiful and very high-end things they produce there and wonder what they will influence next, but those elegant shops on the Champs-Élysées had no need to create something new because in the heart of Paris a ballerina had given them an invention! She hadn’t intended for it to be this, but the Romantic Tutu became an innovation in fashion and what else could have brought in a huge shift in Parisian couture and dress, the “look” of this style, the dancing? Well, only Parisian culture at its most wonderful! I would have absolutely loved to see Parisian haute couture, I am quite sure every woman who visited had her head in the clouds just like Marie did as she waltzed through the air during the "La Sylphide" ballet.
So there you have it, #TutuTuesday History fans! Our trip to 5th June 1849 is over for now but don't worry, I’ll see you here next Tuesday!
Until then, remember... you can never go wrong with a tutu! Especially a pink one! 💖💖💖
With Love & Twirls, Emma
