Hello darlings! Itās Emma here, your pink-tutu-loving time traveller, and welcome back to my #TutuTuesday blog on www.pink-tutu.com! This week weāre waltzing back in time to the 14th of August 1860, and boy, is there some exciting tutu-related history to be unfurled!
It's post number 1494 for my #TutuTuesday blog - oh my gosh! My trip last week was amazing, I went to Vienna, what a fabulous place for ballet! The food was divine.
This week I'm back in the UK on a fabulous little day trip to Derbyshire to soak in some history, the heart of my beloved Derbyshire. This is where Iām from, so I like to return here to enjoy my roots.
If I had been here in Derbyshire on August 14th 1860 Iād be excited for the big show on Saturday. What a weekend it will be - Derbyshire will have so much to see and do - A big event to be had in this lovely, historic County - A fantastic, fun Fair Day, at Wirksworth, I am really hoping to get down to Derbyshire on Saturday for this. The Derbyshire Times reported this week on Wirksworth Fair day - The annual event to be held in Wirksworth is the fair day on Saturday, It starts early and is always a fun day for the community. The town will be bustling with visitors to experience its long tradition - Wirksworth always pulls in the crowds. I am going to pop my pink tutu on. The main thing I like about wearing a tutu is all the excitement.
This day trip is to fund my next trip. Next month, I'm travelling all the way to Saint Petersburg! You can bet your last tutule that Iām going to the world famous, Mariinsky Theatre. Iām thinking of heading to the famous, very exclusive tea rooms there afterwards too. Saint Petersburg is the absolute Mecca for Ballet. Canāt wait to take in a show - it'll be the ultimate #TutuTuesday trip! You can bet that I'll get some pink tutus in St Petersburg, the ones made from the finest Russian fabrics.
However, enough about future trips, back to the subject at hand. Let's go back to the 14th of August 1860. Back then the Ballet, and particularly its wardrobe, was beginning to look dramatically different from the style that youād be more used to seeing in the Ballet. A style known today as the "Romantic era of Ballet" started back in the mid 19th century.
Youād still have found plenty of fluffy tutus made with copious layers of tulle and fabric in this era. This gave the Ballerina the classic and familiar form we expect - a beautiful fluffy cloud on a very slim body, perfectly executed by beautifully dressed female Ballerinas with perfect figure. Itās why we love this period in history in ballet. But the shapes of tutus were evolving quickly with fashion and trends at the time. It is such a good period to immerse yourself in to be able to study what happened at this time to inspire today's trends.
It is exciting - but this time also had a serious focus on technique, the female dancers of this era would be unrecognisable to their counterparts of the late Victorian era in the late 1890's and early 1900's in what is referred to as the 'classical ballet' style in which the ballerina dancers are athletic and slim and the choreography relies more on precision movements and less on theatrical dramatic emotion.
I'm feeling particularly bold and fabulous right now. My mind is buzzing with the latest styles, but also with those fantastic looks from centuries ago. I need to take a stroll to the shop and indulge myself in a little bit of shopping for my pink tutu collection.
Now, I mentioned dramatic changes to the look of the Tutu in this era, and by dramatic changes I donāt just mean different materials! No, they really went to town on how the Tutu was attached to the Ballerina and that change in silhouette has changed the world of Ballet forever. Imagine my delight then in the year 1860, on the 14th August. We would see Ballerinas in what would become an almost famous "Tutu" look for the Ballet world - A ballerina sporting what could be called a corset-style tutu with its fitted bodice, a very tightly fitted basque waist - It might even have included lace, the material was just a gorgeous feature in fashion in this period, such elegance, with layers and layers of the fluffiest, tulle underneath for an incredible romantic effect and the most wonderful skirt-shape with more fluff to follow the form and silhouette of the female shape.
How much I love to see such delicate, romantic designs on my Ballerinas ā a time when everything was focused on how much grace could be injected into each movement. It's a real shame that by the end of the 19th century, the skirt lengths would shorten dramatically! I remember when this began to happen and I think it's unfortunate, however we can still admire this style for all the elegance and grace it offered on stage.
As a time traveller, there is one question that I have on my mind right now: What might the āCorset Tutuā Ballerinaās be feeling about that day back in 1860, as she stood at the centre of the stage, waiting for the music to begin, ready to show us how the beauty of her artistry could really sweep us away!
You will always find that the most gorgeous part of the Ballet has been, and always will be the costume, and the Ballet is always a perfect vehicle to use costume as its canvas and letās all be honest the skirt is the true star!
Thatās it for this weekās post, darlings. Do drop by again next Tuesday for a new #TutuTuesday, with a new fabulous trip through time to talk Ballet, fashion and what our fashion and Tutu looks are wearing through time and right up to now!
*Love, Emma xx *
* www.pink-tutu.com*
