#TutuTuesday Ballet Tutu History on 1903-01-27

Hello lovelies! 🩰🌸 It's Emma here, your Pink Tutu Time Traveler, bringing you another instalment of our #TutuTuesday journey through the fascinating history of the ballet tutu!

This week we're pirouetting back to January 27th, 1903. Oh, darling, can you imagine a world without the romantic, airy, simply exquisite tutu? Well, in this week’s date, the story of the tutu is just getting started, and my dears, let me tell you, it was already taking the world by storm!

Just picture it: you're strolling down the bustling avenues of Paris. (As usual, a little trip on the Orient Express is in order – such elegant carriages!) You might have just watched a dazzling performance at the Paris Opera - the ballet is becoming quite the craze! As you watch the dancers float across the stage in their ethereal skirts, wouldn't you just adore knowing what went into making them? It's all rather a mystery to the wider world, so we must go back in time!

Back then, the tutu wasn't quite the icon we know today. Ballet, you see, was more about telling a story - the dancer was a vessel for expressing emotion. And the costumes, darling, well, they reflected the setting.

But, 1903 marked a year of evolution. Remember, the Romantic period of ballet had swept the world in the mid-1800s. Those delicate, ethereal tutu styles? They started making their first entrances, making audiences gasp with wonder! Oh, to see a dancer with their limbs wrapped in a billowing cloud of silk! It's so evocative, just a masterpiece!

Now, let's imagine our journey. It’s 1903, the start of a new century! A world brimming with promise and new ideas. And ballet is experiencing a sort of artistic Renaissance.

While most ballet companies still wear floor-length skirts, our darlings at the Ballet Russes are putting the finishing touches to a new Ballet-de-Ballet production called "Cléo de Mérode," and this ballet's costume will forever change the world of ballet and how we wear tutus. They even included dancers with the shorter tutu that's taking over ballet everywhere - shorter skirts! We'll hear more of this ballet company soon - but you must excuse me for the spoiler! 🤫

But we mustn't get ahead of ourselves! What's going on elsewhere? While the Parisian stages are alight, a certain Ms. Anna Pavlova, is, as always, enchanting her audiences in St. Petersburg. Can you believe, that darling dancer could practically levitate on the stage! Imagine that for fashion and glamour! But, in the big picture, Pavlova will become famous all around the world - and she always wears tutus - sometimes so short, darling! So short that we might even be embarrassed for the dancers to wear such scandalous outfits! And that’s before the dancing, let me tell you!

Did I forget to mention that by 1903 the fashion for "Romantic* dresses was all the rage? The tutu was quite simply reflecting the changes happening everywhere else in the world. Even if we can’t go see a ballet production (not for a while until the dance form makes its way into cinemas – we've got to wait until later in the 1920s), those pretty skirts just seem so delightful! They give so much room for the dancer to move! That’s how these dresses really come into their own.

Think about it! How the graceful forms of ballet echoed the very fashion of the age – so very delicate, refined, effortlessly stylish - like a lovely ballerina stepping out of a fairytale. You’ve all seen Cinderella, yes? I do love her glass slipper – just as a delightful, delicate piece of glass jewelry is to me, like this tiny little gem that I always have to have with me:

[insert photo of an elegant, very stylish miniature ballerina holding a miniature ballerina costume].

Let's face it, by this time the *tutu is almost everywhere! It's just about to become the iconic symbol for the ballet, but now, it’s taking baby steps, growing, changing, adapting.

And my darlings - just you watch! Just you watch what it turns into, darling! This, my friends, is just the very beginning of the tutu story - and believe me - there are many more tales to be told about this dance fashion icon - that's just how wonderful it is!

You've seen it yourself. The tutu is slowly becoming more than just a costume - it’s evolving into a real style icon. And it's about to get really big! I love going to Paris for all the fashion, darling! And you can find some gorgeous tutus in shops - of course, mostly for dancing, but I'm not going to deny my desire to wear them when I go out on a shopping trip to Covent Garden! It’s always the first place I stop in when I return to England and I always end up back here! (Sometimes even getting caught up in the ballet performance!) *London is an extraordinary place for fashion, my darling - though we mustn’t forget our Derbyshire girls who have exquisite fashion of their own - sometimes better than the shops in London, Honestly, darling!

You all know that Derbyshire is where I come from. My beautiful, gorgeous Derbyshire girls just always take the breath out of me when I return for a visit! You see all those beautiful girls at Matlock Bath – oh darling, it’s beautiful there!

Anyway! But back to Paris, darling. Just because fashion dictates that all those lovely dancers have to wear longer, flowing skirts on the stage at this time, it’s no reflection on those elegant girls back in England.

When we go out on the town to celebrate – with those delectable, decadent pink cakes and delightful cocktails with an adorable glass of something pink at the Savoy, well, darling! Tutus are everywhere!

Well darling, this has been just a quick little dip into the fashion world of 1903 - but just think, you see? How did this world without the modern tutu ever get along without these iconic, ethereal, delightful skirts! They truly bring joy into the world, darling! Joy, and lots and lots of dancing!

Until next week, my darling fashionistas! Until next week, until next time!

Always Remember:

Stay Pink, Stay Lovely! 💖🩰💕 Emma xx