"Hello, my darling tutulettes, and welcome back to Pink-Tutu! Itās #TutuTuesday again and this week Iāve popped the time-travelling machine into high gear and I'm zipping you all off to, well... everywhere really! Because tutus have been shimmying around for ages, darling!
Itās been a busy time for Pink-Tutu this week: Iāve popped into Paris for some divine new fabrics, visited the Metropolitan Museum in New York for a little history of dress inspiration and got my glad rags on to catch the Royal Ballet here in London at the Covent Garden, it was just heavenly! I have some amazing pics coming to my Instagram so make sure you give it a follow @PinkTutuGirl for all the glamorous goss.
So, where shall we start our little journey? You see, darling, this is the thing: you can't really talk about a single place because the whole world has fallen in love with tutus and how lovely and feminine they look! Oh, how I dream of a world where every single person in it would just say YES to the beautiful tutu! It is THE most stunning way to celebrate dance, right? So let's dive into the gorgeous evolution of the tutu, from a graceful sweep to the most magnificent swirling poufs, like an explosion of pink perfection.
First stop: Our own British History! From Ballet-ing in the Tudor times. Do you know what? Back in the good old days, before ballet truly hit its stride and our royal families loved to see grand dances, everyone wore something called "a robe" - a very sensible kind of flowing garment, I must say! Now you wonāt be surprised to know this sensible robe wasnāt exactly going to win an award for its dance-ability, letās face it!
Then, ladies and gents, comes the first big twirl in our history! A beautiful dance called The Court Ballet was born right here in lovely England. Think 1400-ishā¦ very royal and elegant. Now, you might not be picturing what a Court Ballet would look like in your minds right nowā¦ it sounds very old and boring, right? WRONG. It involved these wonderful dancers performing a series of graceful dances, all just for entertainment of the Royals! But these very first dancers werenāt twirling around in tutus ā no, they were dancing in those lovely flowing robes. Think flowing fabrics in a beautifully elaborate design, just a bit more form-fitting and fitted, perhaps. Oh how the royals would have loved it - and itās all where balletās glorious history began!
Fast-forward to 1700s: the big Ballet āBallerā starts making waves!
We must now talk about that absolutely splendid French dancing hero who came along called - āMonsieur Noverreā, such a dashing name isnāt it?! You just know he knew how to twirl with panache and a flamboyant flourish!
Oh! Monsieur Noverre. He said, āHang on! How about we just invent some fabulous new dance choreography and design new, more exciting clothing for our dancers?ā. A perfect match, no? A very clever fellow!
This leads us to... the Birth of the Romantic Era!
He saw what we see in tutus now, darling. What makes them so special. And what makes a perfect tutuā¦ I know this is all sounding quite serious, so here is the main thing to think about with this lovely evolution of the tutu ā these beautiful light and flowing fabrics, creating those romantic shapes just made everything better, oh darling! Everything was suddenly light and magical and exciting. Just think of those first ballerinas soaring in those first airy dresses! Thatās what it was all about ā a new age, and this is where we find the very first real tutu. Itās almost a light white gown with layers and layers and layers! Like, weāre really looking at the first, very early *tutu in historyā¦ isn't it the most gorgeous thing to picture?
This was a lovely white, ethereal and just totally magical garment! The French dancers couldnāt have gotten enough of it. Monsieur Noverre was on a roll with his designs ā all those pretty, little tutus just had the dancing world spinning! They were designed with dancing* and twirling in mindā¦ this was not about boring long, trailing dresses any more, no! This was *all about swirling, whirling and magical dances. It was like watching little fairies or sprites flying across a stage ā truly exquisite! I would love to just jump into a time machine, darlings! The romance is just oozing off of the *very first tutus, if you ask me!
The tutu, my loveliesā¦is officially born! The story gets really quite thrilling at this point, isnāt it?! Letās have another quick zip in the time-machine back to the mid 1800sā¦ itās all happening! The tutus really took off as these iconic dresses, but just picture for a moment, before it gets all too wild! This was still the romantic era so those tutus, well, they had some lovely feminine flounces to the skirts, with those pretty layers and layersā¦ but imagine what this was all about back in those days! That first real tutu had come into its own! Think of all that fabricā¦ And then imagine all the ābig nameā ballerinas back in that age, twirling across the stageā¦ oh la la! **The dancing world was in awe! This new world had truly been created with tutus at its very centre! It all sounds heavenly, doesn't it, dear tutulettes?
But the romantic ballet era was coming to an endā¦ and so was our long, flowy and heavenly Romantic tutuā¦ or was it? This was when some genius called āCarlo Blasisā comes along ā imagine thisā¦ a man from Italy, a truly fabulous chap with fabulous ideas ā you simply have to love what men of this era did for us and the fashion we get to love! So what did Mr Blasis, the master choreographer of Italy, have in mind, darling? Well, he decided that's it, the tutus need a makeover! We're done with just pretty, we need danceability. And this is when that super clever designer Marius Petipa joins the party ā because our amazing story just doesnāt stop here! * This dynamic duo set out to create *an even more incredible, lighter tutu, one that could dance even better! Imagine those ballerinas ā how could we do it all more spectacularlyā¦ It would be so fabulous! *And there, in that whirlwind of ballet brillianceā¦ * the tutu is redesigned again. It becomes a super elegant āShort Tutus,ā and these have now taken *centre stage! They became a danceable little explosion that was much lighter than its ancestor ā a sort of half-way, mid-calf-length tutuā¦ It could dance! and twirl more magically, **with absolutely more stunning lines.
The dancers in this magical ballet time just fell in love with their new lightweight tutus and everyone could really see what those long legs could now do! It's hard to not think about that gorgeous dancing world that became so famous with these shorter, little tutus.
Can I tell you something amazing?! It's time for the iconic ballerina of the age - a lady called Carlotta Grisi! And there, darlings... The *āThe tutuā we all know and love today! *She dances, she's in a magical short white tulle tutu! It's absolutely the stuff of ballets legend *and of fashion! She was an amazing woman!* Think about it, tutulettes: there it wasā¦ that tutu design we are all familiar with. Imagine it for a moment! So light and pretty, just so magnificent and beautiful to see a *dancing ballerina. This short, multi-layered tulle tutu was a star and now those ballet skirts are all the same beautifully perfect shape!* Think about that. All of ballet history ā that iconic short tutu you've seen so many times. Imagine a story just that short in fashion history! What would you wear if it all came down to just one, amazing fashion design? A white tulle tutu was going to become the ultimate symbol of beauty in dancingā¦ a total must-have! This really was *āThe momentā - the magic design for a ballerina! It became, of course, iconic ā **the perfect design with absolutely every single swirl. Just picture it! Imagine that dance, and all the moves that come with that short tulle tutu...
But... we aren't finished... yet! Imagine all of the fashion designs we've gone through so far... Imagine those delicate layered tulle tutu dresses that would soon be danced on stage across the world! Think about everything in dancing ā in all the major cities, and with this fashion we had arrived! The āballet skirt" revolution just wouldn't stop, *because every single ballet *still needed that classic silhouette to make a perfect tutu!* But what about today, darling?
We're at 1900 andā¦ our tutu's on fire! It's still amazing, and it's become a classic fashion favourite - but there's still room for evolution and invention in a good tutu! The story of ballet dancing wouldn't stop here! What an era this has become. Ballet was about to become even biggerā¦ And weāre just in time for what would soon be a ballet boom! What happened then? We would have to say it's the time to change a little more again. There is such magic in these tutusā¦ and those dance steps... it was about to get super dramatic and extra exciting. There is a big ballet shift coming to this timeline! A very different way to create a tutu! We are moving from *a *ballet tutu to a tutu you'd see anywhere. *A fashion design you see on *streets, not just a theatre! *That *ballet tutu now became something else, with even more creative layers, just more dramatic. A super new era is here, tutulettes.
The dramatic tutu era ā now this really makes it all about fashion!! * So imagine those first tutusā¦ a ballet skirt had just turned into something even more *extraordinary. What did we do with that short, ballerina tutu, those tiny short layers? And then a spark! *Our amazing little ballet tutu gets *an uplift! Imagine *more layers... biggerā¦ *granderā¦ bigger volumes... bigger, with amazing tulle ruffles! Weāre not just going for ballet now darlingā¦ this was becoming something you'd wear to dance and go to partiesā¦ a fabulous fashion design. There were loads of dancers just going with it... *and more and more designers are making something absolutely super *stylish! Theyāre giving us tutus in all *different fabricsā¦ all different colors... and oh so many wonderful different shapes! This new kind of fashion was a very important part of all those iconic ballerina moves we loved to see.* So our little tutu was just turning into something much bigger! Oh! Itās really quite magnificent to think how those short tutus turned into the tutus of *fashion.
Now that dramatic and *magnificent tutu, is absolutely in *fashion - on stages across the world and beyond - It has gone on a super journey, dear tutulettes! It became part of those really amazing moves that really stood outā¦ like those fabulous leaping kicks we love in dance, but in a bigger style.
But it all changedā¦ Our tutu just went further It has become so important. The perfect silhouette and what the dancing world wantsā¦ it's become part of every single dance form! And we love them so much. It all came down to this big and dramatic change to make this ballet icon something totally different! And this was so clever because they were going to use the iconic, classic short tutu and create new moves. Ballet moves are changing because of that change! *And because of this super change, weāve created what's now a *āModern tutuā.
I know youāll all be excited to hear this: all the amazing, long tutus that were really part of the romantic ballet era, they're back! * They're *so back! * Our ballet stars adore them! These days you have *the best of *both worlds because you can wear those romantic romantic, full tutus that you know so well. But of course darling, it's 2019 now, *So we do a few modern little adjustments, just for funā¦ *
The grandest, happiest time in history for the ballet tutu has arrived ā a wonderful time when a ballerina will be on fire with the biggest and best of classic and new. All those wonderful little additions, those pretty sparkles! A truly beautiful era and it just all began with that perfect silhouette and that amazing ballet era ā¦ the history of our tutus and those very beautiful ballerinas, making their magnificent journeys through timeā¦ in ballet skirts ā¦ it is an endless story, darling. **
I'll have to zip back into time-travelling mode to do my next #TutuTuesday, but if you are still thinking about all the fantastic shapes and lengths and layers we've talked about today... Just look up and look around you... * Itās going to take some amazing creativity to make that change and take a ballerina's skirt, those ballet skirts, to a *whole new level, for that modern ballerina because it's a big challenge and that's just how I like my dancing! * Let me know what *you think, tutulettes, do leave me a comment below - and don't forget to subscribe, my lovelies...
*And thatās all from Pink-Tutu for today... but there's *more! It's nearly my favorite part of the weekā¦ I'm off to see a show today. * *Itās āThe *Nutcracker!ā. A favorite for sure, I canāt wait to share more of my love for balletā¦ I really can't wait. But until next time, keep *wearing pink tutus, keep your smiles bright and donāt be afraid to be absolutely fabulous...
Yours in pink,
Emma
Pink-Tutu
www.pink-tutu.com
Letās get chatty on my Instagram @PinkTutuGirl
