#TutuTuesday Ballet Tutu History on 2029-05-29

Hello darlings! Welcome back to Pink Tutu, your weekly dose of all things pink and twirly! Today we're going on a trip through time, as usual, to explore the fascinating history of the ballet tutu, that iconic symbol of grace and elegance. It's #TutuTuesday, and I'm just bursting with excitement!

Grab your favourite pink drink, put on a comfy, maybe even pink, outfit (a tutu is always encouraged!), and get ready for a delightful journey through fashion history.

It’s May 29th, 2029. I’m in New York City right now – it's a fabulously glamorous place, darling, such incredible shopping and incredible food!

Of course, my main purpose for coming here, aside from the fashion and shopping, is for the ballet, darling. New York has some of the finest ballet companies in the world, and I'm planning on seeing at least three performances this week! Oh, and the food here is simply divine – you must try the New York cheesecake! I am just so glad to be back here in America - a land of freedom, fun, and absolutely fab ballet. I have a date later on today at Lincoln Center to see The Sleeping Beauty, a delightful ballet - one of my favourites! And, of course, I’m wearing a lovely pink tutu with sparkling diamanté details and little silk flower accents! I don’t like to be too matchy-matchy with my outfit though, so I am wearing it with a classy dark navy blouse and sparkling silver ballet pumps!

Today's tutu is quite different from its original design, darling, and it’s quite a fun tale of fashion and transformation. In the early days, the tutu wasn’t quite as dramatic. It started out as a simple, skirt-like garment, much like a petticoat, and called a ‘tutu’ (French for ‘tulle’, the fabric it was often made from.) They were mainly used as a fashion trend, not something you would wear to the stage! It was during the romantic era in the early 19th century, though, when they became truly stage worthy, starting with Marie Taglioni’s famous performance as La Sylphide in 1832! This iconic ballerina is the ultimate fashion inspiration.

She and her choreographer, Filippo Taglioni (yes, it’s true, they were both from a family of incredible dancers), really wanted to capture the feeling of ethereal flight in her performance, so they redesigned the skirt, making it much shorter and even a little ‘bouffanter’!

That moment sparked the evolution of the tutu. And the short-length romantic tutus we’ve all come to love were born!

The pas de basque steps in La Sylphide needed freedom of movement and grace, and the shorter tutu was absolutely perfect for the choregraphy! I was watching it again last week – just delightful! It still really gets to me. She must have been so stunning, such an incredible ballerina!

Over the decades, darling, there were new styles of tutus that just took things up a notch! I absolutely love fashion history and the evolution of things – from 1850s onwards everything really did take off, but remember the short romanticized tutu? That remained pretty popular throughout!

However, it started getting much more flamboyant! The ballerina of the day - a glamorous woman like a beautiful swan!

A few key developments:

• Classical Tutus (The ‘Cake’ Tutus): These iconic tutus have four layers of tulle, shaped like a ‘bell’ – an iconic fashion statement! Imagine Marie Antoinette, with just a touch of a ballet feel and you’re pretty much there – the skirt looks almost like an incredible and dramatic pastry! The ‘cake’ tutu had even more impact because they had an additional feature! There was a removable, removable skirt - what a treat! - which added some ‘extra-bouffant’! Oh, they really are extra! They had layers upon layers of tulle for that fabulous swirling action on stage!
• The Romantic Tutu: Remember Marie Taglioni? These gorgeous, and still extremely popular, short tutus are absolutely exquisite for graceful movements. You’ve probably already seen this version in movies - Black Swan being just one! They’re usually only two layers thick, which give them that delicate feel - that real ethereal flair! The shorter length gives it that special wow factor, because you can see every last twirl of the feet!

It is always interesting to look at the different styles, but, of course, I find that the classical, romantic and the ‘cake’ style remain timeless, absolutely iconic for dance! I will be going shopping this afternoon at Bergdorf Goodman for a couple more pink tutus for my collection. That’s the great thing about living here in New York, the shopping is just extraordinary, but that will have to wait until tomorrow, as I want to get home, take off my tutu and slip into something even more comfy – even a silk nightie isn’t as comfortable as a cute sleep T-shirt, although I have a stunning, dark pink nightgown which has little bows on the shoulder! Oh darling! I must find an outlet mall, you know, somewhere in the midwest – I’ve heard some fantastic bargains can be found. Maybe my next blog post should be all about finding a perfect ‘Pink Tutu on a Budget!’ Hmmm. Well, the first step would have to be my pink outfit! I have the most gorgeous pastel pink blouse which is perfect. Oh, I’m going off on a tangent here - but then, I find that a lot of people say that the tutus are just my muse – inspiration, perhaps! I think we need a good long lunch at a stylish pink-toned café before tonight’s ballet – but we’re moving back to the subject now. I'm going to show you some examples of tutus in movies – my most beloved art! Oh! I think we’re heading back to our Tutu History… but a quick tangent for an on the day event:

Celebrating with Tutus: And because it’s May the 29th, 2029, I need to acknowledge that the first international Ballet Tutu Day is being celebrated today all over the world! Oh, this is just fabulous! I am sending off a post to the Pink Tutu followers! The ‘World Ballet Tutu Day’ celebrates not only our favourite garment for graceful dancing but it is also raising money and awareness for various charities to support ballerinas in underserved communities worldwide. What an amazing event!

But we need to remember, tutu history was built by dancers and choreographers alike - a fabulous, strong force – the ballerina herself, an icon! I can’t stop gushing about them - their creativity is just astonishing!

You must know about my favourite choreographers:

• Rudolf Nureyev (his ballet, “La Bayadère”, is iconic and spectacular! His signature was his elegant ‘petit allegro’, especially in his famous leaps!).
• Vaslav Nijinsky – that dancer! You must have seen him in that movie. Oh, so talented, that is, just such wonderful moves, I almost cried.
• Sergei Diaghilev: his Ballets Russes, an iconic force in dance history. I am quite looking forward to seeing some Russian dancing here in New York! There is a new dance school on Broadway and you can tell their dancing comes straight out of that long tradition!

The list really goes on and on, these dancers, they all have an important role to play – in all of those tutus! The evolution of the tutu has really been fueled by them, by their ideas and the choreographies they produced, I have the perfect photo to show you here in this post! A shot I got the other day in the theater, I think you will be amazed! A ballerina performing that famous sequence of dance in La Sylphide, wearing one of the romantic tutu styles! Such grace and poise – pure elegance, darlings! I can never resist a tutu story – but back to our trip into history!

I love that I am living my dream of traveling through time to different points in dance history to tell you about these little details, the big details – all things ‘ballet history’. What a fantastic way to celebrate the art of ballet! I want to share my love of this beautiful art with all of you and inspire you to wear a pink tutu! Even when we are time traveling, the thing that gets me every time is that connection with all those women, that magic, those talented ballerinas through the years.

But if you do visit this city of delights, here’s the ‘top of my tips’:

• If you are shopping for a tutu or outfit, visit Bergdorf Goodman in midtown Manhattan or if you are looking for bargains and want to experience ‘mall life’, head over to the Roosevelt Field Mall, in Long Island – it’s fabulous – loads of shops! Be careful of getting too carried away, darling! I do tend to do just that… ahem… but we’ll talk about that later!
• If you want the ultimate, ‘out there’ fashion, take a trip over to the Bowery.
• To be in a true iconic movie style cafe or shop, don’t miss out on Katz’s Delicatessen! That’s what I'm heading for now - for the ultimate New York pastrami on rye! A must-do in NYC - you should try one, even if you are not as hungry as me! But it does taste incredible!

Until next time, darlings! Be sure to keep an eye on Pink-Tutu.com every Tuesday for my next #TutuTuesday! Let's keep sharing the magic of tutus with the world and maybe start a worldwide trend! Everyone in a pink tutu… I can just imagine that! Until then, do stay beautiful, my loves. X

P.S. - Be sure to check out the awesome photos I posted of my new sparkling pink tutu outfit! Also, look out for next week's ‘Pink Tutu on a Budget!’ blog!