Ballet Shoes 2012Everything you need to know about Ballet

and Fashion

Issue: 12012£6.50

Ballerina Illustration by Erini Georgiou

Ballerina Illustration by Erini Georgiou

Ballerina Illustration by Erini Georgiou

Ballerina Illustration by Erini Georgiou

Contents page

Editors Letter 6

The Beauty of Ballet (Introduction)

8

The Dashing Designers (Introduction)

10

The Ballet Obsession Season 12

Mr Magical Red Sole 13

Exciting Exhibition at the V&A 14

‘The Dying Swan’15

The Walking Tutu 16- 17

Designer Ballet Influenced Collections Over The Years

18

The English National Ballet Fundraiser

19

To all dancing queens…Welcome to Ballet Shoes

For all you beautiful young girls who are in love with fashion, shopping, clothes and yet your world revolves around ballet; you have come to the right place; this

magazine is just for YOU.

Ballet shoes is an exciting annual publication designed to bring together all you teenage ballerinas aged between 16- 18. Our articles range between ballet and fashion. We will be exploring various designers who have created garments that were influenced by ballet over the years.

Our aim is that you are left feeling motivated and even more eager to succeed than before.

Here is a place where you can forget the mistakes in your last ballet exam or in your last class. Forget about all the steps you are getting wrong and focus on the beauty of the form of dance. Ballet is a truly rewarding and I’m sure you will all agree when I say that there is no better feeling than the sense of accomplishment you feel once you have performed. You receive a standing ovation, cheers, and the look on your parents face when you try and find them in the crowd. Nothing feels better. We believe that you should feel proud of how far you have come as ballet dancers as, ballet can be incredibly challenging and demanding.

Ballet is an elegant form of dance; with its lightness and grace and its incredible different types of movements, posses, music and unbelievable costumes. The detail on each ballerina’s tutu is mind blowing and many designers in the fashion industry have been influenced by ballet and have taken part in designing costumes for various ballet occasions.

We will be referring to certain ballet influences in fashion such as the ‘Tutu trend’ and focusing on what moods and feelings the designers wanted to capture, when referencing to ballet as an influence to their collections.

Our aim is to inspire and motivate young ballerinas.

Until next time, hair up, pointe shoes on, tie the ribbons well and get dancing.

6

Above: Ballet Shoes Illustration by Erini Georgiou

7

The Beauty of Ballet

Ballet is a unique form of art. The slow and yet rapid movements, the allegretto music; followed by the gentle and soothing music. Ballet brings to life a mixture of emotions

such as; happiness, sadness, darkness, humour, joy and seduction.

Here is a mini timeline to show when ballet began and the types of attire they had to wear. Just by reading this mini

timeline you will see that ballet dancers in the 15th and 16th century would not get away with wearing the short and

embellished tutus today.

1. Ballet originated many years ago in the 15th and 16th century in the Italian courts.

2. Louis XIV opened the first ever ballet school which was situated in France.

3. It was a men only ballet school and women didn’t begin to dance ballet until later on in 1681.

4. The women’s dancing attire looked very different from the ballerina outfits today.

5. They wore ankle length dresses and it wasn’t until French dancer, Marie Camargo rebelled against this and shortened her skirts to above the ankles.

6. Today’s ballet dancers are best known to wear netted tutus with a bodice or a leotard. High heels are not worn and pointe shoes are a must. They must be tied up with ribbons.

8

6. Today’s ballet dancers are best known to wear netted tutus with a bodice or a leotard. High heels are not worn and pointe shoes are a must. They must be tied up with ribbons.

Ballerina posingIllustration by Erini Georgiou9

The Dashing Designers

Ballet has had an enormous impact towards many respectable and extraordinary designers over the years.

With its elegance and grace and for what is considered to be a fine art, ballet and fashion have always had a close bond.

In 1924 Coco Chanel collaborated with Sergei Diaghilev and created a masterpiece for Le Train Bleu ballet and ever since the love and passion for ballet has continued. Many designers have been intrigued and inspired by ballet for many years and have understood and grown to love the beauty of

such an elegant art. With this is mind, many of the well know designer names have created garments and attended endless numbers of ballet related events to

show their love, support and influences towards the fine art of Ballet.

Looking at various designers who have created amazing pieces for the ballet, some of the names include; Moschino, Erdem, Christian Louboutin, Alexander

McQueen and the English National Ballet Fundraiser, The Victoria and Albert Ballet influenced exhibition and Karl Lagerfeld/ Coco Chanel.

10

Two Ballerinas posingIllustration by Erini Georgiou11

The Ballet Obsession Season

Last summer on 29th June 2011 on a beautiful summer’s day, nine designers came together and were eager to get involved and create something

breathtaking for an exciting, one off, ballet, fashion and fundraising event at The Orangery, at Kensington

Palace.

With the incredible rising success of ‘The Black Swan’ starring Natalie Portman later last year and with all the attention it received both at the box office and at

the Oscars; it would be crazy to not feel inspired by the ballet and to want to create something new and innovate.

Top designers such as; Giles Deacon, Moschino, Erdem, Bruce Oldfield, Agent Provocateur, Julien Macdonald,Roksanda Ilincic, House of Worth and Kinder Aggugini; all came together to design tutus for The English National Ballet and to showcase their work at the incredible fundraiser which was inspired by all things ballet. Christian Louboutin and Beatrix Ong were also amongst the many talented designers at the event who designed shoes for the auction.

The designers had a choice between which dancers they wanted to model and showcase their work of their designed tutus on the catwalk, which were later put on a bid for the guests. An exceptional star of the corps de ballet Lauretta Summerscales (20) who was chosen by Agent Provocateur to model their tutu for the catwalk described her costume as;

“Very sexy. It kind of lures you in. I feel great in it, very in control”. As a dancer, it is vital that you are comfortable in your costume as the way you move and dance in it will shadow your performance. All the elegant and yet firing ballet costumes looked phenomenal at the fundraiser and was a truly magical event.

12

Christian Louboutin’s eight inch ballet inspired Pointe heel

Mr. Magical Red Sole

Christian Louboutin was one of many designers who took the pleasure in designing a breathtaking heel to raise money for The English National Ballet alongside other fabulous shoe designers such as; Alexander McQueen, Gareth

Pugh and Nicholas Kirkwood. The UK’s ‘The Sun’ reported that the heel was

“The heel which makes dancers closer than any other woman to the sky, to heaven”- The Sun.

Christian Louboutin was inspired by the classical Ballet Pointe shoe and is in the style and shoe of a Ballet Pointe shoe. The incredible and magical red soled heel adds an extra eight inches to the woman’s height and is covered with individual

Swarovski crystals. The shoe was displayed at the summer party at ‘The Orangery’ in Kensington (where the designer’s tutus were also on bid).

13

Exciting Exhibition at the V&A

Last year in 2011, the Victoria and Albert Museum held a ‘Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes’

exhibition which attracted more than

100,000 visitors. An exhibition purely based around the Ballet Russes, showcasing how the

costumes were made many years ago, starting in 1909. The exhibition goes through many time periods, including the First World War and later showcasing Chanel’s

designs in 1924. Throughout the exhibition, you see the costumes revolutionize and develop and come to understand where it all began and ballets origin.

On the set of Le Train Blue in 1924, the dancers are in their Chanel outfits. 14

Coco Chanel, was one of the main ballet influenced designers back in 1924 when she collaborated with Serge Diaghilev and designed the costumes for Le Train Bleu. Five years later Chanel then designed for Apollon Musagete in 1929 in Paris. Chanel worked closely with the Ballet Russes founder, Serge Diaghilev where she helped him stage ‘The Dying Swan’ after the First World War in 1919. Similarly to what Chanel is all about today, her designs for the ballet reflected her beliefs with fashion, by believing in the comfort and simplicity of something.

“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury”. -

Coco Chanel.

She had created effortless silk-jersey costumes which were contemporary and allowed the dancers to have freedom in them when they danced.

Following Chanel’s footsteps, Karl Lagerfeld recently designed an special costume for the English National Ballet’s ‘Ballet Russes season’ for ‘The Dying Swan’ and worn by the one and only English National Ballet’s senior principal dancer Elena Glurdjidze. The incredible outfit used over 2, 500 feathers and it took three seamstresses in the Chanel house more than 100

hours to create this stunning success.

When Elena Glurdjidze came to Chanel for her final fitting she performed a three minute performance in her marvellous costume, which Karl Lagerfeld then filmed in a black and white grainy video and added it to Chanel.com. Elena says:

“We always say that the look if 50% of how you are going to dance”, “So it is very important you have a beautiful costume”.

“As a child I was already impressed by old images of Anna Pavlova dancing the ballet, the Ballet Russes were an influence

for me”. - Karl Lagerfeld.

‘The Dying Swan’

Elena Glurdjidze performing ‘The Dying Swan’ for Karl Lagerfeld.

15

The Walking Tutu

In the world of ballet, tutus are a girl’s best friend and are quite rightly the most desired garment of a dancer’s costume.

Tutus almost resemble to Haute Couture gowns, they are; individually designed, handed stitched and look gorgeous when worn. The sheer detail in each tutu is immense and has a sense of elegance and grace. Similar to a Chanel, Givenchy or Dior gown, tutus entail full concentration and detail, and each tutu is to be treated with the highest level of care.

As the tutu is a favourite part of a dancer’s costume, over the years many designers have had ballet inspired collections. With various designers being inspired and influ-ence by the ballet; the ‘Ballet Chic’ trend is a common trend in the world of fashion and quite often falls in the catwalk trends around spring/ summer.

With the sheer layers, the elegance and the detail in the garments, the free flowing movements in the ballet influenced attire; when the models are walking down the catwalk with their chiffon dresses mov-ing with the breeze. The trend is incred-ibly feminine, graceful and stylish with a hint of seduction. The palette has neutral colours and with light shades such as; light greys, cream, soft browns, light pinks, gold’s with shimmering tones and neutral colours. The naturally well done make up 16

and sleek, tied up hair, (just as a ballerina would have her hair sleeked back in a bun).

It comes as no surprise when we see the ballet influenced trends on the catwalk.

Designers such as; Vera Wang, Michael Kors, Chloe, Chanel and Valentino have all incorporated ballet into their collections over the years; along with many other well known and respected names within the fashion industry.

In spring 2007 Michael Kors showcased his RTW (Ready- To- Wear) collection with his radiant and chic ‘Romantic tutu’ influences from Ballet. His collection had ¾ length flowy gowns/ skirts to symbolise the lightness and freedom received from the garment (similarly to how a Romantic Tutu should be perceived). The Romantic Tutu trend gave the collection a fresh new look. It was light, elegant and feminine, how-ever at the same time; it looked fiery and seductive with the wind blowing on each of the delicate layers. It almost captured the various emotions that a dancer would feel when dancing on stage; Elegance, grace and a strong empowering woman. Mr Kors also had ballet inspired shoes. The models wore ballet pumps, with fine rib-bons and elastics on them, similarly to how a ballerina would tie up her pointe shoe before she dances. Michael Kors Spring 2007 ready- to- wear collection was truly striking and was an outstanding collection in the influences of Ballet.17

Valentino Spring 2007 Ready To Wear Collection- Ballet Inspired

Right: Michael Kors Spring

2007 Ready- To- Wear Collection.

Romantic Tutu inspired

Bottom left: Chloe Spring/ Summer 2011 Ballet influence collection.

Valentino Haute Couture Fall 2010 Ballet Inspired Collection

Below: Michael Kors Spring

2007 Ballet Pumps

Many designers have been influenced by Ballet. The feminine palette, flawless silhouettes and the lightness of the materials, designers such as Michael Kors, Valentino and Chloe have all incorporated ‘Ballet Inspired’ trends in their spring/ summer collections.

All images on this spread are in courtesy of catwalking. www.style.com

Ballet influenced designer

collections over the years...

18

The English National Ballet Fundraiser

Many respectable designers came together to raise money for the English National Ballet. Each

designer chose their dancer who then had to walk down the catwalk and showcase the designers

work. The work was then later put on an auction for

the audience to bid.

Fernanda Olivera in Moschino Tutu.

Below: Kerry Birkett in Erdem Tutu

Above: Stina Quagabeur in

Julien Macdonald Tutu

Above: All the dancers taking part in

the ENB fundraiser posing

Above: Natalie Portman in ‘The Black Swan’ where the ballet obsession began.

To the Left: All the dancers from the

ENB fundraiser posing once again.

All images are taken from The English National Ballet

website

19