Pink And Silver Splendor For The Royal Ballet

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Classical Tutu In Pink With Silver Trim

When it comes to classical tutu style, the feminine color of pink is one of visual beauty. The ballerina dressed in pink represents all things ballet. Especially when gilded with the splendor of beautiful silver trim. The couture ballet costume above  has been given a light touch of strategically placed sparkle by the addition of silver embellishments on pale pink tulle.

The effect is one of softness and charm that brings to mind dew-covered rose petals that sparkle in the early morning sun. Total stage magic at its best. The lovely pink and silver classical tutu above was hand-designed by Costume Creations U.K. for a Royal Ballet Associate.

The Royal Ballet Associate

What exactly is a Royal Ballet Associate?  The Royal Ballet Associate Program allows young dancers between the ages of 8 -15  to receive extended classical ballet training using the methods of The Royal Ballet School tradition.

Ballet students also continue  training at their regular schools at the same time. The program consists of different levels of ballet training according to the age group. This program is for ballet students who are serious about a career as a professional dancer.

Visit The Royal Ballet Associate Program for more information.

Watching the posture, body movements and dedication of The Royal Ballet Students in class is inspiring. Their professionalism and hard work is, indeed, the hallmark of any  great ballet dancer. They strive for perfection with each and every movement.

The Classical Tutu Dress-form

Tutu On Dress-form At The Costume Creations.UK Studio

Using Dress-forms In Costume Design

There are many different types of gadgets and accessories that assist a clothing designer with garment creation. One of these is the dressmaker’s dummy or dress-form. We sometimes take for granted the sewing tools that are available to us and spend little time wondering about the history of these items. I was curious enough about the history of dress-forms to do a little investigating about the origins of the dress-form.

Who Invented The Dress-form?

Nobody knows the exact date of the very first dress-form invention. The oldest known example of a dress-form is a wooden torso-shaped form that was found in King Tut’s tomb in Egypt in 1922. This wooden torso was found near King Tut’s clothing chest. We are talking ancient Egypt circa 1350 B.C.  That is quite a long time ago.

Why Were Dress-forms Created?

The most likely reason that dress-forms were created was to allow a dressmaker to create a garment without “bothering” the King and his Royal family. Only the very wealthy and elite were able to hire a personal dressmaker. The dressmaker only had to “disturb” the client once by taking his or her measurements then transfer the measurements to a dress-form. From there, the dressmaker could fit the garment without the presence of the client.

The Benefits Of Using A Dress-form For Professional Results

The benefits of using a dress-form have always been important in haute couture design. The haute couture fashion houses of old-world France demanded the use of the dress-form for dressmaker’s making custom clothing for the rich and Royal of the French aristocracy. There are a few more benefits to using a dress-form:

• Prevents crushing. Classical tutus are beautiful, but also easily crushed out of shape. Imagine a ballet costume designer stuffing your tutu into her closet and handing you a wrinkled costume when you come to pick it up. That wouldn’t do. The dress-form gives the tutu skirt “breathing” room and space.

• Shaping. Allowing the garment to rest undisturbed on the dress-form lets the garment keep it’s shape. Especially the bodice. This is much better than trying to hang it from a hanger or a hook where the straps may stretch out.

• Sewing Guide. This is the basic function of the dress-form. It becomes a fitting guide, a base for draping fabric, measuring length, and all of the other fine-tuning that goes along with tutu couture.

The most important benefit of using a dress-form? A dress-form won’t mind being poked by a pin or two unlike a human client. No screams of “ouch!”  make the design studio a happier place.

Classical Tutu Design For Elegance

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Showstopping Champagne And Lace Tutu

The very first time that I saw this gorgeous creation I thought “rich and elegant”.  This costume is extremely flattering to the dancer. The champagne tones of the tutu skirt and the gorgeous satin bodice look beautiful on this young ballet student.

Nothing says rich like the color of champagne

The color of champagne is a warm, burnished shade of ginger/cream that gives fabric an heirloom appearance. It is a regal color used to describe things of immense value like champagne diamonds, or the paint finish of an expensive automobile.

It is the fine attention to detail that makes this classical tutu a winner. The young dancer in the slide show above looks like a queen wearing the color of champagne.  The satin bodice  is beautiful. The lace appliques along the top of the tutu skirt are perfectly placed. The fit of the costume is flattering and exact.

Bodice detail is designed for maximum stage presence

The striking bodice detail of this costume was created by using three different shades of Swarovski crystals. Using three coordinating shades of crystals causes a beautiful 3-D effect on stage under the lights. The dancer appears to be a living, moving diamond as her bodice embellishments sparkle under the glow of the stage lights. Doesn’t that sound like magic?

Champagne Wishes To The Young Ballerina Above As She Prepares For Her Dance Competition

Classical Tutu Skirts-Sewing Embellishments Onto Pleats

Classical tutu skirts are traditionally made using layers of stiff netting called tulle. There are some tutu skirts that are left plain after the construction process is over and the designer has chosen to leave off any additional embellishments. More often than not, tutu skirts are given an extra dose of beauty by the carefully chosen placement of embellishments.

Looking at this completed ballet costume, I find myself wondering about the application process and what the steps would be to add embellishments correctly to a classical tutu like this one.

If you notice in the photo, the tutu skirt is pleated all the way around. The embellishments were sewn on over those pleats without crushing or flattening the pleats of the skirt. I searched around on the internet for any good tips to use if I were to try to sew embellishments over the top of a pre-pleated tutu skirt. I could not find any information about the proper sewing technique for embellishing a tutu skirt.

I have experience with clothing construction (basic) and have made a pleated skirt or two in the past. The pleats were super-wide, I admit, and none of them were ever embellished with trim over the pleats.  Sewing a regular street skirt can be done in just hours. It certainly doesn’t compare to the time-consuming process of applying the tiny decorative details  found in a classical ballet costume.

It takes a very careful eye and delicate touch to attach decorative trims to a tutu skirt. The proper thread has to be used. The applique trim needs to be positioned evenly all around the skirt. Applying the trim itself is the most delicate part of the construction process.

The embellishment has to be sewn on firmly enough to stay put during a performance, but not so tightly that the tulle on the tutu skirt puckers up around the stitches. I would like to take a guess and say that sewing an embellishment onto the top of the tutu skirt is done using the first layer of tulle only.

Thread color choice might be a strong, transparent thread, or one to blend in with the costume color scheme. There are no shortcuts around the hand-sewing requirements of a professional grade ballet costume.

It is this time-intensive hand labor that makes each custom-made ballet costume so incredibly special…

Classical Tutu Design For Dance Competitions

Every year, thousands of hopeful, young ballet students enter dance competitions. These young dancers need all the edge they can get to compete for the winning spot. That includes having a flattering, well-fitted dance costume that functions perfectly on stage.

Dance Competition Costume by Costume Creations.UK

Can you imagine how nervous and excited a dancer must feel when she is preparing to dance in a competition? Not only does she have to rehearse her part until her ballet technique is near perfection, but her appearance will be judged as well. That can be quite a lot of pressure for a young dancer!

Experienced ballet costume designers are used to working with dance competition students and do much to alleviate nervousness over appearance. The young, beautiful ballerina in the photo above made a wise choice to have her competition tutu designed by Costume Creations.

Everything comes together as far as design to give this ballerina a great start to winning a competition. Notice the impeccable fit of the bodice on this dancer. Every seam on the bodice is placed to enhance natural curves giving her a  beautiful shape. The embellishment placement on the bodice and tutu skirt give what I call the “magical” effect. There is never too much nor too little embellishment on the most regal of ballet costumes. Experienced designers have that “magic” touch with embellishments.

Combined with the magical appearance of her costume, and her ballet technique, the young ballerina in the photo above won a bronze medal in her dance competition. Mom must have been proud. Congratulations!

Russian Tutu Design-Who Invented It?

Classical tutus and Russian-style classical tutus are for the most part very similar. The only difference between the two of them is the Russian tutu design style of adding a metal hoop inside the layers of tulle to make the tutu skirt stand out as stiffly as possible.

This Russian inspired design feature also adds to the extra flat look that is desired. Somewhere back in ballet costume history, a decision was made to create a tutu skirt that was super stiff and flat in appearance. This of course made me very curious to know the reason behind this tutu design idea.

Linette Willis of the Australian Ballet

Researching the who, what, when, and why of any topic takes a bit of time, but I decided to see what I could find out about the origins of this hoop insertion idea. I want to know why a tutu skirt has to be even flatter and stiffer than it already is. Not only are Russian-style tutus flatter and stiffer, they are also larger in circumference than a regular classical tutu.

After spending some time hunting around for information I came away with very little. I did manage to gather a few facts about ballet costume design history:

• In the 1920′s, Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo was known to experiment with tutu design by changing the materials used in construction
• Russian-born Varia Karinska became famous for her design of the powder puff tutu to suit choreography by Balanchine. George Balanchine and Karinska collaborated together on many costume ideas
• Hoops were not added to classical tutus until the 1940′s
• Hoops were added to increase the stability of the tutu skirt during movement to prevent distraction of  the audience away from the dancer. They were also fashioned to “frame” the dancer’s body in a dramatic way

Diaghilev had already passed away when hoops were added to tutus in the 1940′s. Balanchine didn’t like hooped tutu’s and that’s why he requested a new design. So who put those hoops into the classical tutus in Russia? Unfortunately, I still don’t know. I can’t say with 100% certainty that  Karinska thought of this idea, so for now, I will just have to keep admiring photos of them until I can find more information.

Classical Tutu Construction-Magical Combinations

Tutu Design Magic

Looking at this photo and the way this costume was constructed I noticed a combination of design elements that make this ballet costume very unique. Starting at the top of the costume, I see that the bodice on this one has full coverage. The full, puffed sleeves and opaque torso give the top part of this costume a semi-peasant top quality. It also  has a romantic-style.

Coming down to the top of the tutu skirt, you see a beautiful, wide pink satin ribbon around the dancers waist. The ribbon element in this ballet costume is simply beautiful. The tutu skirt is embellished with lovely little rosettes of pink and blue which are also placed in the dancers hair to complete this magical look.

This ballet costume is very unique. I imagine this costume was created for dancing a specific role where the dancer was required to look romantic and spring-like. The ribbon around the dancers neck makes her look even more dramatic.

Ballet costumes that are designed with unique features like this one keep the magic of ballet performance alive.

Classical Tutu Design Ideas-Look To The Stage

Anyone who spends anytime at all on the internet searching for classical tutu design ideas may come away with a head full of unique ideas for classical tutu construction. There are thousands of themes and costume ideas being created in the minds of professional and not-so-professional tutu designers.

Just today, I came across design ideas for tutu’s that include:

• Animal prints and animal inspired ballet costumes (Not Swan Lake, but Frogs and Zebra’s)
• Flower petals and stems hot-glued onto a leotard with strips of tulle
• Bells attached all over the costume
• Wedding dress look-a likes
• Half-tutus attached to cut-off denim skirts

There are so many different ways to construct  dance costumes on the internet! Searching for a classical tutu design is better inspired by viewing a classic and historic ballet performance where the ballerinas are wearing real classical tutu designs.

Most of the tutu design ideas are not classical at all. They are fun to make  and they create a fashion statement for the wearer, but a short denim skirt with tulle sewn to the bottom half is anything but a classical tutu design.

Classical Tutu Design

Un-classical and un-attractive