Normally I don’t focus on exhibitions that I can’t attend in person buuuuuuuut I absolutely had to make an exception. The Fashion Institute of Technology is a world-renowned institution, and the Museum at FIT is one of the leading fashion history museums. They tend to do quite focused exhibitions, which I love. And when I saw this exhibition, I knew it was fate. “Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse” is my ideal fashion history exhibition, with everything I love. Perhaps the universe understood how I would feel, as it just so happens to be an online exhibition as well…
Ballet is obviously a well-known art form, but it is also often reduced to tutus and pirouettes. However, it is so much more than that, and has had much more of an impact on culture and the arts that people realise. (Yes, we all recognise those infamous Degas paintings and the Little Dancer sculpture, but past that? Not so much.) The relationship between ballet and fashion is a complicated and intertwined history. And I must say, I’m thrilled that it is finally front and centre.
Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse Exhibition Info
So, what is this exhibition looking at? According to the exhibition,
Few art forms have been as decidedly female as classical ballet. As George Balanchine, the legendary choreographer succinctly stated: “Ballet is woman.” Even those who have little knowledge of this dance form recognize that its supreme practitioner, the ballerina, is a highly trained and accomplished artist who embodies modern ideals of beauty and grace, seamlessly encased in a sleek and enviably toned physique. Her elevated position, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. For centuries, ballerinas, like other performing artists, were relegated to the margins of society and exploited throughout their careers. After the successful 1909 Parisian debut of the Ballets Russes, however, her circumstances begin to improve…
So profound was ballet’s impact that it asserted influence on many fields of creativity, one of the most important being fashion. At the same time, the ballerina blossomed into a revered and aspirational figure of beauty and glamour, and her signature costume — the corseted tutu — would inspire many of fashion’s leading designers. Beginning in the 1930s and lasting through the 1970s, ballerinas were frequently featured in leading high fashion magazines. Not only were their performances covered, a number of the most beautiful ballerinas regularly modeled the latest modes.
What You Will Find
Yes, we periodically see boat necks and tulle skirts for “ballerina inspired” looks, but ballet has had so much more of an impact on fashion than that. I love that this exhibition tackles several different areas of inspiration and influence. (And several different figures.) There are eight different focuses throughout. They are: Ballet Style Footwear, the Neo-Romantic Revival, Ballerina as Bird, From Costumier to Couturier, New York City Ballet and Fashion Today, Ballet Colors, Leotards and Tights as Fashion, and Ballerina as Woman of Style. As you can see, it covers quite a range of topics within the broader history of ballet and fashion.
If you want to read more, I would absolutely recommend starting with the exhibition brochure. As you would expect from a fashion history museum, the writing is fantastic and the design is beautiful (Take note, museums….) And you need to see this spectacularly done exhibition video:
The Online Exhibition – The Pros
After my post on online exhibitions and the possibility of seeing more of them, I’ve had some fantastic conversations with readers. A lot of those conversations have dealt with “visitor” expectations- can you expect the same experience? The consensus (which I agree with) is that it isn’t the same, but you can still enjoy and engage with it. And here we have the perfect example….
I think that expecting the Fashion Institute of Technology to be technologically on top of things is fair. And they absolutely do not disappoint. (I’ve got to say, they might be a smaller museum overall, but they could be a case study for so many different things.) You can access it from anywhere with an internet connection, removing an accessibility barrier. And it is free, so it is available to anyone.
There are twenty different objects/images included in this online exhibition. And there are some incredible pieces shown here. Some museums will keep their “showstoppers” for in person only, but FIT has included them. (There are a few spectacular Dior and Charles James pieces that are AMAZING.) And I love that they have included some current ballet costumes in the exhibition, to show that the relationship still very much exists. (You can also spot several pieces from the Fashion Museum in Bath!)
The Online Exhibition – The Cons
There are a few small cons to this online exhibition. Firstly, there are twenty pieces included, but there are ninety in the whole exhibition. It would be lovely to see more than a quarter of them. (However, I completely understand that that might not be possible, and some things are better than no things.) Secondly, another con would be the lack of rotation- you can only look at the image straight on, it isn’t a 3D image that you can rotate for different views. I think that the standard mode of display often slightly fails fashion for that reason; it’s stuck on a mannequin and we can only see one side. An online exhibition could give the space and opportunity to avoid that, but perhaps in the future!
And lastly, the exhibition site is slightly finnicky. It isn’t impossible to use by any stretch of the imagination, but it did take a bit of playing around to figure out how to navigate and where things are. I’m hopeful that as online exhibitions become more common (fingers crossed), we will have more literacy as “visitors”.
♠
If you are interested in seeing the press about the exhibition, you can find those links here on the FIT site. There is also an exhibition book that goes along with it that I’m waiting to arrive. Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse looks beautiful, and I’ll be sharing a review once I’ve got it and taken it all in. I loved “going through” this exhibition, and I’ve poured over it more than a few times now. I’m incredibly happy that we are finally starting to see exhibitions moving (at least partially) online, and that fashion history is leading the charge.
Are you going to be taking in the Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse online exhibition?
Cheers,
The Historian
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