Dance & Fashion Exhibit at the FIT Museum

Last Thursday, I went into Manhattan to see the Dance & Fashion Exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). They have a little museum there that is always free and showcases rotating exhibits. My mother-in-law Kris found out about this particular exhibit from the Wall Street Journal and let me know about it. I wish she could have come too, it was so fun.

There were people milling about the lobby, and I wandered over and sat down to watch some of the short clips they were playing about the NYC Ballet.

I had been here once before to check out the museum, so I assumed that the exhibit would be in the same little area. I totally missed the doors to the dance exhibit off to the left of the main museum space, and walked straight ahead into the main gallery, which unbeknownst to me is currently housing a collection on the history of lingerie. I didn't immediately notice that I was in the wrong place either, because the first items I saw were just old fashioned corsets, the type you might see on a ballet costume. But when I wandered in further there were filmy nightgowns. I finally realized I was in the completely wrong place, but thought that maybe I had to walk through the exhibit to get to the space where the ballet costumes were. Well the pieces kept getting smaller and more risque and honestly quiet disturbing the further I went into the exhibit. I got to the end and it didn't lead anywhere. So I had to walk back through the whole thing. Argh! Once I came out I noticed the doors leading to the right area.

The doors opened into a stairwell, and after walking down two flights of stairs and through some heavy doors not adequately marked I found myself in a darkened corridor lined with large pictures of ballet dancers in full costume and make-up.

Through another set of doors, glass this time, I entered the gallery. It was dimly lit and everyone inside was very quiet. There was some background music playing, classical pieces, probably from various ballets. Pictures were prohibited and there were security guards wandering around the room enforcing that rule. All the pictures I have here of the exhibit, I found online.

There were about 100-ish pieces in all on display, the oldest being from the early 1800's. The exhibit talked about how dance costumes (specifically ballet but also other forms such as flamenco dancing) have affected fashion over the years, and vice-versa. They started off showing some reproductions of male ballet costumes worn in the early 19th century and then move onto talk about the leotard. It was interesting to read that when the leotard first started being used in ballet, the dancers felt completely naked and were very self-conscious so they would wear robes over themselves until the very last minute before having to practice or go on stage. They showed some pieces such as filmy skirts, or wrap around sweaters and skirts that have become popular in fashion but started with ballet.

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There was a whole section with oriental costumes worn by the dancers in the Paris Ballet Company Ballets Russes in the early 1900's. The first dancers in this company were from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg. As the years went on and WWI broke out and the Russian Revolution of 1917 occurred, many Russian ballet dancers, choreographers, and costume designers began to flee Russia and found places with Ballets Russes. All of these members brought their cultures, techniques and ideas with them, bring eastern influences into the company that performed in the western world. Famous fashion designers such as Paul Poiret and Yves Saint Laurent have taken inspiration from the resulting costumes for their designs. The dress with the red top and green bottom on the right of the picture below was worn by Princess Caroline of Monaco. It was designed by the French fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro, who patterned it after these costumes.

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My favorite pieces were the more traditional ballet costumes. These three are worn by dancers from the NYC Ballet Company for the performance titled "Jewels." This ballet was written by George Balanchine and premiered in 1967. It has three acts -- Emeralds, Rubies, and Diamonds. You can probably guess which act each costume appears during. It was so fun to see them up-close and lean in to see the detailed bead-work and tiny stitches.

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Here is a better picture of the "Diamonds" costume. After seeing these, I really want to get tickets to see the show.

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This costume next in line was just as pretty, though not as sparkly. It was designed by Valentino for the NYC Ballet's performance of "Not My Girl" in 2012. That was another thing that I found interesting about the exhibit -- that not only do all of these famous fashion designers take inspiration from dance costumes, but they also influence dance by designing costumes for it.

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The next small section talked about how flamenco dancing has influenced fashion. The placards described flamenco dancing as a Spanish Fold Dance performed by gypsies in Andalusia (Southern Spain). The word flamenco itself in Spanish originally translated to "flame colored" and the word also refers to the term "fleming" which refers to "Flemish" which was a term used for gypsies. The blue polka-dotted dress on the left is a flamenco dress from 1950. The black dress to its right is also from that time period and was designed by Spanish couturier (designer) Cristobal Balenciaga, and brought the flamenco ruffles into mainstream fashion. You can see the flamenco influence in fashion over the years in the other dresses to the right. The black and white dress with the red hat was designed by Christian Lacroix and the red dress second from right was designed by Valentino for NYC Ballet's "Sophisticated Lady."

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The next section was a little weird. It talked about designers experimenting and putting men in skirts and full body leotards and ballet inspiration in the lingerie world. I liked a few of the pieces, though. The black and white ruffly dress (center left) was cute and was designed in 2012 by Valentino for NYC Ballet's piece titled "Not My Girl." He introduced colored point shoes with the costumes. The haute couture black gown (center right) was designed by Christian Dior in 1949 and was in reference to the black swan in "Swan Lake." The gown is actually called Cygne Noir meaning Black Swan in French.

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The next section was all about modern dance and most of the costumes were weird. There were a couple different costumes that looked like comforters bunched and sown around the mannequins. They were made of weird checked or plaid materials with cushion inserts sewn into weird areas of the garment, deforming the mannequins' bodies and are actually called "bump costumes." They were designed Rei Kawakubo for “Scenario,” Merce Cunningham’s dance of 1997. I think the idea is to get you to focus on and see the beauty in the dancers movements and not their bodies or costumes. They would be too distracting for me. The others were mostly just as weird. There was a purple, jersey tube costume worn Martha Graham in her solo during the production "Lamentation" in 1930. And another of her costumes, the snakey sarong, designed by Roy Halston for her 1986 performance in "Tangled Night."

                                    

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The last section had more normal pieces that I really liked. They had one of the NYC Ballet's new costumes for "Symphony in C" (below right) designed by Mark Happel. I got to see this ballet with Brian in 2012, right when the costumes were brand new, and they were beautiful on the stage. If you want to know more about their design and creation watch this video. The evening dress to the left is from 1950, was designed by Balenciaga, and has a full skirt that references the skirts of the classic ballet costumes during that time.

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Here is a better picture of the "Symphony in C" costume.

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The black and pink dress in the glass case (below left) is the exhibit's most honored piece. It is the dress that the famous Austrian ballerina Fanny Elssler wore in 1836 when she performed in "Le Diable Boiteux" as Spanish dancer Florinda. It is on loan from the Österreichisches Theatermuseum or Austrian Theater Museum. It is so prized, that one of the museum's conservators traveled with it from Austria to New York. This gown had an affect on the fashions of that time, as you can see in the dresses to the left that are dated 1845.

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I also loved this costume designed by Barbara Karinska for the NYC Ballet's performance of "Ballet Imperial" in 1964. She led an interesting life. She was born in Russia and at one point during her life in Russia, she opened up an antique store and embroidery school. According to Wikipedia, after Vladimir Lenin died, "... the new regime nationalized her embroidery school and turned it into a factory to manufacture Soviet flags (In exchange, she was awarded the title of 'Inspector of Fine Arts') ..."

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Along with all of the garments, there were ballet shoes as well. This pair of point shoes was worn by the famous English ballerina Margot Fonteyn. She danced only with The Royal Ballet, London's largest ballet company, and was awarded the title of "Prima Ballerina Assoluta" (given only to the most notable female ballet dancers) by Queen Elizabeth II.

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The ballet shoes below left were worn by Fanny Elssler in the 1830's. They are paper thin and don't have any cushioning or a box like modern point shoes. How did she dance on her toes without any of that! The shoes on the right are from the same time period (1830's) and were sold to the everyday woman. Their design was inspired by Fanny Elssler's shoes. 

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They had some other shoes throughout the exhibit, like modern ballet flats. I laughed when I saw this ridiculous pair, designed by Christian Louboutin just this year. You can see the ballet pointe slipper influence on these stilettos.

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I couldn't decide if those were more ridiculous than these ballet inspired, 18-inch-tall platform shoes designed by Noritaka Tatehana for Lady Gaga.

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I spent a lot of time at the exhibit, and when I left to meet Brian for dinner it had already gotten dark. I hate how it gets so dark so early now. You can see just how crazy Manhattan is when it gets dark. The city streets remain bright, some even as bright as a day at noon. The brightest section up the street was Madison Square Garden.

     

I walked through the flower district on my way to meet Brian. The sidewalks were covered with all varieties of plants, and workers were rushing to move them inside for the night. This is the only section in the concrete jungle of Manhattan that actually feels like a jungle.

Just as I met up with Brian, we both turned around and found this amazing view of the Empire State Building. It was foggy and eerily beautiful.

After we grabbed dinner at Five Guys (way better than Shake Shack in my opinion, although Shake shack has amazing shakes and their fries are yummy too), Brian headed off to some bar for a work event and I headed up to Herald Square to run a couple of errands. I then walked a couple blocks north into the Fashion District to visit Mood (the fabric store on Project Runway). I was too late to visit the main section of their store where they sell all the sewing supplies, it had already closed, but their home fabric section was still open.

I went in anyways to look around. Besides the couple browsing fabric and the two guys at the counter (one had dreadlocks), the store was empty. It's this narrow little store that runs back and has a small balcony of a second floor. You can't image the number of rolls of upholstery fabric they have crammed into that place, along with pillow forms, rolls of piping, cords, and tassels.

     

I then walked north to 42nd Street (Times Square) to catch the subway home. On the way I found these sculptures that I thought were fun. If you can't tell, the one on the right is a giant button on a needle.

     

I had a fun outing, and the exhibit is open until January if you are in the neighborhood.