The New York City Ballet has gone fashionable with costume designs created by the world famous Italian designer, Valentino. New York Celebrity, Sarah Jessica Parker, sparked the collaboration idea. As a New York City Ballet board member Sarah and the company director Peter Martins hoped to bring dance and fashion design together as one. The retired designer, Valentino passionately admired the concept and told reporters on the opening night of the Gala that “Ballet speaks to me because of the romance I see in it. I realized the dancers do so much to be perfect, and in high fashion I always wanted perfection.”
Valentino’s designs attracted celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Barbara Walters, and Anjelica Huston. Not to mention the showcase attracted a generation of younger members interested in performing arts, fashion design, and costume design. The current trend in the arts world has been fusion, the bringing together of different styles, genres, and ideas. The result has been an array of astonishing and interesting hybrid showcases such as the NYCB Valentino Gala Showcase.
The Gala Performance at the Lincoln Center was composed of showcasing three ballets, which will be apart of NYCB’s 2012-2013 Season. Without a doubt Valentino’s signature bold ruby red color made it’s was on stage. Valentino sketched and created 16 original designs for the three-part ballet.
The costume designs included bright cores of red and pink with an underneath section of white layers. The bubble tutus style had been bunched and constructed to create a bounce. The designs added a new look of movement to the choreography, which for some ballet gurus, created moments of emotional conflict. Certain critics have expressed their dislike in Valentino’s design choices, such as the bright colored point shoes. The usual soft cream pink color of point shoes allows for elegant lines were as the bright color seized this line stunting the dance poses. The tutus designed for the ‘Bal de Couture” number appeared too puffy not quite suiting the choreography or the ballerina’s shapes. It is important to regard the gala as a haute couture show rather then a traditional Ballet. Regardless of what critics are saying, the collaboration was inspiring, magnificent, and beyond ordinary. The crowd gave Valentino a standing ovation for his inviting talented designs.
Images via Vogue.com
