Expanding on the Brief

Think two cities, two Russias. One involves the Tsar, and the imperial court, French-speaking aristocrats who reside on St Petersburg’s watery banks. The other depicts a merchant’s Moscow, a mystical city, the heart of Mother Russia, and a trade route between the West and Asiatic East.

Now look at two ballets: The Firebird, an imperial fairy story mixing princes with folk dances and magical gold birds, and The Rite of Spring, a primitive village fertility rite.

Creating clothes in response to this brief is the challenge set by FAD to fashion students this year. So, as a little extra help, FAD asked our panel of experts for advice on relevant resources, hints on colour and technique and a little historical background.

Louise de Caires, the fashion designer who drew up the brief suggests students start by 'immersing themselves in the images that their research has led them to, and to respond to an emotional field created by these images. Now introduce to this the sharpness that evolves through the cities skylines and sketch a freeform caricature of the city as a form to be worn as a garment.'

Think “soft, voluminous shapes and structures,” she advises. This could mean… “onion domes as capes and cloaks -Shirin Guild's draped skirts with billowy edges - Poiret's" "kimonocoat", Balenciaga's 3D silhouettes, Yoji Yamomoto, Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons.”

Technique-wise students should look at “cutting on the bias, panelling strips and intense lining of the garments for structure and form whilst retaining the feminine fluidity and creating a duality to combat the elements. Think tunics over long skirts, coat dresses, dolman sleeves and hoods either attached or detached, collars floating in and over the shoulders.” And for fabrics, consider… “faux fur, wool crêpe, fine wools and cashmere, tapestry brocades, velvets, embroidered silk tulles, metallic threads, braiding, tassels and borders.”

For design inspiration, students should look at the costumes used by the Ballet Russes, the innovative Russian ballet company brought west by Sergei Diaghilev in 1909. Instantly, the Ballet Russes caused a sensation, partially due to their exotic ballet costumes, explains Sarah Woodcock from the Theatre History Museum.

“What was so mind-blowing to Paris and London audiences was the intensity of the colour – at the time fashion was very low-key, beige, lavender and lilac, creams and black. Scarlet reds, oranges and blues and the use of complementary colours are associated with Diaghilev, mainly in the ballets designed by Bakst.”

Another aspect that thrilled ballet-goers was the use of elaborate beading and decoration: “What is also notable is the use of surface decoration – either appliqué with use of different textures, or stencilled/painted,” says Sarah. “Decorations included painting/stencilling, braids – metal and woven – laces, sequins, decorative studs, beads, embroidery – occasionally on the same costume.”

This explosion of beading, appliqué, satins and silks, had a huge influence on French designers, such as the Parisian couturier Paul Poiret. Suzanne Lussier, an expert on Paul Poiret and curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum says the Ballet Russes influenced the themes Poiret chose for his collections (such as harems) as well as “ some borrowings from the costumes designed by Leon Bakst who used strong acidic colours. Leon Bakst and the other costume designers of LBR also drew on Russian folklore, which can be seen also in Poiret’s style.” Suzanne refers students in particular to Poiret’s ‘lampshade dress’ and ‘turkish pantaloons’ as seen on the programme of the ballet Scherazade, as well as ‘trimmings borrowed from Russian folklore’, and the ‘appliqués, beading and use of pearls borrowed from the exotic ballet themes’.

Suzanne comments that these costumes were just part of a huge transformation of the ballet, “Pre Diaghilev, ballet in Russia was a full evening entertainment usually on some fantastical theme (think Swan Lake, the Sleeping Beauty, ballets from this period). Previously, the story was told in conventional mime gestures interspersed with dancing passages; the sets and costumes were designed according to conventional rules with little regard for the period or country in which the action was set. The ballerina always wore a tutu decorated with symbols to denote character or country. The Diaghilev revolution (or rather the revolution wrought by his choreographer, Michel Fokine), was to make all the elements of a ballet – choreography, music and design – reflect the subject and period of the story. The whole body became expressive – everything was conveyed by the choreography, not in formal mime. Dancers did not dance on pointe (on the tips of their toes) unless the subject and style demanded it. Thus in The Firebird all the women wear soft shoes, and only the Firebird, the fantastical, magical bird, dances on pointe to set her apart from the rest of the characters.”

Suzanne sums up saying that Diaghilev and Fokine designed ‘the unified ballet’ where music, costume and movement reflected one story, one theme.

The Firebird reflects Russian folk stories combined with the cult of the court, and an aristocracy heavily influenced by France. Suzanne comments: “Since the reign of Peter the Great, Russia looked up to France as the country of culture, sophistication and diplomacy. The Russian court and the nobility spoke French and it was a tradition amongst upper middle-class families and the nobility to employ French nannies.”

The Rite of Spring represents the opposite: forget courts, Tsars, French and silks, this ballet depicts a ‘purer peasant’ Russia, full of primitive rituals, collective movements, and plain fabrics, steeped in the traditions of the Asiatic steppe. The themes here involve a prediction of the Revolution, of peasant revolt. The Asiatic look of the costumes scandalised viewers at the first performance in Paris as did the irregular music and angular movements of the dancers, says FAD’s ballet expert Mary Eyre: “The score was very different: the beat was very irregular. The story concerned a village virgin chosen for sacrifice. There were no characters as such, and it was unusual that the ballet was based on peasants, not usually a subject for entertainment. The dancers wore peasant village clothes and danced barefoot or with soft shoes, explains Mary. “The colours here are earthy, plain with no luxuriance, just ethnic patterned borders. The costumes designed by Nicholas Roerich included creamy smocks, patterned shifts, tatarish head-dresses. The images that come to mind are the Mother Country, babushka, peasant simplicity, woven coarse fabrics.”

To understand the competition’s themes better, you may find it helpful to explore the following resources: Films:
-	Nicholas and Alexander
-	Eugene Onegin
-	Dr Zhivago
-	Anna Karenina (there’s a BBC tv-drama available on video as well as the film)
Ballets:
-	Petrushka (recommended: the fairground scenes at the start and end)
Music:
-	Tchaikovsky’s Second and Fourth Symphonies (which include Russian folk tunes)
Books:
-	Anything by Pushkin (his writings inspired many ballets and operas).
-	Natasha’s Dance, a Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes’. This contains photographs of the original costumes for The Rite of Spring.
Ballet Books:
-	Ballets Russes by Richard Shead (The Apple Press, 1989: ISBN 1-85076-134-5)
-	The Ballets Russes and its World ed Lynn Garafola and Nancy van Norman Baer, (Yale University Press: ISBN 0-300-06176-5)
-	The Art of the Ballets Russes by Alexander Schouvaloff, (Yale University Press:ISBN 0-300-07484-0)
-	Books on Bakst by Charles Spencer/Alexander Schouvaloff or on Russian folk tradition about Mary Chamot. Natalia Gontcharova redesigned the costumes for The Firebird in 1926
Art catalogues:
-	Sotheby & Co: Sale catalogues for the Diaghilev costumes sales on: 17 July 1968/19 December 1969/14 December 1995 (Castle Howard)
Internet:
-	www. Peopleplayuk.org.uk – Theatre Museum designed site. The section on the Diaghilev Ballet includes costumes from Rite of Spring and images of Gontcharova’s Firebird (as revised for The Royal Ballet)
-	Victoria & Albert Museum Image Library – On V&A home page look for Collections – go to Access to Images and search under: Firebird for painting of Karsavina in The Firebird. A search under Diaghilev will find couture dresses designed by Gontcharova, who redesigned the ballet’s costumes in 1926
-	The Roerich Museum in New York website
Internet tip
	type in ballet titles in English and French. The Firebird (L’Oiseau de Feu), The Rite of Spring (Le Rite Sacre du Printemps)

We hope at least some of the above will help you in your research and work. Good luck! The team from FAD