The history of tutus and tutu dresses

Although ballet has been around since the 15th century, it's most associated icon, the tutu, has not. It took some time for it to develop into what it is today.

History of the tutu

During the early days of ballet, people were generally more conservative. Long skirts and heavy costumes worn by the first ballet dancers made it difficult to move. Marie Camargo tried to ease the ballerina's life by taking off no more than the very bottom of her skirt, just exposing the ankles. Marie Salle used a greek dress that offered her more freedom to dance in. Keeping with their modest side, many women put on extra petticoats to prevent anything from showing when more turns started to be incorporated in dances.

One of the most famous dancers of her time, Marie Taglioni, wore the first tutu in 1832. Although, it looked more like a tutu dress. It was shorter than what dancers previously wore, going past the knees and stoping somewhere along the calf. It revealed just enough to show the advancing footwork that ballet dancers were starting to be expected to do. Not only was it created to show off the dancer's feet, but it was made to be etheral looking. The Ballets being danced at the time, such as Giselle or La Syphilde, had supernatural beings. To appropriately portray these characters, the ballerinas needed to look as if they were floating across the stage and the flowing tutu helped to achieve this.

The need for an even shorter skirt brought the debut of the first classical tutu in the 1880's. An Italian ballerina named Victoria Zucci was the first dancer to wear one. It was shorter than the romantict tutu, although it didn't go up much higher than the knees, and it hung loose. This was taken a step further when the classical tutu was made stiffer, enabaling it to stick straight out in order to show the entire leg. It became known as the pancake tutu. A more extreme version of this had a completely flat top, and was called the platter tutu. This is what is commonly thought of today when picturing a ballerina costume.

The famous choreographer George Balanchine, needed a new design when he realized the classical tutu wasn't suited to his dances. Karinska, a trained seamtress from Russia, came to his rescue when she originated the powder puff tutu. Although it was still short and stuck out from the hips it hung down more than the rigid pancake or platter tutu, giving it an overall softer look.

Structure of the tutu

The different types of tutu's are made differently, therefore each one has a slighty different build.

Romantic tutu

-It is typical for this style of tutu to have about three to five layers of long, soft tulle. Although some romantic tutu's leave out the basque, others have one. The basgue has two parts. The part that can be seen looks like a band that circles the waist and goes down to the hips. The other part is hidden under the skirt and resembles panties.

Classical tutu

-The tulle used for this kind of tutu is short and stiff. There are layers upon layers of netting, with a casing for the petticoat wire that runs through it. The wire is inserted to make it possible for the skirt to stick out. This is commonly refered to as hooping. For added support it is tacked very tightly. The skirt is usually attatched to the basque and a bodice. The bodice looks like a leotard

Powder puff tutu

-Because this tutu is looser that the classical one, it does not require hooping, and is tacked looser. The tulle is softer and can be combined with netting, although it uses less layers than the pancake tutu.