Ballet x Fashion: The Good and The Bad
Beautiful, graceful, and elegant. Ballet encompasses so many different artistic qualities that are shared with other industries such as fashion.
Ballet flats, tulle skirts, wrap sweaters, the bun hairstyle, and blush color, in general have such strong ties to Ballet as an art form. All include the traditional soft, luxurious characteristics of an idealistic ballerina and while so many fashion brands mirror this perfectly in their designs, they totally miss the mark with their marketing campaigns and photo advertisements.
In 2016, Kendall Jenner modeled for Vogue España and dawned a pair of pointe shoes. This made ballerinas cringe and critics run rampant. The spread featured an online component that contained a video of Jenner talking about her childhood in connection to Ballet and fantasizing about it as child’s play. This in conjunction with a photograph of Kendall en pointe incorrectly set dancers into total Mila Kunis Black Swan mode. Ballet is often romanticized as young children and skinny women twirling around in pink tutus, yet it is much more. Professional ballerinas train for several years, seven days a week, ten or more hours a day, and are built and train as athletes. When companies such as Vogue and models such as Kendall Jenner make light of the art form there is often a great deal of backlash.
What makes the whole situation worse is that dancers are always in need of jobs, so if Vogue España truly wanted a model on pointe shoes, they could have easily hired a professional ballerina. Not only would this avoid the appropriation of Ballet, but it would also ensure that no one is performing or playing in a way that is detrimental to their health. The way in which Kendall Jenner is posing in the photo below is extremely dangerous. It takes several years to learn how to properly balance en pointe and we can assure you that is not how it is done.
The shoes that Jenner is wearing are pointe shoes that have not been broken in at all. You can tell this from how straight and firm the arches of the shoe are. Additionally, her shoes have no elastics or ribbons sewn to them which makes it a huge risk for her as they could easily fall off. This representation of ballet fashion as dress-up is belittling to dancers who dedicate their lives to this demanding art form and the inclusion of trained ballet dancers in the fashion industry needs much improvement.
Vogue España is not alone, there is a whole Instagram account (@modelsdoingballet) dedicated to exposing brands that use Ballet in a cringe-worthy way to promote their products. Although this is something that continues to happen, some brands have tried to be more inclusive and utilize trained professionals when they use ballet as the theme of their marketing campaigns.
The brand Alice and Olivia created a collection of bright-colored, flowy clothing during quarantine to inspire and encourage New Yorkers during the trying times. For their digital advertisements, they used real ballet dancers, including Courtney Lavine, an American Ballet Theatre dancer who during the time of the campaign was unemployed due to the pandemic.
As such, not only did Alice and Olivia create a spectacular advertisement, they also gave work to a dancer who otherwise would not have been creating and performing. The quality of work improves when all aspects of the advertisement are executed by their respective industry professionals. A professional ballerina who doubles as a model, a professional camera crew, and a marketing team can create a stellar advertisement every single time without the expense of insulting dancers or putting fashion models in danger.
Ballet and fashion go hand and hand and it is exciting and inspiring to see the industries become more inclusive and work-together.
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