THE BURNING BALLERINAS

BURNING BALLERINAS PROJECT: FIGURE DRAWING

When I was given the title ‘Decay,’ there were many different avenues I could go down. After some research and mind mapping, I decided to focus on dance and the dark side of the entertainment industry, particularly in ballet, such as physical strain and emotional distress and the risk these cause to performers, as well as exploitation and the toxic environment many face. I began by recording the beauty of the traditional dance by drawing figures to represent the elaborate shapes dancers can build with their bodies. Then I zoomed my focus specifically to pointe shoes and the wear on them as they are used more. The beauty creates the decay.

DESIGN PROGRESSION

My mood board to further research the decay behind performance. This led me to the 'burning ballerinas' of the 19th century and the dangers they faced; a specific story of an incident involving a ballerina burning alive is the tragic death of the Parisian dancer Emma Livry in 1863. I thought this concept would be perfect for a fashion collection as a symbolic take on the struggles of a dancer. I began to sketch ideas and research lingerie and contour designers that have used ballet as inspiration, such as Coco de Mer's 2020 spring/summer collection and Angela Friedman's Firebird collection.

FINAL PIECE: UNDERWEAR SET USING POINTE SHOES

I created one of my designs, using a pair of recycled pointe shoes I had to mould to construct a bra. I also designed some matching underwear that had a simple dark brown base with layered gathered lace trims to create a mini tutu-style skirt. I originally wanted to burn into the garments and distress them, but then opted against this to have a more abstract story to my final piece. To do this I focused on texture and colour story by using dark neutral tones to contrast against the baby ballet pink on the pointe shoes.