The tutu, queen of dance costumes

Martine Kahane: The term “tutu” has three possible origins, although none of them have been confirmed. First of all, we think it may refer to the costume’s double layer of tulle. However, “Tutu” could also be interpreted as an endearing term for a young girl's behind. Then again, the word may find its root in the suggestive expression “panpan tutu” (a French term for a spanking) used jokingly by the Opera’s subscribers in days gone by.

M.K.: It marks a stage in the evolution of dance costumes. If we go back to the costumes for the court ballets, we can see they tried all types of costumes made out of fabrics somewhat on the heavy side. The advent of the tutu is also interwoven with the history of textiles: as time passed, court, civil and stage costumes all became increasingly lighter—until the Victorian era would once again constrain women with starched, high-neck collars, long floor-length skirts and long, tight-fitting sleeves.

M.K.: In the eyes of many of the great romantic artists, the world had been spoiled by materialism and they would strive to make it a magical place again. All the artistic movements would conjure up mysterious creatures, ethereal women who existed more as spirits than actual creatures of flesh and blood. A woman was neither a wife nor a mother: she was an eternal fiancée, who, just as in love, could only find fulfilment in death. A woman was condemned to wear white, the colour of purity. Henriette de Mortsauf, the heroine in Honoré de Balzac’s Lys dans la vallée, is testimony to the quasi-equivalence between literary heroines and the female characters in romantic ballets.

M.K.: The entire history of the dance costume is linked to technique and body developments, in turn linked to the canons of beauty and to health and decency. As the movement of the arms and legs became more pronounced, there was a desire to show more of the body in order to better highlight the technique. This would ultimately lead to the leotard, the symbol of a completely liberated body. With the increased popularity of sport, a healthy body became something that needed to be shown off. Finally, cinema also changed our notions of acceptable behaviour as well as our relationship with the body: given that the body is not physically in front of the audience, the actress, like the spectator, could free herself of many things. Of course, tutus also got shorter after the First World War, as they did again after the Second due to the fact that raw materials were so hard to come by.