Vintage Fashion Friday: The Ballerina-Length Skirt (1950s)

The ballerina-length skirt was a popular fashion staple in the 1950s.  With World War II over, and no more rationing, different silhouettes and styles could be experimented with.  The ballerina length skirt was popular on dresses,  usually paired with a cinched waist, to give a feminine or delicate look.  

Wow, only 50 cents for a pattern. ;). 

Photo credit: www.edelweisspatterns.com

The style was based on the romantic tutu length, and now that the war was over, more people could afford to go places such as the ballet or theater.  The romantic tutu has been said to have been at least introduced, if not invented, by Marie Tagilioni, most likely first in La Sylphide in 1832 or so.  Since then, its been greatly used in the ballet world, as its many layers of movable tulle allow for great use of movement.  Ok, now I'm going off on a tangent about ballet costumes. ;). Anyways:

 From left to right we have: Lithograph of Marie Tagilioni in a romantic tutu (photo credit: Wikipedia.org); Margot Fonteyn in a romantic tutu in La Sylphide (photo credit: Pinterest.com); a more recent photograph of a dancer wearing a romantic tutu (photo credit: dance.net). The collage was made by me.

Also observe the similarities between a 1950s dress and a romantic tutu costume:

From left to right: Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy in the Dancing Star episode (photo credit: I Love Lucy); Margot Fonteyn in a romantic tutu in La Sylphide.  This 'collage' was also made by me.

So there you have your Vintage Fashion Friday for the week! :). I hope you enjoyed it!

VintageGirl