Ballet Wear
Clothes Stripped to Leotards!

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What we have on in a ballet class today consists of a leotard and tights. It's quite simple really.

Yet back when ballet first started the dancers didn't wear tights and leotards. It was a whole different story....

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When ballet was first developing there was no specific clothing for the dancers. No leotards or tights, let alone extra accessories like leg warmers.

The ballet dancers just wore their normal clothing. The male ballet dancers might wear heavily brocaded tunics and coats. They wore wigs and even swords belted to their waists.

The female dancer's clothing was even more unsuited. They wore stiffly laced long-sleeved bodices with panniered skirts.

What they wore sounds more like a costume to us then their everyday uniform. Yet of course, no one thought any different.

It restricted them hugely and the dance steps had to be simple. The clothing allowed a small possibility for any athletic body movement.

Tights were invented in the eighteenth century at the Paris Opera. A costume designer called Maillot created ballet tights. This new item of clothing made a dramatic change to ballet.

The ballet tights allowed the dancers to have the freedom. They had not yet experienced this feeling before.

They were no longer restricted by heavy clothing.

The choreographers and dancers really benefited from this freedom of movement.

Photo sourced from blog.oregonlive.com

They expanded ballet techniques and dancing became more complex and dramatic.

Ballet could now stretch beyond it's previous limited abilities. The dancing became more athletic because dances were no longer restricted to simple steps.

Ballet leotards were invented by an artist called Jules Leotard. The original leotard was made up of a close-fitting suit of knitted jersey. The woman's version came with a short fringed skirt.

This all started in the early 20th Century. The ballet clothes began to adapt to those that are often used today.

Now, in the 21st Century, it's very common for dancers to wear leg warmers, wolly shorts or knitted cardigans as well as their leotards and tights.