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A ballerina skirt is a full skirt that reaches to just above the ankles. It was a popular style during the 1950s, and ballerina skirts have been a consistently popular length for ball gowns, especially for young women. This page defines the style and places it in its dance context, alongside the ballet tutu, the leotard and the unitard, and among skirt and dress terms more generally. The name carries the association of ballet dress — a full, graceful skirt of performance length — into ordinary and formal fashion, which is the key to its long life outside the theatre.
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Ballerina skirts have been a consistently popular length for ball gowns, especially for young women.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ballerina_skirt). 8/5/05 |
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The ballerina skirt's defining measurement — full, and reaching to just above the ankles — turns out to be a remarkably useful one. It gives the skirt the sweep and movement of a long gown while keeping the hem clear of the floor, so the wearer can walk and dance without managing fabric underfoot. That practicality explains its consistent popularity as a length for ball gowns, especially for young women: it delivers the ceremony of a full skirt with fewer of the burdens of a floor-length dress. In its 1950s heyday the same combination — a small waist, a full skirt, a hem at the ankle — defined the decade's most graceful silhouette, and the skirt has returned whenever fashion revisits that proportion.
Because the skirt provides the volume, the rest of the outfit works best kept comparatively simple: a fitted top balances the fullness below the waist, and the exposed ankle makes footwear a real part of the design, so shoes should be chosen to be seen rather than hidden. Fabric decides the register. Crisp fabrics hold the skirt out in its fullest, most theatrical shape; soft, draping fabrics let it fall closer and read as quieter and more romantic; and for ball gowns, the luxurious fabrics of formal wear give the length its traditional richness. Worn with dance-inspired details the ballet reference is explicit, but the skirt needs none of them — the length and fullness alone carry the association, which is why the style moves easily between day dresses, occasion wear and the ballroom.
When buying, judge the skirt in motion: walk, turn and sit in it, since a full skirt's quality shows in how it swings and settles. Check that the hem truly clears the ankle evenly all the way around — the ballerina length depends on that clean line — and that the waistband sits firmly, because a heavy full skirt will drag a weak waistband down through an evening. Care follows the fabric, with one addition: store a full skirt with room to hang so its folds are not crushed flat, and press or steam it before wearing, since creases across a wide sweep of fabric are conspicuous. Looked after that way, a ballerina skirt keeps the quality that has sustained it since the 1950s — graceful movement at a practical length.
A ballerina skirt is a full skirt that reaches to just above the ankles. The length — longer than knee or calf styles, stopping short of the floor — is the defining feature, combined with the fullness that gives the skirt its movement.
The ballerina skirt was a popular style during the 1950s. Beyond that decade, ballerina skirts have been a consistently popular length for ball gowns, especially for young women, which has kept the style in formal wear long after its 1950s moment.
Both belong to ballet dress, but they are different garments. The tutu is the ballerina's performance skirt, while the ballerina skirt is a fashion skirt — full and ankle-length — that borrows ballet's look for everyday and formal wear, worn with ordinary clothing rather than dance dress.