Ballet-inspired fashion at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week

The tutu motif is often difficult to avoid, especially in fashion, and the spring/summer 2011 collections at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week were no exception. As ballet muscled its way onto the runway in the form of whimsical dresses and show-stopping creations, the traditional garment got a facelift as designers experimented with textures and themes. Ellery, a fashion week favourite, for instance, did Bowie ballet, giving the tutu skirt a hard, rock’n’roll edge with leather and feather boas.

Likewise, Gail Sorronda re-imagined the tutu with her signature ethnic flourishes. Referencing Eastern cultures, the tutu silhouette appeared several times throughout the Gail Sorronda range, including a longer tiered dress with tulle peeking from underneath the hem softening it for easy-to-wear practicality. Konstantina Mittas reimagined the tutu through with vibrant eccentricity. From a sashaying yellow dress with a short projecting skirt, to an equally voluminous patterned skirt with daring front split, Konstantina Mittas’s creations gave ballet-inspired fashion a daredevil spin.

Alex Perry’s dancer was softer, graceful and supple in lace, sporting a sheer décolletage and delicately rounded skirt. The veteran designer incorporated all the whimsy of that other ubiquitous ballet motif – the swan – in floaty, feathered dresses. Aurelio Costarella also invoked the grace of the swan with the movement of petallike layers in nude shades and, like Ellery, took the tutu for a dark turn with black tulle.

Costarella found inspiration off the ballet stage as well – in the rows of avid audience goers – with a sparkling gown and fur stole perfect for nights taking in the theatre. But a cut above them all was Romance Was Born’s vibrant dinosaur ballerina, a glitter spangled stegosaurus creature complete with horned back and hot pink tutu.