A PERFECT PAS DE DEUX? | Ballet & Fashion with Roger Leong

At certain points throughout the last 100 years, fashion and dance have seemed inextricably linked. Coco Chanel designed costumes for the Ballets Russes and Yves Saint Laurent designed costumes for the Roland Petit company. These are only two of many memorable partnerships. This talk reflects on the synchronicity of ballet and fashion at certain points over the past century and up to the present day.

ROGER LEONG is Curator International Fashion & Textiles at the NGV, Melbourne. His exhibitions include Ballet and Fashion (2012), ManStyle (2011), Black in Fashion (2007), Dressed to Kill: 100 Years of Fashion (1994) and From Russia with Love: Costumes of the Russian Ballet (1999).

Justine Summers in Divergence,The Australian Ballet, Melbourne, 1994. Choreography: Stanton Welch, Costume Design: Vanessa Leyonhjelm Photograph by Jim McFarlane | courtesy of The Australian Ballet