I've recently watched Black Swan and got swept away by its beauty. Since the movie brought the ballerina trend into fashion, I would like to offer my own review of this masterpiece.
May I begin with admitting that I've first seen Swan Lake in primary school and I've loved it ever since. It is a beautiful yet dark story of love. I was dancing a little myself back then so how could I not fall in love with it? With the story, the music or the tutus?
LITERATURE
However, Aronofsky's movie awakened in my head association between this ballet and my favourite piece of writing - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Though the stories are different, somehow they seem alike to me as they both are gloomy and represent the struggle between two female characters, or, as I see it, the struggle between two inner selves. These two characters are always the nice and innocent girl and the uninhibited and impetuous other. The "other" is here the key word. In Jane Eyre we have the reticent title character and the passionate and mad Bertha, whereas in Black Swan there is Nina (Natalie Portman), the embodiment of the white swan, and Lily (Mila Kunis) - the black swan, or actually the dark doppelganger she stands for.
Just as I believe that Bertha represents Jane's other, her aggressive self - an oulet to her repressed anger, I perceive Lily (or Nina's idea of Lily) as the independent self of Nina, the self that wants to break free, and in the end ***SPOILER ALERT!!!***, through the role of the black swan, reaches its independence. This interpretation is then supported by the ultimate revelation: Nina kills Lily but in the end we finally learn that she has actually killed herself. The moment when Nina puts on the black swan's costume she becomes united with her dark, hidden self - the self that rebels against the repressed sexuality and the overbearing mother. When that happens, she becomes herself, she sees - her words - perfection. Yet, as the white swan and the black swan cannot coexist, she has to die.
FASHION
Coming back to the lighter aspects of the movie - the costumes were designed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, better known as Rodarte, who were recommended by Natalie Portman herself. The outfits they created were beautiful, yet simple, perfectly fitting Portman's svelte body. The most amazing was however, the black swan's costume that, at some point began to melt into Nina's body, becoming its part, overtaking her - just as her character was overtaken by the black swan's.
Designs by Rodarte for "Black Swan"
Unfortunatelly as Rodarte sisters weren't members of the Costume Design Guid while doing the costumes and didn't negotiated to be given the front credit in the movie, they missed the Academy Awards nomination and someone else took credit for their work.
As I said at the beginning, since the fashion industry loves beauty and the movie is nothing but beautiful, it had had a huge influence on the latest trends long before its was released. The spring 2011 collection is full of flat ballerinas, tutus and tulle dresses, light fabrics and nude colors.
Chloe shows the most obvious inspiration with ballerina outfits - its full of light, flowing clothes and flats in different shades of beige.
Chloe Spring collection 2011 (ready-to-wear)
We may trace such influence also in other spring 2011 collections. Chanel woman channels her inner swan as we see her dressed in outfits adorned with feathers, which are almost a rip-off from the black swan costume that at some point covers Nina's body with feathers turning her arms into wings.
Chanel collection 2011 (ready-to-wear)
Marchesa collection presents inspiration with tutus, but also shows a dress that unites the black and the white swan, allowing their coexistence. Swan/ballet inspirations can also be noticed in collections by Ungaro or Valentino.
Marchesa spring 2011, Ungaro spring 2011
If you like the trend but cannot afford the top-shelf designers you will surely find a great deal of tutus, tulles or flats in h&m, Zara, Topshop or River Island. And as this season even perfumes wear tutus (Victor an Rolf's Flowerbomb Tulle Edition) the trend seems like a must. Ask Kanye.
Lanvin for h&m, Flowerbomb Tulle Edition by Viktor and Rolf, flats by Bloch
Here, enjoy the Black Swan trailer and Kanye West's video for Runaway featuring ballerinas (this is a video lenght but you may find also a 34-minute long film he made for the video):
photos from style.com
