I took ballet for almost 10 years when I was a little girl, until it became evident that...ahem...I was a bit too curvy for it. That whole world is so strange...if you don't have the right body for it, they know by the time you're 9. And then it's actually quite hard to find a decent place to take lessons, if you still want to just do it for fun (even though, at the age of 9, you know/have been informed that you're not "going" anywhere with it).
Nevertheless, I love ballet-influenced styles, and I've noticed a bit of that grey-ish, pink-ish softness popping up lately. I was so happy when I found these flats, which are street shoes, but are made by Bloch, the same people that used to make my real ballet shoes.
The skirt was one of those serendipitous finds where I was combing through the Anthro sales racks in Union Square and found this petticoat all alone (maybe it was a return?). It was priced super cheap, and I snatched it up, doing that "suspicious-looking-around-frantically-thrift-store-score" thing that we all have experienced at one time or another. When I checked out, the girl was like "Oh god, this is so old the SKU is not even in the system". Lucky, lucky me...it was a such good find, as it is full and very soft and petticoats like that are hard to come by.
Comments (18)
hi emily
love the spun sugar look to this outfit. i know someone who would love those shoes. what is the style called on their website?
cheers
Nancy · June 10, 2007 at 03:10 PM
I've got the same question: where are those shoes on their site? I had no idea where to even begin looking!
Kelly · June 10, 2007 at 03:55 PM
em - I sympathize! I was only five when I was turned away from gymnastics - and no wonder! I grew to 5'11". Ha! Some gymnast I'd have made. Oh well, c'est la vie! =)
sarah · June 10, 2007 at 10:52 PM
pretty, pretty!
have you seen The Red Shoes? Seems like a film you'd enjoy if you haven't..I could even see it influencing your paintings maybe..it's just a really pretty movie. :)
-Caitlin
nice-etc · June 11, 2007 at 12:44 AM
so pretty! i love ballet-inspired style myself; there is something so nice and femenine about wearing muted colors and floaty fabrics. :)
Casey · June 11, 2007 at 10:33 AM
Similar story here - loved ballet as a kid, but not only was it evident that I didn't have the body for it, I wasn't very good either :( My solution was to take adult "ballet fitness" classes - which was fun, because as the only kid in the class everyone was so forgiving of my clumsiness and stubby body!
And yes - could you point me to which shoes these are on the Block site, please?
marielle · June 11, 2007 at 11:40 AM
Soooo cute. And phoooey on the ballet 'rule'. That is rotten. You're adorable so again I say, "phooey!" =]
Rhonda · June 11, 2007 at 01:43 PM
we actually just went to the ballet last night - we saw Stravinsky's Firebird and the third act of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty... and something we saw at intermission made me think about why women may enjoy wearing ballet-inspired clothes... (granted, I'm a man, so it's just a guess...)
Well, at the auditorium in Portland where the ballet was, there's a big fountain outside with platforms down near the fountain that the water flows under (http://www.sol.slu.se/student/projekt/pacific/webimages/M202ira.jpg), and there was a girl, about 5 years old maybe, running across the platforms dancing (as best she could) like a ballerina. And it made me think two things... that she thinks the ballerinas are stunningly pretty (because she was being very dramatic about it), and that she can dance like that and feel as though she is just exactly like the ballerina she saw in the ballet. (Also says something about what happens to us as we grow up and find ourselves in a place where we feel that nothing we can do can make us the least bit attractive, and that fantasy as a whole is stupid and a waste of time)
So, I don't know if it's a cultural thing, or if there's something about the movement and dress of a ballerina that touches something essentially feminine, but I think girls especially grow up with a feeling that ballerinas are really kind of an archetype of being pretty, graceful, etc.
Anyway, I say dream like a child and believe you can be beautiful, and make the most of the talents and passions you have, no matter what you get told your place in the world is. There is something refreshing and inspiring (at least to me) about someone who will create their world according to their own passions and beliefs and do something they know they are meant to do even though it may not be the prescribed thing for a person in their place to do.
Dave · June 11, 2007 at 03:32 PM
sorry, typepad added the ")," to the end of that image link, so it's broken, but if you just delete the ")," from the end of the URL after you click on it, and then hit enter again, you'll get the image :)
Dave · June 11, 2007 at 03:34 PM
Emily, this is one of my favorites! I had a secret wish when I was as young as 2 to grow up to be a ballerina and yearned for tutus and toe shoes like anything. My aunt figured it out and sewed tulle on my very first bathing suit and I was bowled over by that. But I never got lessons! I finally took ballet in college and felt so out of place--I was bad but I really enjoyed the experience of needing ballet shoes for an actual class! However, I think it's all due to the teacher and how she or he treats you. Mine was sort of sharp and unpleasant, so I always felt a bit like a gallumphing horse--then one day she was sick and we had a very fun loving male teacher and it was a totally different experience. I haven't put my daughters in ballet because of the body image problems so many ballerinas seem to get--but one of them can walk on her toes with them folded under! and keeps saying she wants to do it, so she shall. Anyway, I love the ballet to this day and go as often as possible. And I still love the clothes! Those shoes! They are ideal. Whew. I'm getting more and more enthusiastic as I write. Congrats on the petticoat deal too--it's just right.
Helen · June 11, 2007 at 09:52 PM
i was always just too darn clumsy to be good at ballet but i used to wear the tutus my mom made me ALL the time. and i love, love, love "ballet pink." so pretty, so soft, so girly.
risa · June 11, 2007 at 10:41 PM
firstly i am soooo envious of the shoes you get over there - the U.K has NOTHING as good.
and secondly - your dress style is beautiful and the ballet post today is my favourite so far - that petticoat, what a great find!
have a great week
tracy x
Tracy · June 13, 2007 at 12:50 PM
oh my gosh! you always have the cutest clothes and pull them off awesomely!im so jealous. i love the petticoat so much!
hali · June 13, 2007 at 06:56 PM
I'm very partial to ballet inspired pretty much anything so this outfit of yours is just amazing. I am loving both the shoes as well as the petticoat skirt.....GORGEOUS! My sad "ballet story" was from not being able to afford the lessons from the Russian teacher who said I had all the potential to go pro but we had to sadly stop lessons on account of parental divorce and lack of funds...sigh...I did grow to 5'11" so it prob wouldn't have worked out anyway! LOL
Bethany · June 14, 2007 at 06:45 AM
i love what you are wearing- you look so beautiful- hop skip and jump...love jo...
oldflowers4me · June 15, 2007 at 07:35 AM
Love this outfit!
jen · June 18, 2007 at 06:45 PM
I was a dancer for ten years too. They perservered a little with me, because I had the body (well, for the curvier companies, or if I lost a leetle weight) but I couldn't move fast enough! I was always behind time in quick moving things. In the end they concluded that my muscles had grown too quick for my bones or something, and at the ripe old age of 12 I was gracefully led into the dead-end stream, rather than pushing me through the professional one.
I like the idea of wearing ballet slippers out, but mentally I think 'Ow! Ow! Ow!' as soon as I look at them. Ballet does equal pain, non?
Clare · June 19, 2007 at 08:06 PM
I was yet another of many aspiring ballerinas who've posted here... I was quite "curvy" at the time, as well as super clumsy, but really my family ended up not being able to afford lessens, so that's why I had to stop after 2 years of lessons. I do just love that look though. :) I spent 2 years in pretty much only skirts, and half of that time in ballet flats from payless. Not nearly as glamorous and gorgeous as you of course, I don't seem to have anything near your impeccable style and ability to pull such amazing clothes off (nor the budget, unfortunatly :( ), but I just love this outfit!! You look so cute in it! I'm very jealous. :)
Sarah · June 27, 2007 at 06:20 PM