I have always loved ballet. Cherished childhood lessons grew into an infatuation thanks to the international stars I saw perform during my teens. Adult demands, however, redirected my energies toward business, and then fashion history, and my ardor for ballet slumbered. For decades, my eyes skimmed over the midcentury evening dresses—fitted satin bodices, voluminous tulle skirts—that filled the fashion editorials and museum costume collections I studied in depth. Quietly these beautiful images and garments assembled themselves in my subconscious. About three years ago, I began to ponder how modern fashion came to appropriate these elements of the classical ballerina’s raiment. And why? READ ON