num_pages: 256
description: In the two decades between its debut performance and the death of impresario Sergei Diaghilev in 1929 the Ballets Russes was an unrivalled sensation in Paris and around the world. But while scholarly attention has often centered on the links between Diaghilevs troupe and modernist art and music there has been surprisingly little analysis of the Ballets role in the area of tastemaking and trendsetting. Ballets Russes Style addresses this gap revealing the extent of the ensembles influence in arenas of high styleincluding fashion interior design advertising and the decorative arts. In Ballets Russes Style  Mary E. Davis explores how the Ballets Russes performances were a laboratory for ambitious cultural experiments often grounded in the aesthetic confrontation of Russian artists who traveled with the troupe from St. PetersburgBakst Benois and Stravinsky among themand the Parisian avant-garde including Picasso Matisse Derain Satie Debussy and Ravel. She focuses on how the ensemble brought the stage and everyday life into direct contact most noticeably in the world of fashion. The Ballets Russes and its audience played a key role in defining Paris style which would echo in fashions throughout the century. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on unpublished images and memorabilia this book illuminates the ways in which the troupes innovations in dance music and design mirrored and invigorated contemporary culture.
language: English
title: Ballets Russes Style: Diaghilev's Dancers and Paris Fashion
publisher: Reaktion Books