Ballets Russes Style: Diaghilev’s Dancers and Paris Fashion

‘Russian opera conquered Paris in one day’, wrote a French theatre critic in May 1909. In the two decades between its debut performances and the death of impresario Sergei Diaghilev in 1929, the Ballets Russes was an unrivalled sensation in Paris - a city that in those years knew no shortage of artistic stimulation. But while attention has often centred on the links between Diaghilev’s troupe and modernist art and music, there has been surprisingly little analysis of the Ballets’ role in the area of tastemaking. For the first time, Ballets Russes Style addresses this gap, revealing the extent of the ensemble’s influence in arenas of high style, including fashion, interior design, advertising and the decorative arts.