Pointe Taken
Talking Tutus at New York City Ballet's Fall Gala
With Darren Aronofsky's upcoming thriller, Black Swan, garnering lots of early buzz—and all those glorified tutus on the runways at Chloé and Valentino this week—it's a good moment to be a ballerina. Then again, when is it not?
"I fell in love with one when I was a kid," Gossip Girl's Matthew Settle said at last night's New York City Ballet Fall Gala. "I snuck backstage for this Nutcracker performance in Tennessee, and that's when I saw her."
A black-tie audience including Candace Bushnell and Black Swan's Natalie Portman descended on Lincoln Center to take in a special program that featured Jerome Robbins' Fred Astaire tribute and the New York City premiere of Plainspoken, a Benjamin Millepied-choreographed original. And Settle clearly wasn't the only guest with a soft spot for toe shoes and leotards. "I don't wear a tutu [anymore]," Sarah Jessica Parker said, referring perhaps to the old Sex and the City ads. "But I do often wear the silhouette."
It looks like there may be more dance costumes in Gilles Mendel's future. The designer, who collaborated on the company's spring program earlier this year, told us he'd love another go. "Peter Martins [NYCB's ballet master in chief] mentioned that he wants to talk with me again," Mendel confided before the post-show gala dinner. "Who knows? Maybe it'll be a surprise."
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