New York City Ballet Celebrates 75th Anniversary, Releases New Book

NYC Ballet — Mimi Staker wearing a costume designed by Zac Posen. Photo by Pari Dukovic/Courtesy Rizzoli

PICTURE PERFECT: Athleticism aside, the New York City Ballet always delivers a solid dose of fashion. Next month, Rizzoli has highlighted some of those standout moments with the release of “New York City Ballet: Choreography & Couture,” a book chockablock with 250 photos.

NYCB upped that fashion quota by enlisting the talents of major designers through its annual fall fashion gala. Thom Browne, Sarah Burton, Iris van Herpen, Valentino, Carolina Herrera, Prabal Gurung, Raf Simons, Alejandro Gomez Palomo, Christopher John Rogers, Giles Deacon and the late Virgil Abloh were among those who have collaborated. The 208-page tome shows off the craftsmanship that the NYCB Costume Shop has orchestrated in the past decade.

NYCB’s director of costumes Marc Happel has written the book to help shed some light on how designers’ ideas for costumes come to fruition through original drawings and technical tweaks, as well as dancers’ memories about performing in the creations. Ballet-going readers will recognize some of the company’s top talent on the pages — including Olivia Boisson, India Bradley, Chun Wai Chan, Jovani Furlan, Gonzalo Garcia, Christopher Grant, Alec Knight, Sara Mearns, Miriam Miller, Mira Nadon and Mimi Staker. Photographer Pari Dukovic handled the imagery, which includes close-ups of the intricacies of the costumes. Sarah Jessica Parker, who dreamt up NYCB’s fall fashion gala in 2012, penned the book’s foreword. The Museum at FIT’s Patricia Mears and Vogue’s Tonne Goodman have pitched in with essays.

This year’s annual gala on Oct. 5 will honor cofounding choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Robbins’ “Glass Pieces” will be performed, as will excerpts from Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” (with help from vocalists Joshua Henry, Patti LuPone and Vanessa Williams.) Carolina Herrera’s creative director Wes Gordon will provide the costumes for “Glass Pieces,” a one-night-only event. Naomi Watts, Laverne Cox, Jill Kargman, Mazdack and Zanna Rassi, Elaine Welteroth and Andy Cohen will be some of the gala’s chairs.

In honor of its 75th anniversary, NYCB has a raft of other celebrations planned for the coming weeks, though the musicians in the ballet’s orchestra are held up in contract negotiations. Asked for an update, a NYCB spokesperson issued a lengthy statement that claimed that Local 802 “is basing its argument in large part on NYCB’s healthy financial position emerging from COVID[-19]. It is true that NYCB worked very hard to manage the massive revenue losses and other impacts of the pandemic, and it is certainly our hope that the sort of sacrifices made by all NYCB employees will not be necessary going forward.”

It wrapped up with “New York City Ballet is hopeful that Local 802 and our musicians will join us in working towards reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.”