Tutus Today

These days ballet tutus are designed to give dancers an ethereal, airy, feminine look.  In most cases tutus are designed to allow a dancer to move about fluidly while allowing the audience to view her elaborate movements and footwork. The skirt of a ballet tutu is typically made from a material called tulle and the design will depend on whether the style is classic or romantic.

People interested in how to make a tutu will soon discover that a professional ballerina’s tutu cannot be made without quite a bit of expertise.  Almost all tutus are comprised of three parts: the bodice, the basque and the skirt.  The bodice is a piece that is designed similar to a corset. The bodice is meant to hug the body while staying in place through the rigors of a dancer’s movements.

The basque is a piece that attaches the bodice to the tutu skirt giving the costume a unique structure. The skirt is the part of the costume that is self-explanatory. This piece is made of gathered tulle. The skirt is long and flowing if the costume is a romantic tutu and short and jutting out if the costume is a classic tutu.  The majority of romantic tutus have skirts comprised of three layers of heavily gathered tulle.

The two most popular styles of romantic tutu are the classic romantic tutu, which has no basque and hangs from the waist, and the neo-romantic tutu, which has an attached basque and hangs from the hip.  Classic tutu skirts will typically be comprised of between 6 and 10 layers of heavily gathered tulle.  As with the romantic tutu, there are also two popular styles of classic tutu.

The first is the basic classic tutu, which juts out straight horizontally from the waist and is typically made with 10 thick layers of gathered tulle. The second is the classic European (or bell tutu), which hangs down slightly and is typically made of 6 layers of gathered tulle.