Dress, ballet dress (ensemble)

This pink rayon satin dress was designed for the role of the Miller’s Wife in the ballet Le Tricorne/The Three Cornered Hat. The dress has a tight boned bodice which fastens with hooks and bars at the back. The skirt of the dress has been cut in five flared sections, closely gathered to waist; this is lined with white net and cotton pleated inside waist. On the waistband is written L. TCHERNICHEVA TRICORNE in blue pen. The dress is trimmed with translucent white spangles and black machine lace.

This costume, however, does not appear to date from the original 1919 production but from a later version. It seems to have been made in the mid to late 1920s or possibly the early 1930s for Lubov Tchernicheva. Tchernicheva was tall by the standards of the day so it is likely that she had her own costume made. This was possibly made in the late 1920s when Tchernicheva performed the role with the Ballets Russes. It was, however, definitely worn in the 1930s when Tchernicheva performed the role in the revival to the ballet for Colonel de Basil’s Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. Tchernicheva, b.1890 – d.1976, trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St Petersburg and joined the Maryinsky Theatre in 1908. She joined Diaghilev’s Company permanently in 1911 with her husband, rehearsal director, Serge Grigoriev and they remained with the company till it folded in 1929. They then went on to work for Colonel de Basil and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.

Le Tricorne/The Three Cornered Hat premièred in London at the Alhambra Theatre on the 22nd of July 1919. The score was composed by Manuel de Falla, the choreography by Léonide Massine and the sets and costumes designed by Pablo Picasso. The costumes were made by London based costumier Charles Alias and the sets were painted by Vladimir and Elizabeth Polunin with assistance from Picasso himself at their rented studio in Floral St. (A plaque marks this building today).

Notes by Caroline Hamilton