The Countess

This heavy cotton petticoat was intended to be worn under the costume designed by Léon Bakst for the character of the Countess from Scene III of The Sleeping Princess. This scene portrays a hunting party in which the Countess, amongst other noblewomen, is seen vying for the Prince’s affections. The petticoat is heavily pleated with extra pleating over the hips to support the long velvet overskirt.

This costume was made by Grace Lovat Fraser (nee Crawford) in London. Fraser, b. 1889- d 1977 was a singer, actress, costume designer, translator of plays, author and friend of the Ballets Russes. Fraser was approached just three weeks prior to the opening of the Sleeping Princess to make a number of costumes. On meeting with Bakst, she was told to interpret, not copy, the designs and that the patterns must be embroidered or appliquéd, not printed or stencilled. The finished item shows the inexperience of Lovat Fraser and her team, but also the time constraints they were dealing with.

In 1921 Serge Diaghilev staged a reconstruction of the Imperial Theatre’s The Sleeping Beauty. This ballet had been choreographed in 1890 by Marius Petipa to the music of Tchaikovsky. Inspired by the success of the long-running musical Chu Chin Chow, Diaghilev hoped that The Sleeping Princess, as he renamed it, would run forever. It was a hugely ambitious project. Diaghilev secured the Alhambra Theatre, London and the financial backing of Sir Oswald Stoll to the tune of over £20,000. He employed Nicolas Sergeyev, the former régisseur of the Mariinsky, to stage Petipa’s choreography. Diaghilev altered the score with additions from The Nutcracker and other ballets, and employed Bronislava Nijinska to create additional choreography. The full length ballet was divided into five scenes, The Christening, The Spell, The Vision, The Awakening and The Wedding.

Léon Bakst was commissioned to design the opulent costumes and sets. In just over three months, a staggering six changes of complex set and nearly 300 individual costumes were made for Diaghilev’s most ambitious project to date. No expense was spared with even the costumes for minor roles being exquisitely crafted. The costumes were made between workshops in Paris and London with many constructed by Bakst’s preferred costume maker, Mme Muelle, in Paris.

The Sleeping Princess opened on the 2nd of November, 1921. A full-length ballet was a new experience for London audiences, and initially was a great success. The production needed to run for six months in order to break even. After the New Year, sales began to drop and on the 4th of February, 1922, after 105 consecutive performances, The Sleeping Princess closed. Despite the work’s perceived failure, it remains one of the longest-running ballets ever performed on the West End.

Stoll seized the sets and costumes in lieu of the outstanding debt, and the company was given a month’s leave. The costumes were stored under the stage of the Coliseum. Diaghilev was eventually able to settle the debt and buy back the costumes in 1925, but he had moved on artistically and only some costumes from scene V were used again. The majority of the surviving costumes were sold in in a renowned auction at Sotheby’s, London, in 1968, and the remainder in 1973.