New York City Ballet: Choreography & Couture

Celebrating the art forms of ballet and fashion, this beautiful book explores the creative collaborations between New York City Ballet and the top fashion designers of our age, including Virgil Abloh, Christopher John Rogers, Anna Sui, and Valentino, among others.

Featuring more than thirty contemporary fashion designers, New York City Ballet Choreography & Couture highlights their distinctive work for ballet. From the shorts suits of Thom Browne accommodating the movement of dancers, and the leather harness detailing of Prabal Gurung to the baroque flounces of Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen or the jewel-encrusted slip dresses of Carolina Herrera, this enchanting volume highlights how fashion design is adapted for dance to amplify movement and music.

The stunning photography by Pari Dukovic features breathtaking images of the dancers in motion, along with detail shots highlighting the couture elements of the costumes. Author Marc Happel, NYCB’s Director of Costumes, has collected the designers’ original sketches along with quotes discussing their process and inspiration for each ballet. A foreword by Sarah Jessica Parker, and essays by Tonne Goodman of Vogue and Patricia Mears of FIT further illuminate the creative collaborations between design and dance.

New York City Ballet, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, has been collaborating with prominent fashion designers since its inception. From the first Fall Fashion Gala in 2012 when renowned choreographers Peter Martins and Christopher Wheeldon collaborated with Valentino, through the present, these ballets are celebrated as collaborations between choreographers and some of the biggest names in fashion. Now New York City Ballet Choreography & Couture brings ten years of artistic vision to life.

Marc Happel has served as Director of Costumes at the New York City Ballet since 2006. Sarah Jessica Parker is an actor and style icon, as well as the creator and chairperson of the New York City Ballet’s Fall Fashion Gala. Pari Dukovic is an award-winning portrait and fashion photographer whose work has been exhibited worldwide and published in the New Yorker, Time, GQ, and Harper’s Bazaar.