Sports tells the story of the cult costume in figure skating — the red tutu, in which Alina Zagitova won gold of the 2018 Olympics. How Eteri Tutberidze came up with a winning style and tested it on her best students before turning the ballerina on ice into an element of mass culture.
The image of a ballerina in a red tutu to victorious music seems to have been sitting in the head of Eteri Tutberidze for a long time. In 2010, Yulia Lipnitskaya became the first bearer of the champion idea of Don Quixote. She was only twelve, but by the combination of her virtues she looked like the «ballet» of many of her followers. She didn’t stop moving, she pulled her leg, she kept her posture. These rotations in twine “in a thread”, as well as a tightening with the head pressed to the waist, even with the appearance of Kamila Valieva, still seem unearthly and unique.
Julia's tutu was not classic, it was only marked with the style of the skirt and a thin petticoat — for volume. On the hands are long gloves. The color is not poppy red, but rather scarlet, and it looks advantageous on tiny Yulia. In general, it is interesting that such a simple dress without a thousand sparkling crystals does not prevent the skater from sparkling herself in all facets of her talent. In the current fashion, this option has almost been forgotten. br>
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Probably, even then Tutberidze realized that a fine girl with perfect movements and poses from ballet, combined with the beautiful music of Ludwig Minkus, was a million-dollar option. After 5 years, she will return to him again. -2013/14 Lipnitskaya becomes the Sochi Olympic champion and the favorite of millions of people. At the same time, 14-year-old Evgenia Medvedeva is fighting for her place in the sun in the first international junior season. In the short program, she has music from “Russian Seasons” and … a red tutu. «/
On the fabric — a neat gradient from dark red to light, gold embroidery on the bodice, gloves and the top of the pack. The tutu itself is much more closer to the ballet classics, but the length is still sporty — for the sake of maintaining flight and jumping. Later, in an interview, designer Olga Ryabenko said that a tutu is not the most comfortable clothing for a figure skater. Layers of tulle make it heavier and create the effect of a parachute at the moment of landing, so the length has to be adjusted to the last, cutting off everything superfluous already on the ice.
And even if this program later becomes Medvedeva's calling card, the outfit with the tutu turned out to be so bright and memorable that it inspired the fans to create a doll — a copy of the image.
In 2018, Alina Zagitova performs at the Olympics in Pyeongchang. In her free program, she has Don Quixote in a spectacular red tutu. It was one of the most recognizable Olympic victories — primarily due to the unique set of jumps performed in the second half with the maximum value. In fact, everything played — the technique, the image, and the mood. The gold embroidery and rhinestones on the dress shimmered like a spray of champagne — the same that the winners usually douse.
“My program was called «Don Quixote», and Eteri Georgievna said: «Oh, Zhenya has a dress that will suit you!»
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“It is practiced in figure skating that the dress is inherited,” Zhenya added in the same place.
Now, from the height of our experience and depth of understanding of the situation, one could say that the idea to share the dress with Alina for Zhenya was so-so. What was it like for Zhenya to understand that her Olympic gold was leaving a younger and “fresh” rival in terms of health, and even in her own dress. Was Tutberidze as a coach not ashamed to do this?
However, let's turn off the moral tuning fork. The practice, when the skaters exchange dresses, when the younger ones get the outfits of the older ones, is common. This happens within the same group, and as a result of a random resale of a costume to someone else, and just for fun and variety between skater friends. Recently, for example, at the show dedicated to the Day of Moscow Sports, Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva performed in the dress of Daria Usacheva, and Daria, in turn, in the dress of Elizabeth.
At the time when Alina got Zhenya's tutu, the first one was still just a promising junior, and the second — already the champion of Russia, Europe and the world. That is, it was equally honorable for both: for the one that shared a piece of her greatness, and for the one that seemed to pin him with a pin to her jacket at random.
When it became clear that Zagitova's «Don Quixote» would be left for the Olympic season, the dress was nevertheless changed. Most likely, for practical reasons, not ethical ones — after two seasons of active operation, it lost its appearance, besides, Alina grew up a little and took shape.
The new tutu, which we now know as the Olympic tutu, turned out to be the “richest” among all its predecessors. And for the abundant embroidery, and for the amount of tulle on the skirt, and even for the accuracy of working with the body mesh. Instead of a thick dark brown backing, as it was before, Ryabenko made two thin body straps. Thanks to this, Alina looked stylish and expensive, and even seemed older than her fifteen years. «/
“One of my customers left figure skating for ballet, and now I am sewing real tutus for her. First of all, this is a very complex fabric laying technology. For ice, I make a triple fold, in ballet it can be five-seven. It is really hard to skate in a pack, so its specificity for ice should be different — it should not literally be a pack from the Bolshoi, ”Ryabenko said in an interview. no children's competitions. Especially often the image was copied the first couple of years after Pyeongchang — miniature versions of Alina Zagitova took to the ice all over Russia, from Angarsk to Sochi. And not in Russia either.
So the Red Ballerina, as foreign media called her, turned into a cultural phenomenon. He has the face of Alina Zagitova, but it would hardly have become real without the brilliant beyond her years Yulia Lipnitskaya in 2010 and the lively Evgenia Medvedeva in 2013. And, of course, without the far-sighted Eteri Tutberidze, who came up with the idea of combining all this and found the most suitable candidate to implement her idea.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.
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