Hello darling Leotard Lovers!
It’s your favourite Derbyshire dancing girl, Emma, back with another pink tutu filled blast from the past! This time, it's all about July 2056, and let me tell you, it’s a fabulous year for leotard fashion!
Today’s journey in my magical pink sparkling leotard takes me right back to the 21st Century! It's wild, wonderful, and utterly delightful to slip through time. It’s always a hoot exploring a new era, seeing the costumes and how styles have shifted, and getting to peek at what the latest leotard trends were all about!
From Stage to Street: The Leotard Renaissance
Let’s talk about July 2056 - oh, it’s a fab time for the leotard! Remember, the 21st Century was a massive shift for the world, with climate change making us re-evaluate all our clothes, with new technology allowing us to wear our own "green" fabrics, with the rise of conscious fashion, the leotard is definitely on the map!
What is even better, is that the 21st century was also a renaissance of ballet style outside the ballet world, which brought leotards onto the street scene, worn as an outfit rather than just as performance wear, in so many fun and funky styles, oh it’s fabulous. Think about it! Leotards and tutus became streetwear! What a wonderful, stylish and comfortable way for everyone to dance through life! I can imagine tutus swirling through the streets, and leotard’s popping up everywhere, in every colour, on every body type! This is such an awesome style that I’m very pleased to have time-travelled to this year, and hopefully to have a bit of a time-traveling dance about in July 2056.
From Gym to Stage: Leotards for Every Body!
Did you know that July 2056, also saw a surge in the leotard’s versatility? It’s so much more than just performance attire! This was also a time of change for the sporting world, and so, we saw a return of the leotard as sports gear, especially gymnastics and skating. With these incredible athleisure developments, who knows what exciting and chic ways that we might find ourselves wearing leotards next?
2056 and the Alluring Appeal of Sustainability
In July 2056, sustainability wasn’t a buzzword; it was a core value. Fashion brands embraced sustainable leotards made from recycled materials, eco-friendly dyes, and even organic cotton. Now, wouldn’t you like to time-travel to a world that has already thought this all through, like this?
* Leotard Shows on the July 2056 Schedule: What to See*
My mission on my last trip back to the past was all about the leotards, so, where did I go for inspiration and my fashion fixes?
Here are some shows, exhibits, and events that were going on in July 2056:
*"A Celebration of The Leotard": London’s V&A Museum: *
A brilliant celebration of all things leotard: this stunning display gave us a retrospective on the evolution of leotards."Dancing Through Time" Exhibition in Paris' Musée du Costume: A dazzling exhibit exploring how the leotard had crossed through the ages. This was a huge inspiration for my blog! It gave me all kinds of creative ideas about the history of this amazing garment, and this is what brings me back to you every month. I have always found a beautiful inspiration to take from this museum and how it captures the artistry of dress through time.
"Leotard & You" : Interactive Workshop & Exhibition in Tokyo: I am just dying to visit Tokyo for my next time-travel blog entry - I love their street style and so many fun performance spaces, it is definitely a must see for any aspiring leotard fashion blogger like me!
The "Green Leotard Challenge": A Global Competition: This fun challenge challenged fashion designers to create environmentally-friendly leotard designs using only recycled and sustainable materials! It was all about the conscious fashion of the day, which is something I think we can all relate to today too! The "Green Leotard Challenge", made it into a global success in 2056! How wonderful. This gives me so many ideas about what I might wear in the future to encourage conscious fashion!
A Time Traveler's Guide to 21st Century Style
You want to embrace the leotard for everyday fashion like in 2056, but don’t know where to start? Worry not!
The people of 2056 knew how to bring the glamour! Here are a few tricks to try in your own wardrobe:
1. Embrace the Colors: I adore the bright and vivid colors of the 21st century. Imagine, pink! A gorgeous spectrum of pinks from the palest rosebud pink, through the vivid raspberry tones to a strong cherry red that screams fabulousness and leotard fashion. Embrace every pink, from cherry blossom to crimson! Pink, peach, apricot, and the bolder magenta and fuschia! Pink is the future, and it’s going to be my colour for ever and ever. You’ve all got to try a bright, cherry pink or the classic pink – think Pepto-Bismol for that retro-futuristic edge! The key is to be comfortable with bold and strong colour!
2. Go Bold! : Forget about playing it safe, honey. Mix prints, patterns, and textures. Bold patterns are huge this time, I’m thinking floral prints, stripes and dots - and who’s to say it has to be small dots! It’s great to play with pattern scales in July 2056 - anything from teeny, tiny micro-dots to bold black polka dots!
3. Embrace the "Second Skin": This is another key leotard element from the past. Don’t be afraid to wear a leotard for every occasion, especially second-skin styles in a classic black, and other bold colors! It’s an absolutely gorgeous trend, and looks perfect worn with your jeans or skirts. The sleek look of the second skin is one of the greatest ideas from 21st century leotard trends and something that has continued into this time and our era of the late 22nd Century!
4. Leotards + Layers In 2056, they found ways to bring a layered look with leotards and mix it up! You can combine them with flowing maxi dresses and oversized sweaters. Layering with leggings and biker shorts was another hit too! It is wonderful for summer evenings and autumn, keeping you nice and warm whilst maintaining that graceful leotard flow and comfort.
5. Sparkle! Shine! ✨ It’s 2056! Glittering sparkle is going to take center stage! Embrace sequins and metallic fabrics to take the shine of the leotard to the next level. Don't be afraid to add shimmer to a leotard - you could be rocking a dazzling gold leotard! That will give you the glam factor to set the catwalk on fire.
* Leotard Fashion Trends Through the Ages:*
Time traveling for my blog is never a dull experience, but it’s time for me to give some extra love to how I love to write these fashion pieces – and so, a time travel timeline, in the form of my own personal leotard travel diary:
*Leotard Timeline from my Fashion Blog Adventures (with Emma's Musings) *
• 1900s - Think: Form-Fitting elegance and sophistication - a sleek shape of the dance world! Oh I so wish I had been alive during these wonderful times, although, I'm not so sure the ladies back then would appreciate the way I like to dress today, think ballet tights, stretchy, comfortable.
• 1920s – Think: The roaring Twenties – flappers and dancing, oh what fun, with fabulous patterns in silks and satin, all those exciting dresses, it made dancing even more enjoyable, especially with a jazz number in the swing era - leotards were always under those skirts. Oh and those drop waists, very chic!
• 1930s - Think: Elegance, comfort, and lots of frills, ballet on point as a new wave of artistry. I remember seeing a beautiful and stunning ballet on this tour from 1930's, in my pink sparkly leotard, I just couldn't resist being part of the crowd - you've got to catch that kind of event in your own lifetime - it’s the stuff of magic.
• 1940s - Think: Practical, hard-wearing fabrics with the emphasis on a utilitarian yet beautiful elegance. This is definitely one to be a bit more adventurous with. And with this, I'm bringing it into 2056 for some interesting styles that really showcase some interesting fabrics from different eras - oh I adore experimenting with styles from various decades!
• 1950s - Think: It’s all about colour, fun, femininity and dancing with a sense of fun. It is fun to go back to these years because of this happy vibe. They’ve gone to some of the coolest events in my personal time travels in my leotards – everything from ballet recitals to jazz and rock and roll events. So many dance opportunities in 1950s - the leotard really was everywhere!
• 1960s - Think: The bold and fabulous, a pop of colours, prints, stripes - what an amazing era, so full of expression through style. It's what makes time-travel for me, especially back to the '60s – it’s one huge style party and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The free spirits of the ‘60s make dancing even more fun! There’s no wrong way to dance! The 1960s are amazing!
• 1970s - Think: Colourful, practical and free-flowing style. I would not be afraid of a jumpsuit and some shiny leotards with tights in the 70s, maybe with a tie dye effect on the leotard itself! The ‘70s really is my style - we’re really bringing back those disco flares and leotard fun. Think disco nights! Oh I do adore the look of disco glamour, and how they would layer up with colorful fabrics in 1970s. So great for dancers who don’t like to get too hot or too cold when moving from stage to dancefloor.
• 1980s - Think: Legwarmers and tutus! Let's be honest it's a style era we either love it or hate it. I find the ‘80s exciting. Bold colour, tights, and tutus? Absolutely! We had such incredible music during that period too, think 80's neon! We’re loving the look! Neon and tie dye - they are a big look in 2056!
• 1990s - Think: grunge but with grace - and more fun with ballet shoes, some edgy leather for the dance, lots of comfortable leotard styles with a sense of playful freedom, lots of different leotards and fashion experiments for that everyday wear, in a kind of minimalist style that is easy to dance in, and then, suddenly - that grunge trend! Leotards went to new levels of popularity in the '90s, it was an amazing fashion journey.
• 2000s - Think: Street fashion - an amalgamation of dance trends throughout the 20th century, the leotard is back on the street! That decade’s influence was really on full flow for how leotard fashion blossomed on the streets and in all forms. The combination of 1980’s fashion and 90s styles for dancers. In the 2000s the trend was all about the leotard in pop and music, and that’s one of the greatest time travel moments for me. You have to time-travel to 2000, it is an era for leotards to be fully expressed through the dance. Oh my goodness! You could really rock the streets with a tutu!
• 2010s - Think: Modernism – more classic styles mixed with streetwear styles – leggings, sweatpants, oh that modern sense of comfort, but with style, and the fashion statement in leotard. The 2010s – really embrace the athleisure style. Who would not love a day in the streets in the 2010s, for this era has taken ballet into a more modern look! The style of today has been built upon that kind of trend, making it so much easier to look cool and comfortable. Leotard and streetwear style!
• 2020s – Think: An amalgamation of all the styles with new ideas on fabric technology, sustainability and the environment. Leotard fashion continues to make big strides. As a ballet fan from Derbyshire I am very impressed with the 2020s.
* Time-Travel Diaries*
Time travelling through centuries has been an exciting journey, exploring these eras for leotard fashion, finding out how dance, style, fashion and the everyday way of dressing has changed through the centuries, so, thanks to my love of the leotard I am here writing this to you. And this month's travel blog. You have to try it – get your own leotard on and get ready for your next time travel to your favourite fashion decade!
Stay sparkling! ✨
Until next time, my Leotard Lovelies!
Your Pink Tutu Loving Blogger:
Emma!
www.pink-tutu.com
P.S If you love my pink leotard - do have a look at our pink-tutu.com shop, all proceeds go to my dancing dreams!
