Baroque Goes Wild

Pretty Ballerinas brings back opulence and glamour with a mishmash of muses.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

Pretty Ballerinas brings back opulence and glamour with a mishmash of muses.

We love it when fashion goes wild. Pretty Ballerinas’ F/W ’19 collection is a theatrical feat with an amalgamation of details such as Prince of Wales checks, zebra prints, embroidered tigers and Art Deco crystals… and the list goes on. This strangely magnetic and bewildering mix can perhaps be summed up as the brand’s ode to historical royal figures with a penchant for menageries and lavish parties. 

My Reading Room

Spanish label Pretty Ballerinas goes wild this Fall by layering gold lion brooches and embroidered tigers over coloured zebra stripes. 

Think of French royalty and the excesses of Louis XIV or Marie Antoinette may come to mind. What with his describing himself as the Sun King, and how she is rumoured to have asked her starving subjects to “eat cake”, we can’t help but wonder: Would modern princesses wear Pretty Ballerinas flats? The ball is in your court, Meghan Markle. – VW