Going nuts in stages: Costuming Nutcracker

You know that the holidays are fast approaching when adds start to appear for the Nutcracker. Every large and small ballet company it seems puts on this show in a multitude of versions: family friendly, classical, "edgy".  For almost all ballet companies Nutcracker makes or breaks them financially so they are almost obliged to perform it.
I remember watching an interview with a famous ballet dancer (it might have been Baryshnikov), who said that for many professional dancers, Nutcracker is their least favorite ballet because it is hard for them to envision who they are. In Romeo and Juliet, the roles are clear, it is a tragic love story, same with Swan Lake. Even Sleeping beauty, Cinderella or Snow White have a clear division of persona but not so Nutcracker.
Depending on the version of Nutcracker, well it is all a bit foggy. Are the Cavalier and the Sugar Plum Fairy an item?  or is it really Clara and the Nutcracker Prince all grown up? Is Clara a little girl dreaming or a young women doing well what exactly? And who or what is that Drosselmayer guy? Friendly uncle, a rather naughty party guest (in one version I saw, he was a bit over friendly shall we say with the ladies at the party), creepy old man? I think you get my point.
From a costumers' perspective, creating costumes for Nutcracker can be a challenge too, because the costumes have to make "your"  version stand out positively so as to compete for the public's money. At the same time there are some Nutcracker "traditions" and specific styles that you have to adhere to.
Here is a wonderful little video clip about how costumes are created at the National Ballet of Canada. Boy would I love to intern there!!!!

In almost every version I have seen, the beginning of the ballet takes place at a Christmas party set somewhere in the late 1800's. The ballet, which is based on a story by Hoffman written in 1891, premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892, so in the party scene the costumes have some sort of late Victorian feel to them. In the 1890's, Frederick Worth, was the top dress designer, along with  Laman, Chanceau and others. The women's outfits went from a sleeveless off-the shoulder bodice (as shown below) with a  flounced, trained skirt, to square or scoop necked bodices, with puffed sleeves and A-Lined gored skirts.

Dress by Frederick Worth, 1890

Paris fashion plate, 1892-1893

Both styles of outfits (they were always bodices and skirts, not dresses) can be more easily adapted to the stage, because they were designed for ladies to dance in. It is hard to dance in a dress with a long train, big bustle or huge hoop skirt.

The men wore what we would recognize today as "white tie" suits, with long tails in the back. If the men are going to be dancing, the tails present a problem and some sort of modification would be made.  It is really hard to do turns if you are being slapped by long strips of fabric.
After the party scene comes the scenes with the Rat or Mouse King, dancing Mice, the battle between tin soldiers and mice and the Nutcracker.
Animal costumes and the Nutcracker costume are ones that most dancers love to hate. They tend to have head covering masks, which if improperly cleaned and stored are a source of dust, mold and bugs. If the masks are not well made, they are cumbersome,  hard to see out of, let alone breath comfortably. The masks can be made of buckram, foam, Fosshape (a special thermoplastic material)or even paper mache. Here is a small video clip from Tutu.com where you can take classes to learn how to make spectacular mask:

The second part of the Nutcracker is pure ballet with lots of tutus. Depending on the version of the ballet, the snow scene often has longer Romantic style tutus and the Waltz of the flowers has classical tutus. In Balanchine's version, the dancer's in the Waltz of the flowers wear something reminiscent of a tiered Spanish skirt and the Dew Drop fairy has a tiny tunic like dress.

Dew Drop Fairy, Waltz of the Flowers

Clara sometimes remains a little girl in her nightgown or in some versions she becomes the Sugar Plum Fairy. In Russian version of the ballet, Clara and the Nutcracker prince travel around the world visiting different countries: Spain, France, Turkey, China, Russia. This type of theme was very common in Russian ballets of the time (think Swan lake where each prospective princess comes with a National dance, even Sleeping beauty has something along those lines) and allowed nationally inspired dancing to be incorporated into the ballets.
In other versions, Clara visits the Land of the Sweets, and although often the costumes are still Nationally themed, they have candy names and the costumes can be more fanciful.

Vzevolozhsky's  original design for the Merlitons

The dance of the Merlitons or Reed fluits for instance is called French/France in the Russian version of the ballet and called Marzipan other versions. The costumes for some reason also often have some sort of Shepardess feel to them (possibly a veiled reference to Marie Antoinette who like to pretend she was a herding sheep?).
Finally the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince or Cavalier make their appearance. Many people think that sugar plums are, well plummy colored (pink-purple) but actually they are a type of multi-colored candy. In the Russian themed version of the Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum fairy is always dressed in white and gold. 

Jenifer Ringer as Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jared Angle as Cavalier

Roberta Marquez and Valeri Hristov as The Sugar Plum Fairy and The Prince, December 2006

Most other ballet companies have the Sugar Plum in some sort of pink tutu, although in the New York City ballet's version the Sugar Plum fairly is wearing a very pale green tutu.

Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier, Oregon State ballet