Fashion’s Betting on the Ballet. What’s the Pointe?

In the right circles, an invitation to the ballet is more prestigious than a front row seat at fashion week. VIP boxes and the proximity to one of the oldest and finest creative disciplines in Europe makes the ballet a sure signal of cultural cachet and refinement. For fashion labels wanting to brand themselves as refined, it’s an attractive space.

Luxury and fashion players have long tapped into the space. As early as the 1920s, Coco Chanel patronized Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company, famously designing the costumes for Le Train Bleu, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and premiered in 1924. But recently, we’re witnessing a ballet renaissance, as audiences crave refined real-life experiences and brands try to attach themselves to intellectual, hard-earned pursuits.

When Timothée Chalamet announced that “no one cares” about ballet and opera earlier this year, London’s Royal Ballet and Opera responded with playful riposte on Instagram; the post, a tribute video to its dancers subtitled “We care”, generated 2.5 million engagements and an uptick in ticket sales, CEO Alex Beard told The Times. In fact, Chalamet’s statement couldn’t be further from the truth. Ballet’s influence on popular culture and fashion is surging.

In June, Francesca Hayward, principal dancer for the Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO), appeared on the cover of style and sports magazine, Practice, in head-to-toe Burberry. Over the course of the year, the dancer has collaborated with Adanola and Artizia; last year, she modeled for Giorgio Armani and appeared in Chanel’s Connect podcast series, among other brand engagements. Elsewhere, ballet is having a moment in pop culture. Olivia Rodrigo enlisted New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck to choreograph the music video for recent single Stupid Song, while Rosalía trained with Belarusian prima ballerina Tatiana Yerakhavets for her Lux world tour, appearing on-stage on pointe in a tiered tutu.

Contemporary dance and movement was big in the Fall/Winter 2026 collections, too, with choreographer Damien Jalet pulling together a high-octane production for Willy Chavarria, and classically trained movement director Pat Boguslawski working on both Gucci and Junya Watanabe shows.

“As luxury brands move beyond product-centric marketing, dance and ballet are emerging as powerful platforms for brand communication,” says Fflur Roberts, head of luxury goods at Euronomonitor International. “Performance embodies many of the values that define luxury — craftsmanship, precision, creativity, discipline, emotion, heritage — while offering brands a way to connect with audiences through immersive cultural experiences rather than traditional advertising.” As such, fashion houses and luxury brands are increasingly partnering with dancers, choreographers, and cultural institutions, Roberts explains, to make moments with emotional resonance that build community and position them within a wider cultural ecosystem.

Rosalía performs at the Accor Arena in Paris in custom Ann Demeulemeester, during her Lux tour.

Given that many Gen Z consumers feel as if they’re constantly being sold to, faced with algorithm-dominating AI slop, the role of “meaning” over visual quantity is increasingly important to brands. Just as BookTok, intellectual influencers, and lecture series have thrived in a new niche for more cerebral, cognition-heavy pursuits, so too are necessarily physical, esoteric, and institutionally esteemed art forms, such as ballet.

But branding plays today need to feel earned, rather than simply generated. Without symbolism and history, which ballet has in buckets, brands wanting to communicate prestige struggle. Ballet’s not a marketing shortcut, as much as an intentional decision to slow down, engaging with an acquired taste born from restraint.

Chanel has been a partner to the Lincoln Center’s BAAND Together Dance Festival for six years, and has served as a major patron to the Paris Opera, since 2023. Notably, Rolex has an 18-year relationship with the RBO, and today holds principal partner status for the Royal Opera.

The draw is clear. The RBO, for instance, welcomes roughly one million visitors to its Covent Garden location every year, selling over 660,00 tickets across the season, with 18% of the audiences coming from overseas. Similarly, the theater counts over seven million followers across social media, with a sizable following on Instagram (1.6 million) and TikTok (1.3 million). Per the RBO, there are over 540 million ballet fans globally.

“We’re seeing increasing interest from younger audiences engaging with the art form through fashion, social media, and popular culture,” says Sophie Wybrew-Bond, RBO’s chief commercial officer. “Our dancers are a significant part of that momentum, building highly engaged communities of their own and becoming influential cultural figures.”

In 2025, exactly half of ticket bookers were new to the RBO, and 20% were under 30 across both the ballet and the opera. Francesca Hayward, who has 148,000 Instagram followers, has a feed not dissimilar to a contemporary influencer, splicing travel dumps and mirror selfies with high-profile event appearances. Fellow principal ballerina, Marianela Nuñez (851,000 followers), posts fan engagement videos, rehearsal snippets, and even lo-fi photos of her pet cats.

“I reached out to Wayne McGregor some time ago, and I think the stars aligned for this particular ballet,” says Saul Nash, who costumed the choreographer’s Alchemies show.

While the immediate association that comes from partnering with exceptional cultural organizations is enticing, it can also demonstrate long-term or authentic engagement, notes Wybrew-Bond. As well as working with Rolex, the theater has broadened the scope of the opportunities it offers brands, allowing them to integrate within the RBO brand itself in different ways.

A licensed ballet-core collection with Reiss and a festive partnership with Paul Smith — complete with a Smith-designed tree — were exemplary of this shift. The latter earned 361,000 views over three collaborative social posts and a combined press reach of 46.7 million, according to RBO. Wybrew-Bond also notes Burberry creative director Daniel Lee’s costume designs for choreographer Wayne McGregor’s production of Untitled at the Royal Ballet in 2023, and previous RBO costume designs by Roksanda and Gareth Pugh.

Saul Nash, who designed the costumes for choreographer McGregor’s Alchemies at the RBO — shown from April to May this year — sees the discipline crossover as a fruitful one. “I think the ballet provided an opportunity to present my work within a new cultural sphere and to audiences who may not have previously encountered it,” says Nash. “As a designer, I’m always interested in breaking down barriers, challenging perceptions, and exploring new territories for both fashion and movement.”

In this arena, Chanel is exemplary of the enduring relationships that can be fostered between fashion and dance. Take the brand’s gradual patronage of choreographer Blanca Li, which developed over decades. “I had the chance to know Karl Lagerfeld, who asked me to be the dancing model for a photo shoot he did for the magazine Visionaire [issue 23] in 1997,” says Li. “This was the first time we met, but we also collaborated a few more times, like for the Rose Ball [a high-society benefit in Monaco] in 2008.”

The relationship stepped up a notch when Li asked the brand to design virtual costumes for a virtual-reality production, Le Bal de Paris de Blanca Li, in 2018. “Not only did they agree to design these incredible costumes adapted from their couture collection, but they also supported the production,” Li says, who has been a “friend of the house” since. The show won an award in 2021 for best VR experience at Venice International Film Festival. Chanel also supported Li’s more recent VR-IRL hybrid production, L’Ombre, shown at last year’s festival.

Brand adjacency with compelling storytelling is powerful for brands, argues Sophie Wybrew-Bond, RBO’s chief commercial officer.

According to Li, Chanel acts as patron without expecting anything directly in return, noting that the house brings special guests like VICs and brand ambassadors to performances across the world. Indeed, ballet presents a promising clienteling tool for brands. “As brands look for new ways to engage clients, ballet offers a distinctive platform,” says Wybrew-Bond. “Whether through exclusive performances, behind-the-scenes access, or opportunities to engage directly with artists, it offers authentic, experience-led connections that can deepen relationships with high-value clients.”

The RBO works with clients to build “memorable hospitality moments”, a spokesperson for the management of VIP and VIC experiences tells Vogue Business, highlighting the Royal Box, exclusive tours and the hosting of bespoke functions.

It’s worth it. Ballet and dance provide access to an audience with high levels of influence, discernment, and spending power, confirms Bia Bezamat, cultural insights director at Kantar Consulting. With an air of ceremony and exclusivity integral to dance, it helps luxury players remain distinctive as the broader fashion industry becomes more accessible. “For the high-net-worth individual, accessing the arts through exclusive, often-niche events can give them entry into a cultural world that feels far more meaningful than being invited to a conventional brand event,” Bezamat adds.

One appeal for brands is more formalistic: dance — like the runway — is a way to present garments in-motion, showcasing the functional and stylistic nuance of a collection. For brands such as Issey Miyake, where the value proposition lies in sculptural, performance-attuned design, choreography can be a smartly demonstrative marketing tool.

Both this summer and last, Issey Miyake womenswear designer Satoshi Kondo costumed Derniers Feux, a production by choreographer Némo Flouret. Prior, Flouret choreographed both Issey Miyake’s SS24 and FW25 women’s showcases with poetic dance-cum-catwalk presentations.