For the re-launch of our FP Movement line, we were excited to collaborate with Ballet Zaida, the fine arts project helmed by photographer Oliver Endahl!
The purpose of Ballet Zaida is to expose the world to ballet, and to evolve the art of ballet itself. Before I became a ballet photographer I danced ballet myself for over a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area. I enjoy every form of art, but ballet is my favorite – I think it can lend itself & collaborate with every other form of art there is. I think that Free People & ballet go hand in hand. The style of Free People is very whimsical & ethereal, both of which are infused with ballet, so I was very excited to get to photograph dancers wearing the new FP Movement line.
Our photo shoot took place in Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, a favorite location of mine. The architecture of the concert hall is otherworldly. The curves, textures & lines of every wall, corner & hallway are beautiful. We used 2 Ballet Zaida Affinities for the photoshoot, Alanna Christina & Morgan Quinn, as well as dancers Nicole Voris and Sasha DeSola. The outfits had the whimsical feeling of Free People, but were also infused with the essence of the dancers.
Be sure to follow these beauties on FP Me: Alanna Christina, Morgan Jean Quinn, Nicole Voris, and Sasha DeSola.
Shop the FP Movement trend.
Half Moon Tank, Ruched Seamless Shorts
Follow Alanna Christina on FP Me.
Ruched Seamless Shorts, Off The Shoulder Long Sleeve, Your Inner Ballerina Legwarmer
Your Inner Ballerina Legwarmer
Follow Morgan Jean Quinn on FP Me.
Follow Nicole Voris on FP Me.
Topanga Cutoff Sweats, Cassandra Crop Cover
Ruched Seamless Shorts, Ruffle Crop Cami
Topanga Cutoff Sweats, Cassandra Crop Cover
Follow Sasha DeSola on FP Me.
Shop the FP Movement trend.
Thank you for showing these beautiful, strong, artistic women. Every photo is an inspiration.
http://lamentinglizzie.blogspot.com/
I love this! So beautiful! I hope everyone will stfu now & move on with their lives. :)
These dancers of Ballet Zaida are absolutely beautiful! Lovely re-launch of the products! I wrote an article about it discussing how you guys & gals over at Free People may have had a stroke of advertising genius with this whole uproar! Here it is: http://thedancegrad.com/free-people-ballet-campaign-a-stroke-of-genius/
Best,
Christina
TheDanceGrad.com
Oh wow this is breathtaking, absolutely stunning!
juliettelaura.blogspot.com
So Incredibly Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing.
The Weaver Of Words…..give me 15 words and I’ll tell you a tale
http://www.averyfairytale.wordpress.com
I love how all the ballerinas from the previous post are now all silent. This post is beautiful. Stunning photos!
So happy to see this! All the girls in the Ballet Zaida are gorgeous! Thanks for getting your act together FP!
Way to make a comeback. These are flawless and so awe inspiring.
A very good change. Ballet Zaida and Oliver Endahl have always been a class act. This is a wonderful union for both of you.
Now that’s more like it! Beautiful!
Sooooo much better! These are ballerinas!
Gorgeous! There is no doubt that these are true ballet dancers taken by a gifted artist.
Why wasn’t this done from the beginning?
Thank you, FP for realizing your shocking error, and relaunching using real dancers. The clothes not only look appealing now, but so do the beautiful, classically trained dancer’s bodies! I just wish you had launched this line correctly. Your other ‘dancer’ is horrible. To be honest, I was afraid she would break her ankles, dancing en pointe when she obviously never had before! Next time, think before you launch.
Be still my heart.
Its beautiful! I love balet so so much <3 !!
MUCH BETTER!!!! So beautiful. The clothes look fantastic, the dancers are gorgeous, and I am now willing to buy from this line.
Thank you! These trained dancers looks fabulous in this collection!!!!
A lovely, successful relaunch.
, Congratulations to FP.
Thank you for taking us seriously and using real dancers.
Thank you for finally highlighting some real dancers who are well deserving, inspiring, and beautiful. Yay for learning from your mistakes! The whole campaign inspired a post on my blog: http://read-between-the-lanes.com/2014/05/16/free-the-dancers-people/
xx
-A
I prefer the original ad. This girl doesn’t make me wanna buy stuff. Real ballet dancers are snobs and need to get over themselves or get back to their training.
Thank you FP for this relaunch. As a dancer, I was saddened but the fact that there are millions of young women who have been training for years to become ballerinas or professional dancers and you had chosen a model who was not a real dancer. That being said, there is no doubt that the previously young woman had taken a few classes recreational class here and there but she was in no way trained correctly or strictly. It was insulting but at no fault of the model, but insulting in the way that portraying that any person can throw on a pair of pointe shoes and become a ballerina. This new launch with Ballet Zaida is stunning; the perfect way to portray clothing that is geared towards dancers. They are on women who look gorgeous in the clothing and really show how the clothes were meant to look. Before I had said I would not buy the clothing but now that you have realized your error and have given credit where credit is due, I am excited to make my first purchase. Again, thank you FP for this correction, it means the world to the dance community.
OHHH FP much much better! I fb you to offer my assistance and I’m glad you were able to re-launch with some good guidance and believability. There is still ways to make the ballerinas look more down to earth and casual while still inspiring the best example with room to explore. I’m proud to like you now and will continue to watch and see how you grow.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this! About time a company fixes a mistake if they made one. Seriously, I appreciate this a lot.
Past poster here…
thank you free people, what you have done is commendable. These young ladies are inspiring and they have clearly been training their feet off for years. Not only does this represent them and their art, but shows you listen to us and take us seriously. Thank you for listening.
A shame you felt the need to whiten up the whole campaign. Where are the professional dancers of color?
@Julie, we’re not silent…we’re all posting here about how much we love this?
Lovely as these dancers are (and as much as I’d love to have a pair of those Hatha Crop Leggings), I agree it would be nice to have some dancers of a wider variety of skin hue in the campaign; there certainly are many to be found, especially in a city the size of Los Angeles. But, not wanting to be unappreciative of this arguably more appropriate campaign (though I still say this was all a brilliant, strategic plan to widen the fame of Free People, through controversy).
A relaunch using all white dancers and ruffled feathers have been smoothed and purchases will now be made. I guess the old saying still rings true: white is right.
I’m so glad FP will be using real ballet-trained dancers moving forward (and, hopefully, a more diverse group of dancers). The former model was very beautiful and, I’m sure, elegant in person. However, seeing her en pointe was troubling, worrisome, and (on the part of the FP company) irresponsible. As a related note, I think that people who may have not had the opportunity to participate in ballet have a misconception that ballet dancers (not to be mistaken with ballerinas) are skinny little things. They are not. Ballerinas have some of the most sophisticate musculatures imaginable (as visible in the photos above). Sometimes, even ballet dancers do too.
now with allthat beautiful classisum how about tunics and tissue steesjits leggings for the ballet bar…not just for professionals but those people who do the bar out of love for the disciplins..size sml to xlrg…do you know how many schools there are in the world…each out fit can be designed for each school company country. thanks c.m.
Wow you are looking awesome
i am also interesting in ballet
give me some tips baby :)
http://www.balletbefit.com
This is what should have happened to begin with. Just stunning. Way to make a very classy comeback!