1926 – Frederick Ashton choreographs A Tragedy of Fashion for the pupils of Marie Rambert

A Tragedy of Fashion was Frederick Ashton’s first work. Loosely based on a true story from the court of Louis XIV, it was performed at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1926, as part of a revue staged by Nigel Playfair and Ashley Dukes. Sophie Fedorovitch created the costumes and Ernest Irving arranged the music by Eugene Goossens. Short-lived though it was, and thanks to the persistence of Marie Rambert who cajoled him into action, Ashton was set on his path to becoming one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th-century. Although Ashton later said A Tragedy of Fashion was influenced by the ballets he had seen in the repertoire of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, especially by those of Bronislava Nijinska, it was nevertheless a determining moment for British ballet. Photographs of the ballet bear witness to the elegance, wit and chic that seem effortlessly present. These were qualities that Ashton was to develop, among many others, over the decades to follow.