NYC BALLET “Jewels”
“The idea for a new ballet using highly jeweled costumes was started in Europe over fifteen years ago when Mr. George Balanchine and Mr. Claude Arpels were introduced but it was not until early 1966, after a visit by Mr. Balanchine to Van Cleef & Arpels’ Fifth Avenue Salons, that the idea of the ballet really began to grow. So impressed was Mr. Balanchine by the beauty of the jewels he saw there, that he decided to try to capture it forever. The jewel motif in the three ballets is carried through by Mme. Karinska’s costume designs with strong emphasis on jeweled decoration.”
- Lincoln Kirstein, 1967