Photo source: Style.com

Paul was at nearly every rehearsal – far more hands on than your average ballet composer. He had already been working on an underwater themed symphony when he got the call from Ballet Master in Chief, Peter Martins, to compose a piece for the New York City Ballet. Paul accepted, and created a story and score off of what he had already started. He went back to that workon a computer program he has admittedly become quite obsessed with), with the thought of that sound inspiring dance.

Photo by Jessica Lapidos

McCartney and Martins enter Lincoln Center with a hug. All you need is love, hard work, and the NYC Ballet.

Here, he beholds a Terra Punk – one of the “baddies” as he calls them – in full costume. Stella went along the guidelines of what Dad saw in his mind as he created these characters. He wanted them to be tattooed tribally, so she imprinted the tattoo upon nude dancer’s mesh.

Stella stepped out of her realm of the Stella McCartney brand to create a fantastical skin for the ballet to take place within. After a decade of work with legendary makeup artist  Pat McGrath, in which Stella rarely deviated from the fresh face, she was finally able to let McGrath stretch her theatrical wings and transport these dancers to a kingdom under the sea. She worked with the elite textile printer Dyenamix to create scales out of tie dye, and tattoos out of mesh.

The fabrics she chose fluttered with the movement of water. Part of the ensemble of hand maidens wore tops with a billowing cape behind it, two separate strips of silk attached to the shoulder and waist seams of the shirt. It hit the air like swimming fins.

Three Drunk Lords stumble-danced on stage to a wobbly jazzy sound, in thick multi-color painted striped suits. Perhaps this pattern will find its way onto Stella’s future runways.

The treacherous servent to the Princess Honorata wore a dark rectangular washed silk cape that danced like ribbon around her body, attached to her fingers. See the sketch:

Now see it in action in this gorgeous video by the New York Times.

The harmony of Paul’s bubbling and expressive orchestral musical movements along with Stella’s movement-focused color-blasted underwater mix of breezy chiffons and body suits creates a truly special environment for the ethereal grace of the NYC Ballet.

Who was there last night? Check the gallery.

Already the newest face of Chanel and always seen wearing Louboutins, Lively would be a perfect match to play a young Carrie. She’s a little bit tall for the part, but otherwise, what a perfect match!

LINK LOVE: Fashionista

The author of Sex and the City wore this monstrosity to last night’s New York City Ballet gala, and I just don’t understand the choice. Is it supposed to resemble a demented tutu? You’re a pretty lady Candace Bushnell, but this looks like you forgot to tip your gardener.

LINK LOVE: The Cut

Here is the first image of the cover of Candace Bushnell’s The Carrie Diaries, a young adult book series set during the teen years of the Sex And The City protagonist.

“Carrie in high school did not follow the crowd – she led it, it was there that she began observing and commenting on the social scene.”

The first volume of The Carrie Diaries is scheduled for release April 27, 2010, just a month before the theaterical release of Sex And The City 2.

Read more on ICYDK

Candace Bushnell, the writer who brought us SATC, has defended the use of designer labels in her work – insisting that they play an integral role in women’s identities.

“I don’t think fashion is part of my work for the sake of it, fashion for many women is a weapon. It’s comparable to men’s suits. There’s the salesman in the shiny suit and then certainly in New York, successful men wear hand-tailored Italian suits. So, as you get older, your clothes express your status as opposed to, ‘I found the right handbag, this is my weapon, get back’. Money and power go together. We as women don’t like to acknowledge that, but it’s true, so when you have money, the power paradigm with men shifts.”

Thanks Vogue UK.