For which Ballets Russes production did Coco Chanel design costumes in 1924?

Coco Chanel designed the costumes for the Ballets Russes production Le Train Bleu in 1924.

The one-act ballet was choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska, with music by Darius Milhaud and a scenario by Jean Cocteau. Its setting was the fashionable French Riviera, and its cast included swimmers, tennis players, golfers and other athletic characters. Chanel dressed the performers in modern sportswear rather than traditional romantic ballet costumes.

Le Train Bleu premiered on 20 June 1924 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Henri Laurens created the Cubist-inspired beach scenery, while the curtain was based on Pablo Picasso’s Two Women Running on the Beach. The production reflected the Ballets Russes’ habit of combining dance with work by leading modern artists.

The alternatives belong to other famous Ballets Russes associations: Parade premiered in 1917 with designs by Picasso, while Apollo was first performed in 1928. The Rite of Spring, another landmark Ballets Russes work, premiered in 1913 and was not a Chanel costume project.