The New York City Ballet’s annual fall gala, which pairs choreographers with fashion designers to create original works, featured three premieres this year that garnered mixed reactions for their interplay of costume and choreography.

The event, held in New York City, continued the tradition established in 2012 by board vice chair Sarah Jessica Parker, inviting designers to collaborate with ballet choreographers. This season, Alysa Pires, Justin Peck, and Jennifer Archibald teamed up with designers Victor&Rolf, Simone Rocha, and Robert Wun, respectively.

In “Auspicy,” Pires partnered with Dutch designers Victor&Rolf to explore themes surrounding motherhood amid challenging times. The ballet opened with a large golden structure dominating the stage, reminiscent of Mother Ginger’s skirt from “The Nutcracker.” Unity Phelan played the mother figure, wearing a gilded coat bearing the word “protect” prominently across the shoulders. The choreography portrayed a sense of tentative protection, with Phelan’s hesitant movements and gestures signaling the weight of responsibility. The corps de ballet, termed “Fledglings,” wore shimmering unitards and performed movements evoking the imagery of birds, supported by selections of music by Jocelyn Morlock. While the conceptual aim was clear, the production was noted for lacking subtlety and coming across as overly literal.

Jennifer Archibald’s “Shared Rain,” designed in collaboration with Robert Wun, addressed climate change through a shared experience of rain. The ballet began with dancers donning jewel-studded, midnight blue costumes and glittering umbrella headpieces inspired by Wun’s runway designs as they moved to a score blending ambient sounds and percussion, culminating with Tokio Myers’s “Bloodstream.” Archibald, known for her work in both hip-hop and classical dance, created a dynamic, energetic piece for eight dancers. Male performers were portrayed with greater agency, while female dancers were frequently depicted as vulnerable, often pulled or spun across the stage, adding a contrasting emotional texture. The choreography incorporated vigorous leaps and turns, effectively conveying the relentlessness of a storm.

Between these works was “Mirror/Sky,” a pas de deux choreographed by Justin Peck, the company’s resident choreographer, performed by principals Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia. The piece was set to a commissioned composition by Gabriel Kahane featuring elements of Stevie Nicks’s iconic song “Landslide,” with vocals by Haley Heynderickx. Nicks, serving as the gala’s honorary chair, was present at the performance. Costumes by Simone Rocha included floral motifs—Mejia’s unitard featured a vine pattern, while Peck’s incorporated flowers, drawing mixed responses for their placement and design. The choreography strove to capture the introspective and nostalgic mood of the song, with moments of tenderness and tension between the dancers. However, some critics found the piece lacked depth and subtlety, describing it as overly sentimental and uneven in execution. Peck’s decision to remove her pointe shoes midway added an unconventional element, but overall the ballet was viewed as less impactful compared to the others.

This year’s gala highlighted the challenges of balancing the inventive costumes with choreography that resonates, producing performances that ranged from conceptually ambitious to unevenly realized. While fashion and ballet shared the stage in imaginative attempts to complement each other, the results reflected both the strengths and limitations of this collaborative format.