tutu, standard skirt worn by female ballet dancers, consisting of four or five layers of silk or nylon frills; the skirt is attached to a sleek-fitting bodice. (Originally tutu designated a short, trouserlike petticoat worn under a dancer’s costume.) The prototype of the Romantic tutu, extending to within about 12 inches (30 cm) of the floor, was introduced in the 1830s by Marie Taglioni. The tutu gradually was shortened until, by the 1880s, the whole leg was visible. Both the Romantic and the brief tutu are worn in contemporary ballet.