SCD 2019 Costumes - Glamour, Glitz & Ritz

Just putting this up early as I may be away for the opening show.

Diamonds - thoughts so far?

Limbering up B4p, limbering up...

Only the launch show to go on, but only The Viscountess's frock was in any way, shape or form glamorous or lovely (which the great and wonderful Monkseal also noted in his blog). I feel that unlike mere mortals, who trot along to Vicky's wardrobe holding all manner of sweet treats aloft in the hope thye might get a decent dress, The Viscountess (TV), if confronted with anything less than gorgeous, will just give Vicky and her gang a long, hard stare until they pull out the best frock from it's hiding place and also make every single alteration and adornment she asks for.

I really liked the shape AND the fabric of Emma's gown. There was a distinct nod to ballroom of the 50s and 60s and I'm all for that. Catherine's dress should have been nice as it was a similar shape, but the neckline was horrible and the fabric wasn't a patch on TV's.

I see they are still slashing the necklines and then in-filling the resultant gap with so-called 'nude' mesh fabric. Please don't. It looks dreadful. Either let their real flesh show (not realistic on a family show or one where you are jigging about a lot) or, since you are covering the decolletage with fabric anyway, just use the fabric of the dress and don't slash the neckline. I have requested this before, Vicky, but you seem to have gone deaf...

I wasn't keen on the female pros dresses - the way they were constructed made some of them look like they had a bit of a tummy. Which given they are all honed and tone within a millimetre is ridiculous. Luba particularly suffered from the phenomenon.

The s leb men looked universally dreadful. The pros in all white mostly looked pretty damn good...

Wasn't mad keen on C lauds's red baggy suit but found myself oddly quite liking Tess's Unsymmetrical, midnight blue, velvetty, leg-revealing dress.

Shirley, who usually gets AMAZING gowns drew a very short straw and looked like she was wearing a dress for a Sound of Music theme. Motsi had one nice-ish dress and one horror. She has a very generous enbonpoint (bosom) and that is a challenge to dress elegantly.

That's it so far. I am hoping for lots of Sophie type dresses again this year for ballroom, but if not, then just beautiful, gorgeous, elegant, sophisticated , glamorous dresses which nod quite hard to old hollywood and/or the era of the dance they are doing.

I can dream...

diamondsandpearls wrote:Limbering up B4p, limbering up...

I see they are still slashing the necklines and then in-filling the resultant gap with so-called 'nude' mesh fabric. Please don't. It looks dreadful. Either let their real flesh show (not realistic on a family show or one where you are jigging about a lot) or, since you are covering the decolletage with fabric anyway, just use the fabric of the dress and don't slash the neckline. I have requested this before, Vicky, but you seem to have gone deaf...

Shirley, who usually gets AMAZING gowns drew a very short straw and looked like she was wearing a dress for a Sound of Music theme.

Have to agree about those nude mesh inserts - hideous, and that's from someone who can't tell a Gaudet from a Gaudette!
I also didn't like Shirl the twirl's dress. It reminded me of the ballroom version of a Burlesque Basque. Very off-putting.

Back from cat-sitting and to the old laptop where all my fingers can dance about on the keyboard rather than just my thumbs - sort of a jive versus pogoing... I'm infinitely more suited to jiving.

So, to the frocks!

I spent Sat Tweeting scores for each outfit, but like the judges, found it hard to call Alex as the first one out, thinking hers was very nice indeed (loved the feather godets - godets! - and the beautifully crystalled bodice and the halter neck and the colour really suited her) but not quite top of the leaderboard. I was wrong. Aside from the very long, obvious and unnecessary split, hers was on a par with the other two top dresses which were Saffron's (only downside was the nude underlay beneath the lace on the bodice - would have preferrred to be the same as the the skirt's underlay (red, I think...) ) and Luba's, which was also let down by the bodice being plain, rather than the same sparkly fabric of the gorgeous skirt.

A very honorouble mention to Oti's orangetastic sequin-fest - she looked MAGNIFICENT in it.  However, only Oti could have worked that one, and even for her, the extraneous massive feathery corsage and the Carmen Miranda oversized floral hair accessory was a just a bit much.

Another honorouble mention to Michelle's dress. I'm not keen on that magenta shade, but it suited her and worked well with the silver accents. Use of clever (and very attractive bejewelled) panelling gave her buxom shape a modicom of svelteness. The downside was that the silver tinsel work at the back didn't quite work for some reason. I think it needed to be either more, or not there at all.

Emma B's blue and silver tasselly jive dress was nice and the deep V gave her full bust a bit of a slim down. Having said that, the tasselly part of the dress was only just covering her boobs and her side boob was covered in thin blue nylon, which I didn't like. I noticed they had done the same on her launch frock, as though they thought it would narrow her width of bust down a bit. Didn't work for me.

'Meh' outift of the night was Emma Posh - her launch show dress was the dress of the night, so I was very disappointed. It was just... ok. It looked like the leftover fabric from Kate's hideous blue thing from last year's samba, and though the shape and detail was a vast improvement on that one it was a very tame dress for a chax3.

Really BAD outfits of the night were poor old David and Nadya. I saw their rehearsal footage and the clothes they wore for that were infinitely nicer. I felt it was really quite cruel actually.  As if it wasn't bad enough they had to dance a Foxtrot to Three Lions... Poor David.

Almost as bad were Dev's yellow and brown Argyle tank top, Katherine's yellow and brown floral nightie, and Johanne's dog poo brown (with accents of yellow) suit (though his backside DID distract from the misery of the colour he was having to wear...). What's with the yellow and brown Vicky?  Stop it. Right now.

And just below that on the spectrum was Jannette's (how many 'n's and 't's does she have in her name - I am never confidently sure). In a paraphrase of the great and wonderful Heidi Stephen's words on the subject, it looked like two dresses had merged and one had vomited up it's innards on the other...  They seem to have thought about giving Janette (let's try it this way.... yes, I think that looks better) a forties homage dress on the top and then panicked when someone went, " No! It's a Quickstep - 1930s!" and quickly sewed a bit of the nearest fabric (which appears to be a black net curtain) onto the bottom of it to give it some swirl and went "voila!".  Hmmm.

Almost forgot Amy's vile shade of highlighter-yellow net shower-curtain thing. It could have been made in my favourite colour and a gorgeous fabric and I would still have hated it to be honest. It looked like a haberdashery department had just been thrown at Amy - sequins! frills! ribbons! ruches! layers! glitter! straps!*

Karen was landed with an outfit of two halves - her sassy, tasselly, pale pink micro (almost not there) skirt was phenomenal. And then we moved up to the awful green basque tucked into it and the bright pink jacket which had it's back missing (the jacket itself was quite edgy and I liked it, but it just didn't work with this ensemble). Even her hair, which looked incredible in the opeing pro dance, flopped in resignation at having to wear this mish mash.

Motsi looked incredible in her black and silver Earth, Wind and Fire Disco Inferno-themed outfit. Shirley looked like she had been trying on wedding dresses, lost track of time and had to leg it to the studio still wearing the Country Style one.

Tess...  Bless Tess. She never let's me down. She almost did on the launch show, as I actually quite enjoyed her midnight blue velvet dress, which was split to the waist on one side to reveal... a mini skirt!  Tess is never knowingly symmetrical and if she doesn't have a a bizarre detail then as far as I am concerned they haven't dressed her properly.  This week she failed on the asymmetry as the neckline was straight across. And there was some very acceptable, nice even, sequin detail. And the red was a lovely shade and suited Tess beautifully.  I was quite disappointed initially, and then - ha!  The camera panned out and it was revealed that the bodice was too big, apart from at the very top (thank goodness!) and bagged nastily around the waist. And then - hello!  We got a wonderful, full on baggy dropped crotch Equilibrium restored - Tess has a bad outfit once more - phew!  So actually, she scores 10/10 for getting a totally Tess Dress

Claudia was back to her classic comfort zone of black with matching panda eyes and fringe, with super-pale lips.  However, she seems to have one-upped Tess on the asymmetrical front and sported one bare shoulder and one puffed sleeve. I'm a bit confused to be honest..

*Straps!  Yes, these appear to be this year's theme. Almost every dress went in for some kind of strappy detailing on the back, though Katya got hers thrown at her everywhere. It really worked for some of the dresses (Alex, Saffron), less so for others (Emma Posh).

I think that's enough for now, dont you?! xx

diamondsandpearls wrote:'Meh' outift of the night was Emma Posh - her launch show dress was the dress of the night, so I was very disappointed. It was just... ok. It looked like the leftover fabric from Kate's hideous blue thing from last year's samba, and though the shape and detail was a vast improvement on that one it was a very tame dress for a chax3.

Really BAD outfits of the night were poor old David and Nadya. I saw their rehearsal footage and the clothes they wore for that were infinitely nicer. I felt it was really quite cruel actually.  As if it wasn't bad enough they had to dance a Foxtrot to Three Lions... Poor David.

Almost as bad were Dev's yellow and brown Argyle tank top, Katherine's yellow and brown floral nightie, and Johanne's dog poo brown (with accents of yellow) suit (though his backside DID distract from the misery of the colour he was having to wear...). What's with the yellow and brown Vicky?  Stop it. Right now.
I think that's enough for now, dont you?! xx

Wow. I think you need a lie down after that Diamonds - on a sparkly Chaise Lounge of course. Well done

My observations are very basic I'm afraid. Just what I liked, or not as the case may be.

Well, the biggest dress distraction for me was Emma W (posh). She's flat chested and they gave her a very deep bodice that only showed the top was empty! I'm sure they could have given her a slightly higher neckline or a different style to the top section.

I loved Oti's 'Tangerine Explosion' and also Katya's blue/purple strappy concoction.

It was a shame that they didn't dress Johannes in something more traditional for his VW like a longer jacket or tails. The irony is most were just glued to the prominent gluten of Johan-arse. I guess it's one tactic to take the heat of the celeb!

David should demand a rebate or a 'first in the queue ticket' for the next wardrobe fitting.

Dev looked like an advert for a golfing weekend.

It's funny you picked up on the yellow/brown theme. I see that now but I was thinking, they've gone for a plum/purple colour for a lot of outfits.

Tangerine! YES!! Tangerine-tastic would have been much better than my initial description - well done B4P !

I agree entirely about Emma Posh's frock. It just wasn't the best neckline on her, and, given her amazing legs, they could have given her a much shorter skirt but gone higher in the neck. Maybe a sweetheart or scoop or square neckline. And any of those with a halter neck would have worked too.

Johannes and Katherine I think were meant to be dressed in a hippy dippy late 60s/early 70s style, hence the style of suit Johannarse ( ) wore. I think themeing the outfits to the song rather than the dance is ALWAYS a mistake.

And yes, there was a fair bit of plum and purple - well spotted!

diamondsandpearls wrote:Johannes and Katherine I think were meant to be dressed in a hippy dippy late 60s/early 70s style, hence the style of suit Johannarse ( ) wore.  I think themeing the outfits to the song rather than the dance is ALWAYS a mistake.

I can't remember any hippy/dippies wearing suits. Think of Paul Rogers singing 'All right now' or Donavan and you get my point.
For hippy/dippy males it should have been flairs, split knees, or loon pants, cheesecloth shirt, possible multi coloured waistcoat, and small love bead necklace and wrist bands.
She should have floated in like she'd escaped from a Cadbury's Flake advert, or the girl in the Slimcea bread advert. Long layered full skirt, more cheesecloth or a Gypsy top, a headband, hoop earrings and matching beadsssssssssssss.

If they're going for a theme, particularly on week 1, they should do their history homework and get it right (or just ask me!) I can't stand half measures that are neither here nor there. I need commitment from the Wardrobe Department!

I'm not brave enough to comment much on the womens' frippery frocks in general; at least they weren't dressed up as garden gnomes like a couple of the men. I gave up on female styles after Carnaby Street, coffee bars and that daft Chubby Checker nonsense twitching about, grinding cigarette's out dance appeared. The Palais shut about then anyway, so silver strappy shoes in a plastic bag ceased to be a carry about item for girls about the same time as my duffle coat went out of fashion and I had to dress like Jason King (oh, okay, Peter Wingarde then) and "Where do you go to my Lovely" was the only song in town. I think Emma Peel and Joanna "Purdy" Lumley were to blame for a lot of things female. and then we had all that 10CC and Human League and Spandau flares and stuff...ugh..

Anyway, whoever gets to dress them ( the men ) shouldn't be let near Worzel Gummage. Send em to Moss Bros and let them look all macho and stuff, instead of where are the clowns? John Steed would have a fit. ....Onwards..

TANGOLERO wrote: Anyway, whoever gets to dress them ( the men ) shouldn't be let near Worzel Gummage. Send em to Moss Bros and let them look all macho and stuff, instead of where are the clowns? John Steed would have a fit. ....Onwards..

Well I think that's right. If in doubt, particularly for a beautiful dance like the VW, then go formal and look the full ballroom part dressed up to the 9s, rather than a hotch-pot, jumble sale, 'lets look what's left in the dressing up box for this week' half-hearted appraoch .

B4p wrote:

If they're going for a theme, particularly on week 1, they should do their history homework and get it right (or just ask me!) I can't stand half measures that are neither here nor there. I need commitment from the Wardrobe Department!

I don't think Vicky and her team are big on authentic fashion history. I think they just have a load of fabric and habersashery bits and bobs in a big stoockroom and cobble them together with a vague nod to the theme.

I may have inadvertantly mislead you with the words 'hippy dippy' - I really meant the era where they wore flared trousers suits to work with waistcoats and floral shirts and woman wafted about in long flowery dresses. I have a photo of my mum and her five (yep, count 'em, FIVE!) sisters at a wedding all kitted out in long flowery, and in some cases flouncy, dresses (all amazingly in different combinations of navy and white) and the men wore navy or brown suits with wide-legged trousers and kipper ties. I think it was somewhere around 1974 or 75?  So not hippy dippy era really.  My mistake, rather than Vicky's...  But the song is from earlier and is definitely from the hippy dippy era - look at the video of Sunny and Chair singing it , they are dressed exactly as you describe, right down to the beads. I conflated the song's era with the mid 70s and got it all wrong. Apologies - I really SHOULD know better!

diamondsandpearls wrote:I may have inadvertantly mislead you with the words 'hippy dippy' - I really meant the era where they wore flared trousers suits to work with waistcoats and floral shirts and woman wafted about in long flowery dresses. I have a photo of my mum and her five (yep, count 'em, FIVE!) sisters at a wedding all kitted out in long flowery, and in some cases flouncy, dresses (all amazingly in different combinations of navy and white) and the men wore navy or brown suits with wide-legged trousers and kipper ties. I think it was somewhere around 1974 or 75?

Sounds like the early 70s - High waisted Oxford bags, the end of Ben Sherman shirts with the rounded collars, Kipper tie (Someone from Wolverhampton ordering a cup of tea!), platform shoes, midi length Bohemian skirts after the 60s minis. Mid 70's were velvet jackets which looked smart.

B4p wrote:
Sounds like the early 70s - High waisted Oxford bags, the end of Ben Sherman shirts with the rounded collars, Kipper tie (Someone from Wolverhampton ordering a cup of tea!), platform shoes, midi length Bohemian skirts after the 60s minis. Mid 70's were velvet jackets which looked smart.

The most awful sartorial item I ever owned was a made to measure tweed suit of the above mentioned era. It really was horrendous. I looked like Gus Demi at a bookmakers convention. Although it cost, it didn't last very long and I never wore platform shoes. I was a dedicated follower of fashion and very Peter Wingarde....

diamondsandpearls wrote:

And then - hello!  We got a wonderful, full on baggy dropped crotch Equilibrium restored - Tess has a bad outfit once more - phew!  

Great review altogether Diamonds, I meant to do a third re-watch to look at costumes, but you've covered just about everything. Worst of the night for me were the two 'work-related' outfits, being David's football ensemble and Anneka's cheap-looking velour tracksuit. I hope both of them are compensated with extra nice outfits this weekend.

B4p wrote:
Sounds like the early 70s - High waisted Oxford bags, the end of Ben Sherman shirts with the rounded collars, Kipper tie (Someone from Wolverhampton ordering a cup of tea!), platform shoes, midi length Bohemian skirts after the 60s minis. Mid 70's were velvet jackets which looked smart.

I don't think my ma and her sisters were particularly trend-setters, so they may have had their dresses in the wardrobe a couple of years. They looked like Stepford Wives more than anything!

And my mother has never, ever, owned a pair of platform shoes... She thinks they are the extreme of ugliness

diamondsandpearls wrote:And my mother has never, ever, owned a pair of platform shoes... She thinks they are the extreme of ugliness

It was mostly the men - thinking Mark Bolan for example

I am extremely exhausted this evening (some of us have to go to work on a Sunday and do 9 hours very physical hard graft ) so I don;t have the energy levels to go into details tonight, but here are some topline observations:

The Good:
Anneka! Beautiful pink princess with... shoulder wafts! Assuming they are the cousin of the much missed arm wafts...
Nadya and David. An actual matching couple! Nadiya looked amazing - and I forgive the ankle boots because the rest was so great and she wore them well. The black with red accents was just the right drama.

The Bad:
Mike and Katya.So much hard work gone into something so awful and irrelvant and unnecessary

The Ugly:
Michelle. A beautiful dred ress ruined by green and white godets

The Why?:
Karen. Erm... what had that outfit to do with a Charleston? Or the song? Why did it not match or compliment Chris's suit?

The I have no idea what's going on but I somehow like it:
Luba. Those plaid shorts with flappy bits which flew around as she danced! No idea how she looked amazing, but she did

The nobody's actually looking at what you are wearing:
Johannarse

diamondsandpearls wrote:

The nobody's actually looking at what you are wearing:
Johannarse

  indeed!

Dress of the night for me was Amy's blue dress with what looked like embroidered detail. Though I'm not sure she needed what seemed to be mothballs in her hair

Oh how I hated Mikes suit .I thought it looked similar to my vison after a Migraine.

Just realised that I haven't reported back on dresses since show 2... How terribly remiss of me. I should sack myself. It really isn't good enough.

Anyway, I tend not to comment on Theme Weeks because they just wheel the BBC Dressing Up Box outof the cupboard and throw random bits at the dancers. (Then the pro tries to do some choreography around the costume and calls it a theme...). Obvs Karen had a nice dress - stolen from an ITV production probably, and Chris looked rather dashing in tails (it never ceases to amaze me how very average British men can turn into handsome gods once scrubbed up into a set of tails). I think Emma B had quite a nice swirly frock too. I honestly can't remember - I have shed so many different cells since then that I am basically an entirely different person.

I do remember that Tess had apparently had enough of Tess Dresses and at the last minute, in a fit of uncharacteristic feisty rebellion, raided one of her mates' wardrobe and turned up in Normal Dress.  Not a bit of wrong-size-itis, asymmetry, cape-age, or trouser-leg-in-a-dress to be seen. I had to have a lie down and am not convinced I have recovered yet. I have my therapist on speed dial if it all gets too much though...

That's all I am saying about Week 3.

And so to Week 4...

Lots of eye-strobing solid colours which messed with a lot of people's vision - particlularly Dev and Dianne's Las Ketchup get up. To be honest her fringed legs messed with my head a lot more than the colour red - she appeared to have a fringed dress over fringed leggings and quite honestly Vicky, you have gone too far. WAY to far. You may well be to blame for the lack of voting for Devanne - I hope you can sleep at night.

Catherine and Johannes were too brightly pink, and yet... Can you ever really be too brightly pink when Yaas Queening it to a Beyonce song?  Also, Catherine's waist... tiny!

Amy continues to wear lovely dresses in a boring dark blue. Move on Ames, move on.

Michelle, for the first time, managed to draw a short straw and sported a tacky neon shocker of a samba ruffley dress.

Saffron wore a suitably wafty gauze conconction in an inspid pastel - looked very pale blush on my screen, but others have mentioned lilac. Either way, it was too pastel and too insipid.

Emma B wore another very nice dress, even if it was in mink (on my TV screen - could have been grey, could have been more brown - mink is brownish grey; or even a greyish brown, so I have settled on mink to describe it...) with a dark brown sash (could have been black...). Not keen on shades of brown, but otherwise, lovely.

Janette went Flamenco for a Foxtrot, which has thrown me. Not sure what my views are - I'll have to get back to you on that.

Alex continues to get very 'meh' outfits. They are all.. ok. Nothing hideous, but nothing special either.

Oti wore a long haired wig and black. That's all I noticed about the dress - it was black.

Nadiya had a lovely bit of gold swirly godet-ism, which I thoroughly approved off.

Karen was back to being Karen, ie wearing something very...strange and unflattering.

Emma Posh was themed up again and I didn't really get it. She's a model, she always looks pretty, but I wasn't a fan of this.

The main feelgood factor came from Tess who was back in a proper Tess Dress (oven-ready asymmetric bacofoil) - YAY! Therapist dismissed (for now...)

And I was super-attracted to C laud's pointy shoulder black frock. It was weird... yet excessively wonderful and she wore it with style.

Vicky G on ITT previewing this week's frocks as I type, so...

Until Saturday x

diamondsandpearls wrote:J
Emma B wore another very nice dress, even if it was in mink (on my TV screen - could have been grey, could have been more brown - mink is brownish grey; or even a greyish brown, so I have settled on mink to describe it...) with a dark brown sash (could have been black...). Not keen on shades of brown, but otherwise, lovely.

Aha - vicky appears to have heard me... the skirt was layers of different colours - grey, blue, black, pink, tan... so on camera it looke grey overall (a warm grey due to the pink and tan -and mink is a warm greyish/browncolour, so I stand by that description!)) but it was actually a lot more interesting....

Week 5

Not happy  

What is going on with the male contestant's outfits?
Recycled tight trousers for Mike and Chris, (no wonder Chris couldn't step out, he'd have split them!), more waistcoats than M&S, and braces galore! How could you dress Mike up like that, with his tight low waistband and braces causing a horizontal and vertical lock-in zone onto his beer belly. Hasn't he had enough to suffer this week learning the Samba?

Compared to female contestants, it looks like Wardrobe have sent the boys off to the local car boot sale. Karim looked like he was going ten pin bowling, Kelvin look set for a building site and David about to stand in for a Chris Isaak lookalike. The difference in style of clothing is accentuated even more by the females having lovely sparkly gowns which look at odds with their male partners, who look like they've been kidnapped from a local pub.

AND

What is it with the females in flat shoes this year. Yes, I can understand some who are doing the Charleston or Jive may need the latest trainers on but WTF was Karen wearing on her feet for that Quickstep? I'm guessing Amy was getting 'down with the hood' in those white tennis shoes for their Salsa/Hip-Hop/Acrobatic thrash-fest.

Wardrobe sort it out or it's the fans-off for you. Taxi!...........

B4p wrote:Week 5


What is it with the females in flat shoes this year. Yes, I can understand some who are doing the Charleston or Jive may need the latest trainers on but WTF was Karen wearing on her feet for that Quickstep? I'm guessing Amy was getting 'down with the hood' in those white tennis shoes for their Salsa/Hip-Hop/Acrobatic thrash-fest.

Wardrobe sort it out or it's the fans-off for you. Taxi!...........

Very well put

Thought the wardrobe ladies pulled out all the stops on Saturday with Saffron, Emma B and Catherine’s dresses. Beautiful.

fiftynotout wrote:Thought the wardrobe ladies pulled out all the stops on Saturday with Saffron, Emma B and Catherine’s dresses.  Beautiful.

Agree. the female dresses were beautiful, innovative, varied, and all things Strictly, but in comparison, the male outfits were dire. I guess they're busy getting the Halloween outfits ready.

B4p wrote:
Agree. the female dresses were beautiful, innovative, varied, and all things Strictly, but in comparison, the male outfits were dire. I guess they're busy getting the Halloween outfits ready.

Pretty much what you said Fifty, except I would add in Emma Posh's pleather Post-It swirly meringue. The pleather Post-Its were a bit weird, but the white suited Emma and the skirt with the feather hem moved so beautifully. And also Nadiya's cobalt blue bit of frou frou - I thought she looked stupendous. Liked her hair like that too.

So, having got that done, let us address flat shoes (from an aesthetic angle, rather than a technical one)...

I originally had no issue with Amy's flat trainers as Salsa dancers often wear them (to get down into the floor, rather than down with the hood...! ). However, if she was going to wear those shoes then she should have being wearing a little flippy short skirt - not full on latin tassles which can only be paired with latin heels (my rules...). So it was like two outfits married together and it didn't work.

And so to Karen's shoes... As a pair of shoes I covet them. And if she had been dressed in a Utility 40s style skirt (like this one that the divine Rita wears in this amazing routine with the ever-great Fred: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUhhKELUxB0 *) then it wouldn't have jarred. But she was dressed in post-New Look 1950s netted, stiff, sticky-out evening skirt. Which requires heels, ALWAYs (Everybody's rules) https://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/12/17/nyregion/sub-prigent-obit-1/sub-prigent-obit-1-jumbo.jpg. (A stiff-petticoated day skirt (often with felt poodles going for a quick constitutional around the hem) MAY be worn with flat ballerina pumps, or even plimsolls and short socks. I'll allow it... ) But honestly? A quickstep needs heels - for all the technical stuff, no?

So there we are. The Diamonds' Rules dictate that flat shoes may be worn (if it won't affect the dance adversely) providing the whole costume fits together.

* And here is an alternative version set to Elvis' Bossa Nova. Which really shouldn't work, and yet... it kinda does https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILbvtB_0pKk