Glamour, glitz and puttin' on the Ritz....

It was time!

I have been threatening to do this for, well, forever.  A thread about the costumes and hair/make-up and everything that goes to make SCD the glitzy glamourfest I love.

This series has been less glamorous than previous series and I am disapppinted.  But I won't dwell on the negative but instead praise the postive...

So, to kick off, here are the standout dresses of series....gosh! No idea how many it is...! - um, 2017...

Karen's gorgeous yellow silky 1940's dress in week 1
Charlotte's beyond beautiful dress in week 1
Charlotte's Kelly NcGillis look in Week 3
YASB's dress in week 2 or 3 (can't even remember the dance, but it was ballroom - possibly the QS?)
Katya's Russian look in Week 3
Mollie's VW dress in Week 5

A few of the Quickstep dresses have been lovely, though not as memorable as the ones above.  The Waltz and the Foxtrot dresses have been mainly a let-down :-(

I know I am in the minority with this, but not enjoying the Mad-Max themed hair and dresses for the Pasos (Gemma and Karen's).

On the postive side, a shout out for some of the female pros' dress choices for ITT appearances.  Karen's pink satin number and Katya's floral frock deserve particular mention :-)

In case the producer's/Vicky/the two Lisa's are reading this, please remember all the Hollywood glamour, princess and fairy-loving kids amongst us.  I have little opportunity to wear red-carpet dresses (though I actually own one!) and I need to get my kicks vicariously by looking at all the wondrous glamour on Strictly.  So out with the ugly (especially Hallowe'en - ugh!) and in wiht the breathtakingly gorgeous :-)

Anyone else got any opinions?

PS - Is Hatlady around? She was always terribly knowledgeable on the subject of wardrobe... Missing you!

Think this might just be me writing to myself! But here goes...

Much. much better this week!

Moillie's was the standout dress. Didn;t like the shirt top so much (yes, yes, I know she was meant to be an off-duty film star a la Grace Kelly and hte look was very fitting) but the skirt was gorgeousness personified. And loved her hair too. Have to disagree with Tango about it being Great Gatsby-esque - that was in the twenties and was all about the Jazz Age flapper. This was very much the 1950s Grace Kelly ice-maiden - elegant sophistication. Delicious!

YASB may be annoying for so many different reasons, but I thinks she must be nice to the wardrobe team as she invariably gets some of the better frocks. Loved the buttermilk (yes - the buttermilk is back!) skirt and the top was very pretty. The whole flow and shape was very Ginger and fitted the dance beautifully. The hair also complimented it. Lovely :-)

Haven't really liked Alex's outfits much to date, but loved this Cha cha cha dress. The longer length still showed all her leg but there was enough skirt to really move. I thought the silver Jive dress was too short for the jive and was more of a cha cha dress - I infinitely preferred this one. And red is very much Alex's colour.

Debbie's dress was fine - not outstanding, but fine - but her hair! It made her look 107!! Note to Debs - be very very nice to Lisa in the coming week. Extra specially nice. Chocolates, effusive thank yous, homemade brownies - whatever it takes...

Oh Janette, Janette... Just because you are dancing toThe Jacksons circa 1969 doesn;t mean that a VW needs to be styled a-la 1969. In fact, it very much shouldn't. Interpret the words... It was actually first released in 1960 and was a hit for Smokey Robinson (the writer) and the Miracles - so it would have been just as appropriate to go back to 1960. The look spoilt the whole lyricism intrinsic to a VW and Janette is now sitting on my Agin subs bench - with YASB managing nice choreography to nice music there may well be a space on the Agin team, so she had better watch it. She really has no feeling for ballroom.

Even though I don't like dress up, I did think the soldier costumes and make up were very good and worked. However, I was itching to move teh button's on Katya's from right on her nipples to somewhere less obvious... (I checked out Joe's buttonage and his were NOT placed over his nipples - in every other aspect their uniforms matche.... )

None of the others really stood out for either good or bad reasons.

Anyone else got any thoughts?

I don't want you to think you are taking to yourself so here goes but be warned my fashion sense is tantamount to zero.

This week's costumes were very hit and miss. I thought Joe looked naff dressed up as a redcoat with red cheeks and Susan and K.evin looked idiotic in the half mast dungarees. As seems to be the norm Alexandra won out in costumes and I liked Mollie's dress which suited her and the dance and likewise Davood's suit. Aston also looked pretty ridiculously attired for a Viennese Waltz. When I saw him I thought he was set for a discotheque.

I thought that Claudia's dress was lovely as well and suited her as did Shirley's gown.

diamondsandpearls wrote:Think this might just be me writing to myself!  But here goes...

Debbie's dress was fine - not outstanding, but fine - but her hair!   It made her look 107!!  Note to Debs - be very very nice to Lisa in the coming week.  Extra specially nice. Chocolates, effusive thank yous, homemade brownies - whatever it takes...

I didn't much like Debbie's dress, it looked a bit nylon to me and I thought it was a rather unflattering fit. Also didn't like the white stripes in the petticoat part of it.  Agree about her hairstyle (or lack of it), they're not doing her any favours at all behind the scenes. I don't like the way make-up often put such heavy black eyeliner on her - too harsh in my opinion.  

Great that you've started this thread Diamonds (I miss Hatlady ).  I'll have a re-watch and put a few more thoughts down.

A few more thoughts after a quick re-watch ....

Alexandra really suits red, and I liked the longer cut of her cha cha dress.  Good to have loose hair but at times her whole face was covered by it, which I imagine made dancing a bit harder

Agree with CC - wasn't a fan of the toy solider outfit for Joe, or the spangly dungarees for Kevin and Susan's jive. I'd commented in the Honesty thread that I thought the white trainers for the jive were too clompy - on the re-watch I felt the trainers disguised (or maybe prevented) the lack of pointy toes and dancing on ball of the feet in the jive.

Loathed Aston and Janettes outfits last night, and even more so this morning.  The concept might've worked for a latin, but looked so wrong for a VW. I also didn't like the combination of his paisley shirt with Janettes polka dot dress. Visually, the whole dance was unattractive, but I have to say I think the costumes contributed a lot to that.

Not sure if I liked Gemma's beaded salsa outfit or not. Looks like a huge amount of work went into making it, but it made her look rather top heavy and I didn't really like the pink frilly bits.

Dress of the night for me was Oti's sparkly samba dress, I think Oti can wear just about anything and look fab.  Not so keen on Jonnie's open dotty shirt.

I really liked the complementarity between Davood and Nadiya's outfits, and the floral detail on her dress.

I'm missing the glitz and ritz style of dresses and so missing the tails and top hat for the Gentlemen... What has happened to all the glitter? Sequins? Sheer chiffon black shirts for the men? Snazzy waistcoats too? Has wardrobe been advised its Steptoe & Son theme for this series!?

Atmosphere yes ATMOSPHERE m8ssing this year with the dances. I recall the tingle & goosebumps from Austin's opening sequence for his Paso -sublime and I want that tingling again please....

jingle wrote:I think Oti can wear just about anything and look fab.

So true, so true. Though I didn't think she walked off with the honours last night. Mollie's was the best dress of the night for me, right up till the end when Nadiya appeared. I'll take your word for it that it was buttermilk in colour, diamondsandpearls, but whatever it was - it was gorgeous against her colouring and with the floral embroidery on the bodice, it was just to die for. I thought the sparkly overalls were good fun for Susan and Kevin, and I didn't mind the footwear at all. We've seen that type of shoe for the jive quite a lot haven't we? I also agree with a lot of people about Joe and Katya's costumes. I thought they really did miss the mark.

Janette looked like she was auditioning for a part in the Flintstones.

There are lots of outfits I wanna see my Joe in but 'toy soldier' isn't one of them.

Debbie's hair aged her, I agree.

Mollie looked sumptuous.

Kevin in dungarees - well no one can say he's not a good sport.

saxonsiren wrote:I'm missing the glitz and ritz style of dresses and so missing the tails and top hat for the Gentlemen... What has happened to all the glitter? Sequins?  Sheer chiffon black shirts for the men? Snazzy waistcoats too? Has wardrobe been advised its Steptoe & Son theme for this series!?

Atmosphere yes ATMOSPHERE m8ssing this year with the dances. I recall the tingle & goosebumps from Austin's opening sequence for his Paso -sublime and I want that tingling again please....

This is exactly what I have been banging on about for ages Sax.  And why I felt moved to open a thread about ... well, the threads.  Every s.leb always mentions how different it feels once they get the wardrobe, hair and make up - it creates the scene and atmosphere and feel of the dance.  It moves  the dance from training room to performance.  It MATTERS. Immensely.

Which is why a 1969 Jackson-era themed VW is NEVER going to work.  How can you channel your inner swirliness when you are dressed to strut you extrmely funky stuff.  As Jingle said, it would have worked for a latin dance but the roots of the VW are in classical music - music without percussion in the main.  Dressed like that they would have felt to urge to get on down (well, I would have) and for viewer the extreme juxtopostion of funk/soul clothes styling with a classical ballroom dance was too uncomfortable.  VW is all about tripping the light fantastic within the confines of the Victorian morality.  The VW is swirling and joyful but there is a high level of decorum and elegance to maintain.  I don't expect crinolines and cravats (though in a theme week that would work), but I DO expect tails - or at least evening dress - for the bloke, and a dress which has inbuilt swirliness so that the essence of the dance is amplified.

I used be coveting pretty much all the ballroom dresses and some of the latin ones in series past, now it is just the odd one or two that I want to have and eat all up!  The yellow forties number in the first show (I think Karen wore it) and Charlotte's ballroom dress also in the first show are the only ones that have really made me swoon.

Thanks for everyone's comments - I don't feel a voice in the wilderness any more!

I didn;t mention the overalls because when something is so bad I always feel it best to ignore and move on, rather than waste words describing such abominations.  I can also see why CC and Jingle didn't like the Joe soldier outfit - as I said, I was surprised I didn't mind (apart from Katya's nipple-buttons...). I think it was because it DID sort of fit the theme of the dance and song albeit in a rather whimsical way. I also didn;t mention Gemma's dress because she clearly needs to spend more time sucking up to the costume dept.

Someone mentioned Otis dress - I quite liked it but it wasn;t a stand-out one for me, though I would agree that Oti invariably looks fabulous.

Can I just say a word on Jive outfits?  Jive says to me 1950's coffee bars and local hops - so why do we hardly ever get a 1950's style dress?  Even Ore's jive was 1960s inspired in styling (shudder - don't make me recall Joanne's awful hair and dress).  Simon Webb had a fifties styled one and he looked awsome (but Kristina's dress wasn't in keeping and spoiled the overall look for me).  I think Natalie has done one too, and most surprisingly, Janette (in a fantastic black and white stripey dress :-) ).  But jive seemed to get off onto a wrong foot dress-wise right from the horrible pink music-hall-esque number that Jill Ha'penny wore, and has never really seemed to have recovered :-(

Even on this topic (which apart from knowing what I like, I know little about), I'll throw in Ian And Jodi's Regency waltz as the epitome of dance dress elegance.( Then again, everything about it was superb).

Oh, and A nton and E rin in full waltz mode in " putting on the Ritz" gear is a sight to behold.

TANGOLERO wrote:Even on this topic (which apart from knowing what I like, I know little about), I'll throw in Ian And Jodi's Regency waltz as the epitome of dance dress elegance.( Then again, everything about it was superb).

It was Tango, it was....  

I am in fact very easily pleased. I just watched a clip of Twirly Shirley being twirly and I caught sight of her shoes and actually gasped in sheer delight - they were completly sparkly!  Her dress was a bit rubbish though .... (jive )

For the latin dances I want lots of glitter and shimmer for shimmying in and for ballroom I want gorgeous wafti-ness wiht layers annd godets.  And LOADS of sequins on both :-). Men need to look all hot and macho for the latin dances and all smart and sophisticated for ballroom.

Now how hard is that?

diamondsandpearls wrote: . Men need to look all hot and macho for the latin dances and all smart and sophisticated for ballroom. Now how hard is that?

Well, I'm not that bothered about the hot and macho bit, but when the pros do a ballroom group number in tie, tails and posh frocks, that's where it's at.

diamondsandpearls wrote:I just watched a clip of Twirly Shirley being twirly [...]

Now, diamondsandpearls, if people are going to start associating  the words "Shirley" and "Twirly" I'm definitely going to have to re-think my forum name! There's no way I'm going to be associated with her!  

Twirlie wrote:

Now, diamondsandpearls, if people are going to start associating  the words "Shirley" and "Twirly" I'm definitely going to have to re-think my forum name! There's no way I'm going to be associated with her!  

I'm so sorry Twirlie! I didn't think.... I shall never put those two words together again...

Didn't anyone notice that Gemma was wearing the top half of Oti's recycled samba dress from last year???

diamondsandpearls wrote:


 I'm so sorry Twirlie!  I didn't think....    I shall never put those two words together again...

 xxx

Did not like Tess's dress for the result show. Tge neckline looked unfinished like they had run out of material to complete it. Was quite irritating.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Did not like Tess's dress for the result show. Tge neckline looked unfinished like they had run out of material to complete it. Was quite irritating.

Can't even remember it Cal - that's how much impression it made on me.

Loved the red dress from last week and loved her trouser suit. She needs to move away from A-symmetrical...

Need to formally announce that I am finding the style and glamour on ITT is actually outshining that of SCD...

The female pros have been wearing gorgeous outfits recently and Molly never disappoints. Her littel white frock was sweet and pretty and had a (shorter version) feel of a 1930's Ginger day dress. Debbie goes all out on the glamour and tonight's poppy red strapless number was no exception.

And then we got Chloe's Paso dress..... It was a Paso dress. It said Paso. It did Paso. It WAS paso. And it was scrumdelumptious

Not really much to write after the Putting on the Glitz slot on ITT last night...

I'm getting a bit bored with Gemma getting the same style dress for every ballroom dance... A fitted but dropped waist bodice. It's quite a hard look to carry off and I don't think it does Gemma's stupendous figure justice. She needs the fullness starting just at or just below the waist, rather than from her hips. Also, as I said, its all a bit dull and tedious getting the same thing in a different colour and a slightly different neckline. Did like the colours of the beading on th is though.

Thought Mollie's Paso dress darn lovely - but would have preferred to to be red and gold, rather than gold and red (Vicky should have stolen the red back from Debbie - it's not important for the Salsa to be in red). Mollie has a very, neat, petite but all in proportion figure and I think it lends itself to pretty much any kind of style. Despite being little she has good long legs for her height, so she can carry off even things which ned a bit of leg length. A dream to dress I think.

I find the sketches a bit sketchy... ie difficult to really see what the dress will turn out like. I have got an idea of Deb's salsa dress, but was completely unsure what the other dress is going to be like (can't even remember who it was for - a pro I think...)

Alex's dress last night was amazing - or at least, Alex looked amazing - the dress was really a simple bit of stretchy bandage dress-age. But boy, did she make it look wow!


Love that so many of them realy go to town on ITT :-)

I loved Tess's dress tonight and Gemma looked stunning in her outfit. Also like the tweed waistcoat and short-sleeved shirt of Davood's.

CaledonianCraig wrote:I loved Tess's dress tonight

Hope her gimp mask, or sparkly gag is on order for Blackpool

CaledonianCraig wrote:I loved Tess's dress tonight and Gemma looked stunning in her outfit. Also like the tweed waistcoat and short-sleeved shirt of Davood's.

Yes, Tess looked good. Gemma's dress was better than I thought it was going to be, but I still still think that the fullness flares out from too low down on her hips to be as flattering as it could be.

Katya was my winner. I usually HATE rumba dresses (and Rumbas - stupid dance), but she looked pretty damn good. I have come to the conclusion that some pros (and indeed, some s.lebs) just know better than others what looks good on them and brief Vicky et al accordingly. Mollie is always stylish in her everyday life and she always manages to get good frocks (though I think her paso dress should have been red and black and I htinks she would have rocked the whole paso more - though it was a difficult tune to paso to, so maybe not...) YASB is generally pretty glam/stylish and always gets lovely frocks. Katya has been getting pretty much the best frock every week, and though I know she is VERY nice to wardrobe, I think she just has good taste herself and knows how to get the best out of Vicky and her team's talents.

Debbie's salsa dress was also quite nice (she said, damning with faint praise....)

Oti's dress also had potential but just failed to make it into the amazing category. Can't put my finger on why, but just not quite there
Alex looked sensational - though I didn't go for the black orchid lipstick (ie such a dark purple it is almost black)...

Gorka looked sensational too ;-)

I've done my costume re-watch. Gotta agree with Diamonds, Katya's fringed rumba dress was dress of the night for me. A few thoughts..

So, Susan and Debbie got the pick of the red dresses - I agree with Diamonds that Mollie's would've been better as red with gold rather than gold with red. The way it was striped made Mollie's skirt looked a bit like a flag.

Liked Joe in sparkly black

Thought Ruth's dress had too much going on, stripes in every direction and a laced back.

Liked Davood's outfit, but there wasn't any crossover to Nadiyas dress. If he'd been given a pink neckchief they would've looked a bit more connected ( I liked last week when she wore the buttermilk and he had a complementary yellow tie)

The skirt of Gemma's dress just looked a bit dingey. Was it pale grey? Not sure why her dresses cover so much of her - it was fitted up to the neck and also covering her back.

Alexandra - a rather odd thing going on with the straps over the bust, not sure they added anything to her dress. I think a flash of a bright colour might've looked good

Agree with Diamonds - something lacking in Oti's yellow dress. I didn't like the big ruffle either, it seemed to get in the way of Jonnies hands in hold

Debbie - bit of a prim salsa outfit, long sleeves and long length.

jingle wrote:The skirt of Gemma's dress just looked a bit dingey. Was it pale grey?  Not sure why her dresses cover so much of her - it was fitted up to the neck and also covering her back.

I agree it was by no means the most glamorous skirt we've seen for a Viennese Waltz. Following on from Vicki Gill's comments on Thursday, they obviously didn't do enough to make sure it didn't get caught in her heels. That's exactly what happened and caused her stumble.

Do her dresses always cover her? True, they're never very low cut at the front apart from the faux front of the very first dress, but her arms and shoulders are always on display and her back is frequently bare too. It may be her choice of course. She's a fuller shape than some of the others. A higher front may make her feel safer.