Re: SCD 2018 Diamond's 'Glamour, Glitz & Putting on the Ritz' Costume Thread

[jingle]

A bit of a mixed bag of outfits in last night's show. I won't comment on all, but these are the ones which stick in my mind:

Lauren's skater girl tartan gym-skirt with stripy socks and baseball boots   It had the same effect as the 1980s disco outfit she wore for her cha cha, making her legs look chunky.

Loved Oti's dress, and good to see Graeme in tails. I also loved the staging for their waltz - that starry sky lighting has been used so many times before, but I always think it's very effective

Kate - oh dear, this was almost as bad as the mis-shapen blue samba dress she was given earlier in the series. Not a good colour or style for AT, and it didn't seem to match up with Aljaz's rather peculiar outfit at all.

Ashley - I still don't know what my thoughts are on her foxtrot dress. When I first saw it, I was 'oh wow, neon pink, best dress ever' and then a few seconds later I was ' eww it looks cheap and my eyes hurt'  In the end, I think I really did like the dress, but I don't think Pasha should have worn a competing purple suit, or for the stage lighting to be completely pink and purple.

Faye - this dress didn't work for the dance I thought - when she did any spins the impact was lost due in all that bouffant netting skirt.  

Joe and Dianne - this was my favourite combination, and I loved Dianne's black and gold paso dress in particular.

[B4p]

I'm getting fed up of the 'young' theme thrown at AJ and his partners. Even the BBC website has his age as only 22 (he was born in 1994) even my addition isn't that bad. Wasn't keen on Lauren's outfit. Seen better dressed bag ladies.
Graham - top hat and tails. Very suave. Very smart. More of that please, even if it's just once every 2-3 weeks.
Kate S - The style and sash across her waist made her look frumpy and wide, which is ridiculous as she's lost a lot of weight. Why the blue? I wondered if a dark green or black dress with a few discreet splashes of colour might have looked better with Alijaz's plum colour. His flock patterned suit looked bizarre.
Dr Ranj - I liked his firework shirt and Janette's rainbow fringed dress.
Stacey - Not sure what was going on there. She in her posh palazzo black trousers and structured white top, and him looking like one of the hunting brigade trying to be down with the yoof.
Danny - A slick suit, nothing more, nothing less.
Ashley - best dress of the night. Lovely sparkly fitted bodice, and Gaudet panelled skirts (get me!)
Faye - I liked the fitted top but didn't like the bouffant bottom. Wasn't sure about rusty colour of the skirt either. I think the Tango clothes should reflect the dance - Stunning in it's simplicity, sharp and contained.
Charles - why the flat cap? Why the working men's pub backdrop and the silvery outfits? Am I missing something?
Joe's Paso - I liked his outfit. Plain almost austere, with flashes of movement, just like a Paso

[allsewnonbyhand]

Good summary above B4- years of listening to Vicky Gill has taught us well, Gaudets and all!

I loved Stacey's trouser outfit, it fitted in so well with the theme, which I must admit I didn't get until I saw the dance.
Danny's waistcoat shirt and trousers was the best I've seen for ages on a male celeb, and it complemented Amy's beautiful frock. I think hers was my fave of the night.
You can't go wrong with tails for a waltz,  so glad they didn't **** it up by giving them some facile theme and outfits.
I know the majority of us took strongly agin to Kate's blue AT dress. It was so out of kilter with everything- the dance, Alijaz's flock suit- that I now wonder if they were forced to change last minute as a result of her injury? (Was it previewed on ITT? ) Perhaps there was something more fitted that was too painful to wear? Failing that...it was just a poor decision by wardrobe. Kate is quite tall isn't she and certainly no outsize so how do they manage to make her look fat?
Converse hi-tops seem to be the footwear of choice where heels aren't needed ( Ashley had them last week too) which does lead to a certain style of dressing. I thought Lauren got quite a good deal from it considering what they might have done.

[diamondsandpearls]

Well, though the theme of 1930s styling to a 2018 street dance was beyond me, I though Stacey looked sensational and was totally channeling her inner Ginge.  I just loved the neckline and puffed sleeves of the blouse, and the really wide-legged trousers - totally of the era and along with the marcel-waved hair Stacey totally rocked it. Didn't like Kev's outfit though - he was no Fred....

Dress of the night was Ashley's Foxtrot dress. I was t'other way round from Jingle - my initial thought was that it was an awful colour but then felt it was an homage to Marilyn in Gentleman Prefer Blondes (especially with the hair) and I managed to come round to embracing the colour.  It was just full on, classic Foxtrot gorgeousness and I wish we could see more of them. * Edit: It wasn't Marilyn in Gentleman Prefer Blondes (she and Jane Russell both wore bright red) - it was Madge's homage to Marilyn in that film in the video to Material Girl where she wore hot pink - silly me

A very close second was Oti's beautiful oyster pink number - she looked gorgeous in it.  Also a classy, classic ballroom dress.  And yes, more please! And didn't Graeme look the bees knees in tails?  More of that too :-)

Amy's could have been a contender. But there were sonething jarring about it - one thing was the nude panel inserted into the deep cleavage once more.  It just looks ugly. But I think the long sleeves unbalanced it too.

Also in that category was Dianne's dress - that stupid nude panel, which because they can never get an exact match to skin tone just leaps out to the eye and matches neither the dress or the skin.  You might as well put a blue or yellow panel in, as the wrong coloured 'nude' screams out to attention just as much. Really not sure why they are thinking the slashed neckline is a good look anyway?  Also, didn't like those boots - they cut off Dianne's legs at the wrong part and she ended up looking short-legged.  And also, her make-up was scary.  WHen they were sat in the C lauditorium on the results show it looked as though they had left on some of the halloween horror make up on - dark shadows and white highlights on the cheek bones.  Me no like....

In the middling category was Karen and Charles.  Karen's dress just looked unfinished - it looked no different to how it looked on Thurs on ITT when the Vickster said that ti needed more work on it... It was fine as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough.  It could have done wiht some embellishement and the slashed armholes could have done with a bit of filling in to make them look more finished.  No idea why she was visiting Charles in a pub in a posh frock, even if it was unfinished, and no idea why Charles had half a suit on and then a flat cap...  Weird.  Liked the dove grey theme though.

And then there was the holy triptych of aberrations and abominations....  

First up, poor Kate's dress.  I think it is universally agree that it was not a good look for her. Instead of looking willowy she look frumpy and, well, not exactly lumpy, but waistless, and the length made her legs look milk-bottle-y rather than elegant (as opposed to last week's Ice Maiden dress in which she look svelte and elegant). The colour was very definitely NOT AT and very definitely NOT Kate. You'd have think they'd have learned from the Samba horror... (Maybe it WAS the Samba dress re-visited...?) Poor Kate - she's clearly not sucking up to the Vickster enough.

To keep her company was Aljaz's purple flocked wallpaper nightmare, which didn't even compliment in shape or form Kate's dress - so, why???  

Keeping to the purple, lets-not-match-the-partner's-dress theme is Pasha's very own Purple Peril.  What's with the purple anyway?  A deep, rich, dark version is great for the AT (I give you Simon and Kristina...) but the mid-tone purple wiht that horrible shirt for a Foxtrot was so many shades of wrong... I guess they were so exhausted with working on Ashley's lovely frock that they just got something off the rails for Pasha (from another programme by the looks of it...)

Lauren's matched the Avril Lavigne Skater-girl theme, but I only really comment on proper ballgowns or Latin outfits so....

None of the others' really made me notice one way or another - just... meh.

But the real question is, now that Katya has gone, who will get all the good dresses?  Ashley and Oti seem to be battling it out at the moment, but time will tell...

[diamondsandpearls]

Forgot to mention the presenters and judges.... Our Shirl and Dame D looked amazing as usual and Tess looked ok.

Loved the Skittle-coloured pro dresses for their group dance on the results show.

Apropo of nothing, I noticed during my youtube frenzy (post wifi desert - it's like reaching an oasis so I must drink and drink and drink!) that Katya is credited for designing her costumes in some of their videos (not just for them but for others that her and Neil have ben involved in). Which explains why she usually looks amazing - she must have a very clear vision in her head and is able to brief Vickster and her team accordingly. So I don't think anyone is going to get her good dresses because she isn't there to input the ideas

[allsewnonbyhand]

Having just watched Vicky Gill on ITT I think Kate's going to look fab this week -fingers crossed

[diamondsandpearls]

Having just watched Vicky Gill on ITT I think Kate's going to look fab this week -fingers crossed

Yes, that dress looked scrumptious! And, as Zoe pointed out, it was tiny - just shows how awful that dress was last week, making Katy look quite dumpy. Bad Vicky!

I was underwhelmed by Stacey's dress though. I accept that it is still Thursday and not finished, but that's what Vicky said about Karen's last week and it ended up no different (just tidied up at the waistline). And that was grey too... In fact it was incredibly similar in the skirt part - have they just taken Karen's apart and put a new top bit on? Anyway, not up to scratch, must do better!

[diamondsandpearls]

As I was wandering aimlessly around in Youtube-Land I stumbled across this footage of AJ and Chloe when they were little kittens:



I post it not to show you them (though they look v accomnplised to me) but for the plethora of Sleeve-Wafts! I have never seen so many asembled in one assembly! And though there are some horrors (highlighter pen green anyone?) most of the dresses are wonderful - I really love Chloe's - gorgous colour, right amount of sparkle and.... sleeve-wafts!

Bring back sleeve-wafts! Our lives are much diminished wihtout them...

[diamondsandpearls]

Bit late with this, but here we go... In the style of another thread)

The highs

Lauren's beautiful, elegant understated-but-enough-frou-frou-to-keep-me-interested pink VW dress
Luba's gorgeous back-to-ballroom-basics feathery-hemmed waltz dress

The Intermediarys

Kate's white wedding dress - it was very nice indeed but not of blow-your-mind status. Nice tiara though
Stacey's silvery-grey waltz dress - looked slightly under-done - needed some more layers in the skirt. I know Stace requested the top layer of chifon be taken off and I think she was right i that - it was too grey - but the silvery satin needed some petticoats underneath to give it some lift and oomph

The Lows

Pretty much everyone else, apart from:

The Rock Bottom Truly Hideous

Graeme and Oti's outfits - oh my eyes!
Karen's Flavia wig, worn for no discernible reason other than to wig me out (geddit )

[saxonsiren]

Ok, ok so who is in charge of purchases this year for the costume department? utter carnage at times...Where are the beautiful flowing dresses?  The sheer tops with beautiful designs? Lovely tailored trousers and long arm gloves for the ladies...( An Al Murray moment almost said a white wine for the ladies!)
Kate I feel has the rum deal this year re quality and style of dresses save her gorgeous cream dress last week...The guys look as if they've been dressed in the cast offs from High School the Musical and ex fans of Bros....

I want to see beautiful elegant ballroom dresses and Fabulous Paso Jackets/Capes not the run round pound land special nylon elastic neon foul dress up capes...Can we hope to see some of our old favourites recycled for the Final at least?

[diamondsandpearls]

Ok, ok so who is in charge of purchases this year for the costume department? utter carnage at times...Where are the beautiful flowing dresses?  The sheer tops with beautiful designs? Lovely tailored trousers and long arm gloves for the ladies...( An Al Murray moment almost said a white wine for the ladies!)
Kate I feel has the rum deal this year re quality and style of dresses save her gorgeous cream dress last week...The guys look as if they've been dressed in the cast offs from High School the Musical and ex fans of Bros....

I want to see beautiful elegant ballroom dresses and Fabulous Paso Jackets/Capes not the run round pound land special nylon elastic neon foul dress up capes...Can we hope to see some of our old favourites recycled for the Final at least?

I feel the same Sax. There have been a few lovely dresses - mainly worn by Katya, who I think very much steers wardrobe in the direction she wants, and Amy. Even Dianne's QS dress, which was very much a nod to the traditional COme Dancing style of ballroom dress, just didn't quite come together for me - bad colour with her hair and a whiff of tackiness about it.

Every year they seem to have a slight theme, and this year it is all about the nude-coloured insert. It is supposed to give the illusion of bare flesh, but they seem to have only one colour and it it doens't match any skin tone, so it just screams out 'insert' and draws attention to itself and looks incredibly ugly. They've been in the front (pretending to be a deep-slashed neckline), at the side, and, like a couple of poor old Kate's dresses, at the back to make it look like she is wearing a lower back than she really is. It would be better just to match the material to the rest of the dress and have the back look exactly as high as it actually is. The beige against whatever colour the dress is really does make it look cheap and nasty.

Luba on the results show last week had one of the best dresses of the series and that was a ball gown with a feathery hem, but all in one colour so it look elegant and sophisticated, rather than Dianne's pale blue contrasting with the much darker sparkly bits which cheapened it.

I will say that Stacey's 1930's Ginger Roger's outfit and styling was also a highlight. But when you look at past clips I see that the dresses are just not as gorgeous and covetable as two or three series ago :-(

[B4p]

I found Kate's 'muffin' back dress very distracting. Looked like she'd be sprayed painted 2 different tones thanks to the elastic.

[diamondsandpearls]

I found Kate's 'muffin' back dress very distracting. Looked like she'd be sprayed painted 2 different tones thanks to the elastic.

There's folk saying it was to disguise Kate's strapping of her rib injury.  But, as I keep sayin', there is no need for the back to be low enough to reveal the strapping in the first place, but if they went with it to begin with then they should just insert a peice of fabric that matches.  But personally, having seen it on a fair few dresses this series, I don't think it has anything to do with covering anything up, it is a design feature.  A particularly bad, ugly and nasty one.  Vickster - you have been warned!

[diamondsandpearls]

Costume-wise it was a bit of a lack-lustre outing for a Blackpool week. The list of not very nice dresses is too long so we will just concentrate on the positives.

A nod must go to wardrobe for Oti's very Judy-esque outift and hair from Meet Me in St Louis (One of my top three musicals. EVER.)

Joe's Fred-alike hair also gets a commendation.

But the runaway winner this week is Karen's wig which looks 500 times better than her real hair. It almost made me like her.  It certainly seemed to calm her down when they were interviewing her in the Clauditorium on the results show.  Never give it back Karen.

[TANGOLERO]

But the runaway winner this week is Karen's wig which looks 500 times better than her real hair. It almost made me like her.  It certainly seemed to calm her down when they were interviewing her in the Clauditorium on the results show.  Never give it back Karen.

Can't help blurting out a comment at that D&P, because I have thought before that she has rather "unfortunate" hair of the sort that some people/persons/creatures are less then blessed with. Mind you, her hairstyle is less than Doris Day or Kim Novak-esque. Shame really.

[jingle]

Thought most of the Blackpool outfits were rather underwhelming, and what on earth was Kevin wearing for his salsa. it looked like the remnants left over from a jumble sale, and his sparkly trousers looked a size too big.

Although I didn't really like the shape of the AT dress, I thought vivid red is the perfect colour for Lauren.   And putting him in tails and taming his hair made all the difference to the look of Joe's quickstep.

Is it my imagination, or did Vikki Gill say on one of the early ITT's that there's an American 50s diner theme running throughout the series?  I've noticed a lot of the music has been american, and some of the themes are too  (eg. Charles and Karen window-cleaning charleston had a New York backdrop, and also their Irish American pub). Even Ashley and Pasha's fish and chip shop jive had a bit of an american feel to the outfits.    Anyway, maybe I've mis-remembered what Vikki said.

[diamondsandpearls]

Can't help blurting out a comment at that D&P, because I have thought before that she has rather "unfortunate" hair of the sort that some people/persons/creatures are less then blessed with. Mind you, her hairstyle is less than Doris Day or Kim Novak-esque. Shame really.  

If you look at Karen about 3 seasons ago she has really nice hair. Her current hairstyle is wilful nastiness.

[diamondsandpearls]

Well, my non-posting is telling a tale... I haven't really been impressed by the outfits the last couple of weeks.

I only liked two this week - Lauren's Kara-esque Waltz dress and the bottom of half of Ashley's dress which I think could have partnered Pasha all by itself and we would still have witnessed an amazing QS (not so keen on the top half and was a little disturbed by the dead cat on her head).

Tess drew a very short straw and I felt very sorry for her in that clashing red and burgundy number. I loved Shirley's 30's style satin bias cut gown adn Darcey looked slinky as ever in a black halter neck. Wasn't so keen on her look in the results show, but Tess looked reasonably ok. I can never remember what Claud wears...

Luba continues to be the best dressed of anyone when she appears in the masterclass videos on ITT. I am convincd they are her own dresses. And her shoes are always special too.

On the subject of Kara - I think probably my favourite winner ever - I was wandering through youtubeland as you do, and found an ITT recap of all her dances up to the semi final (and a very sweet interview where Artem was all strong, silent and enigmatic and Kara was visibly walking on cloud 9 and sparkling like the Blackpool lights). And it highlighted so very well the difference in quality of the dresses in that series compared to now. Every one was drop dead, insanely gorgeous (with the exception of week 1's leopard skin oddity - but in comparative terms to this year's crop, it actually looks not too bad). I think that budgets have been cut, plus every week is a theme week, even when it's not, so they are always playing some character and thus have to dress accordingly.

BRING BACK BEAUTIFUL GOWNS!

Anyway, it's here is anyone cares to take a peek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhzWhdXFz6E

[Twirlie]

I only liked two this week - Lauren's Kara-esque Waltz dress and the bottom of half of Ashley's dress which I think could have partnered Pasha all by itself and we would still have witnessed an amazing QS (not so keen on the top half and was a little disturbed by the dead cat on her head).

BRING BACK BEAUTIFUL GOWNS!

I agree with you on Lauren's dress. I thought it was just wonderful and complemented the dance so well. On the topic of Ashley's upper half and her hat, I bow to your superior judgement!

On the subject of Beautiful Gowns, I agree with you but only up to a point. One point. And that point is Stacey's Fantine costume.

I can't stand the idea of Fantine's costume being jujey (spell?) with loads of petticoats and sequins. Think of Anne Hatheway in the film and compare it to Stacey last Saturday. Even within the confines of Strictly Come Dancing, that was outrageous. The extra dancers were wearing simple wool dresses. That's Fantine. She looked more like Cosette especially with that big grin on her face. I didn't mind the shawls she wore too much but the costume was neither one thing nor the other. It contributed in a large part to my dislike of their dance.

[diamondsandpearls]

I agree with you on Lauren's dress. I thought it was just wonderful and complemented the dance so well. On the topic of Ashley's upper half and her hat, I bow to your superior judgement!

On the subject of Beautiful Gowns, I agree with you but only up to a point. One point. And that point is Stacey's Fantine costume.

I can't stand the idea of Fantine's costume being jujey (spell?) with loads of petticoats and sequins. Think of Anne Hatheway in the film and compare it to Stacey last Saturday. Even within the confines of Strictly Come Dancing, that was outrageous. The extra dancers were wearing simple wool dresses. That's Fantine. She looked more like Cosette especially with that big grin on her face. I didn't mind the shawls she wore too much but the costume was neither one thing nor the other. It contributed in a large part to my dislike of their dance.

Oh I totally agree!! The whole idea was stupid - you can't really show a piece of tragic melodrama on prime Saturday teatime viewing. So they HAD to cheer and glamour it up. Which, as you say, then made the whole thing nothing like it's source, which renedered the whole theme pointless. Her grin annoyed me too, adn as you say, the dress was halfway to glamorous but not quite and WAY to pretty and sparkly to be Fantine's rags. I think Vicky hasn;t lost her touch, she is just getting ever weirder briefs from the pros/producers...

[diamondsandpearls]

Again this week, not a lot to get overjoyed about...

Lauren definitely got the best of the bunch. Loved her tango dress - all moody and tango-esque in purple and black. And her samba dress was really quite sweet - and a bit different to the normal feathers on your bum stuff.

Stacey didn't dooley too badly (see what I did there...!) with her silver fringing dooleying much of the work for her (though, FACT -flappers didn't wear fringing - not really a thing until the late 50s and 60s). Found the doo-i-ley on her head a little bit distressing though. Her Waltz dress was dreamy but the sugar almond pink was a little bit TOO sugary for my tastes.

Faye showed us her knickers - and I really didn't want her too. Not the best AT dress ever seen by a long chalk. Wasn't at all keen on her - Bet Lynch circa 1975. The Samba dress was tackily horrible. Like an ice lolly with ruffles.

Dianne was the most authenitcally flapper-esque performer of the evening. Doing an AT... Though the era is right, there weren't a great deal of flappers hanging around the Gauchos... I can;t remember what she wore for the Waltz, but her hair is SO red that it fights with any dress she wears anyway. Dianne luv, I know it is your gimmick, your trademark, separates you from the crowd,yada yada, but when it distracts from the dance you really aren't doing yourself any favours.

Ashley, for me, has the physique I most admire - slim but compact - and tends to look good in most things. The AS outfit was ok, but Vicky was still stuck in the sweetie jar with the very pale, sugary sweet pastels. However, even Ashley looked not-at-all nice with the angry 80's hair and the bondage paso dress. Her hairstyle for the AS could have been retained as it was much more suitable for the paso than the atrocious extensions that you could practically see the joins on.

To cheer myself up I ma going to take a wander down youtube's lane of memory and sigh at the exsquisite frocks of Sophie and Kara....

[Twirlie]

I'm still fairly cross with the wardrobe department for not covering up Stacey more in the Paso Doble. Please tell me it would have been possible!

[diamondsandpearls]

I'm still fairly cross with the wardrobe department for not covering up Stacey more in the Paso Doble. Please tell me it would have been possible!

She was fully covered - it was just an unfortunate choice of colour, ie totally nude.  ANd for a change a good match for Stacey's natural skin tones...  However, both me and my friend commented that she could have been given black underwear. I think it was unforseen perhaps, as in maybe stacey didn't ruffle and swoosh her skirt so high the previous time she performed the paso and so everyone thought all was ok to continue the nude coloured leotard on which the costume was fitted round all the way down.  Otherwise whe would have needed a two tone leotard, or, as we said, an extra pair of big black knickers to put over.  The paso skirt isn't tight fitting so there is no worry about vpl etc...

Still ,Stacey had this to say on social Media: ' So I won Strictly.  And I showed my knickers.  What a great Saturday night!', which I thought showed self-awareness and humour in the face of what could have been humuliating and embarassing.

[Twirlie]

Still ,Stacey had this to say on social Media: ' So I won Strictly.  And I showed my knickers.  What a great Saturday night!',

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