Costumes 2014

I loved Steve and O.la's make up wow you would never have known it was her! I liked all of Sunetra's look make up,hair and dress
First year I thought they had toned down Halloween.I disliked Pixie's hair sorry.

Best Make-up - O la and Steve (although it seemed to 'tilt' his brain - as my Mum would say!!!
Best Sport - Karen for going the whole hog with the 'horrible' comic Hallowe'en face and hair
Best Costumes - Sunetra and B rendan - not scary but very 'new romantics' meets 'three musketeers' B rendan looked great.
Frankie and Kevin - very traditionally Hallowe'en and the long hair suited her
Kristina and Simon - Loved the spiders web on her head
Joanne - Brilliant Morticia



Right that's it..........off to watch what's remainding of the US Grand Prix..................

What I liked about the costumes this time was that they were in keeping with the theme but still stylish. Usually the make-up and outfits on Halloween week can end up looking too over the top and kinda tacky (okay so they didn't hold back with Steve and put a vest on you strumpet but their skeleton looks were so skillfully done, the overall effect was very dramatic). Judy's dress was another winner and I loved Sunetra's Helena Bonham Carter look.

I don't like these adult dressing up nonsense Halloween Week. No matter how 'skillful' the make-up artistes are or how well Vicky designed the custumes, I just detest themed (esp. Halloween) weeks with an unhealthy passion...

Many apologies! Treatment side effects are a bummer. I wish I could say that i will post regularly......but sadly no. Re Halloween: I like having one theme rather than the jumble we get the other weeks. Having said that, the music doesn't need "spooky" or "frightening in the title, anything could be Halloweeny. I understand why people liked Sunetra and Brendan's outfits....For me I loved Steve's tailcoat and the pairing of O.la and the skull make-up. As usual, Judy got the most beautiful dress. Frankie's layer green was stunning. Pixie and Trent were somehow predictable.

Sending best wishes to you Hatlady.

Don't worry about long posts HL. Your health is far more important.  
You can pretend your sending a tweet and only have enough characters for a short comment. A light shower of hello s will be less exhausting for you than a detailed deluge. Hope you feel a bit brighter soon

I'm sorry the treatment is giving you such horrible side-effects Hatlady.

You take care and get better soon x

Many thanks for all the good wishes. The show was a salve to the nerves of those who don't like theme nights giving us classic ballroom dresses, all very princessy and pretty with a few petticoat flashes to liven things up. I think Vicki has her mind on next week so gave out dresses that had been 'hanging around'. The dress of the night for me was Janette's rumba number, interesting cut and fabric. Yes, Alison's best dress.....no one has talked about it but as per usual on Strictly she has lost a great deal of weight which shows in her stamina and what costumes can be put on her. Re her Charleston: She had swivel which many of the better dancers did not when they did there Charlestons. Why is swivel so difficult for them all? I learnt to do a Charleston at 9 years old and like all the kids I knew revelled in the swivel. Yes, I can still do it.

Belated best wishes to you HL
I concur with your comments re Alison- loved her outfit and she did have swivel- I've tried it in the kitchen and it's really hard! Not all the celebs have it either...

I have this image now of you Alls whilst whipping cream/lingerie mixture in a bowl and zwivelling round the floor Alison looked superb in her outfit last night.
Im scared for Steve/Sunetra/Jake/Caroline tonight

Everyone takes swivel too seriously......it needs a bit of silliness....Honestly it is EASY!

My Dad was a great 'charlestoner' - in fact he seemed to bring it into whatever dance he was doing!!!! He taught me to 'swivel' and some of the other steps too! I agree that Alison's costume was lovely last night and she made a good stab at it.

Can I say officially that I really don't like Caroline's costumes - sorry Caroline and Vicki. Every one seems to have something on it that doesn't quite work for me and ends up not being very flattering. I really didn't like the macrame/fishnet thing on her bodice last night - sorry I don't really know the name of it - (HL?) but I know Vicki was talking about it on Thursday ITT. I thought the dress last night would have looked so much better just with a classic bodice - perhaps a halter neck in the same blue and silver as the skirt - or perhaps the contrasting colour bodice (like K ristina had with her VW dress) but that sort of embroidered thing over the top just gave her bulk to me

Macrame mauve. Vicki tried to sell it to Pixie, remember her ending up with a bare midriff? Pixie didn't buy it. Caroline is not confident about what looks good on her. I suspect the instructions she give to Vicki are 'confused'.

Wardrobe dropped the ball again when it came to Caroline's dress. I thought that white webbing looked hideous on It Takes Two when Vicky was showing it to us and was praying Caroline would refuse it. But no, there it was! Also (god I hope this doesn't come out sounding snooty/judgey) I wish they'd found a way to cover Caroline's tattoo for her Waltz. I've nothing against tats at all but it was distracting and not in keeping with the tone of the dance.

Wardrobe seem to love Sunetra as much as they hate Caroline. Another dreamlike dress for her. Adored her hair and eye make-up too. Also thought Kristina looked beautiful and Janette's dress was lovely.

I hated the macramé too - found it really distracted me from the dance.  Wardrobe do seem to have their favourites don't they!  Or it may be that some celebs are more assertive about what they like.  Judy, Sunetra and Frankie all seem to fair much better than poor Caroline.

Im in the minority as I Liked it!

It was mentioned that Judy can wear dresses that were originally made for pro women.....Caroline has never looked comfortable....She did say that she is a tomboy.....

hatlady28 wrote:It was mentioned that Judy can wear dresses that were originally made for pro women.....Caroline has never looked comfortable....She did say that she is a tomboy.....

Is that because Judy has a very slim toned body? A lot of our female pro dancers are very waif like and a few tom boyish figures

Is there a reason why Caroline just doesn't seem 'right' in those Strictly dresses, be they ballroom or latin? Maybe it's because it's difficult to dress her such that an 'hour-glass' silolette is created (I blame Gok Wan for this!)?

Hourglass is easy......I've done it for men in drag and heavy girls. I think Caroline is uncomfortable with glamorous and has given the costume department too many instructions which tends to make a dogs dinner.

hatlady28 wrote:Hourglass is easy......I've done it for men in drag and heavy girls.  I think Caroline is uncomfortable with glamorous and has given the costume department too many instructions which tends to make a dogs dinner.

I see. She has body issues...???

Yup CD, she has body issues......it takes a lot of energy and time to coax people through body issues. (men have them too) The costume doesn't have enough time to do this properly, so they are just doing what Caroline tells them to do.

I think classic, smooth and un-fussy lines would suit her a lot better than the 'fussy' bits that her costumes always seem to contain - modest doesn't need to be 'overloaded' which is what Caroline always seems to be - IMO.

Yes, certainly mauve but for someone with body issues who is uncomfortable with fashion as a whole it isn't obvious. Remember she started the season with lots of fabric hanging from her neck; the ultimate bag. I doubt Caroline sees design as a total picture. I think she focusses on 'bits', asking for extra pieces for camouflage.