The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Costume Critiques from the MSHSL Dance Team Tournament

Satin Stitches | Feb 19, 2008 | 4

Room for improvement?

I am not a dance choreographer.  I have a BFA in fashion design and 35 years of professional fashion design experience, including nearly 30 years with my company, Satin Stitches Ltd.  I am a costume designer!

I am not a dancer who dabbles in sewing costumes.  I am not a choreographer who is handy with a needle and thread.  I am not a hobby-sewing mom. I am a costume designer!

I truly enjoy watching all types of dancing, especially when it involves teams or individuals that wear my companys costumes.  I have been attending the Minnesota State High School Dance Team Tournament since 1986.

I know when I see good dancing, and I can appreciate really great dancing, but I do not pretend to be able to critique it with any aptitude.  This is not my field of expertise. But I have the expertise to critique the costuming!

This last weekend was the 2008 Minnesota State High School League State Tournament. What did I see at the competition? Some beautiful costuming, some costuming that really fell short of enhancing their wearers dancing, and some downright ugly costumes!

This is a work hazard with me.  I cannot look at any clothing and not critique it.  Ever since I studied pattern making and draping in design class, I cannot keep from critiquing design lines, color combinations, how the garments fit the wearer and how the fabrics move.

Unfortunately with really ugly costumes, I do not even really see the dancing, as I cannot stop watching, in disbelief, how badly a costume is made, designed or fits.

I have the gift of visualization.  When I sketch a costume design, front and back, I can visualize how the sides are.  I realize that many people cannot.  This was very apparent at State!  I saw many nice fronts of costumes and many nice backs.  But watching the dancers move, guess what, you also see the side views!  And some of these did not make any sense at all.  Design features stopped at the side seams with no connection to the back.  I saw lots of floating design features on the backs of costumes.  I saw many minute details up close, that totally faded away from performance distance.  This is what happens with amateur design either by a company or an individual.  See my blog from January 22, 2008, titled Professional vs. Amateur Costume Design, for additional tips.

The Good

One of the most interesting, yet possibly inexpensive looks at State, was the jungle themed costume by Chaska.  Although it appeared from performance distance, that many rhinestones might have been added, the wrap-tied top and skirt were worn over a basic leotard and shorts. Very nicely done!  These costumes were not from Satin Stitches, but get a high rating from me!  Of course the Satin Stitches costumes at State all looked great, but many others did, as well.

The Bad. What were some of you thinking?

Two particular dance teams inadvertently created very wide design details across the stomach area.  Maybe they seemed OK close up.  But from the stadium seating, oh my!  The thin girls looked like they had tummy rolls, so you can imagine how unflattering the larger girls looked.  Big, wide, horizontal blocks of color, not the most flattering across the midriff.

One guilty team, was wearing cropped black vests of some type, over a melon colored leotard with low-rise black, Capri pants.  The result was a wide horizontal band that made the girls look like they had love handles and tummy rolls, which they did not have.

There was a team with a tuxedo themed costume.  A cute idea, generally very done well, but poorly executed with a wide horizontal red band simulating the cummerbund creating the same unflattering tummy visual.  A little tweaking with this could have made it much more flattering for all the dancers.  A suggestion would be to raise it to the natural waistline, which is the narrowest part of the body, rather than set low, across the tummy area.

The Ugly

The stand out UGLY costume, by everyone that I talked to, was a blue monstrosity worn by one of the winning teams.  What were you thinking?  By placing in the top three at State, I hope that you do not think this is vindication for what your team wore!  I can only assume your dancing was incredibly good!

It is a classic case of amateur design.  If a professional costume manufacturer created it, you were duped!  I am assuming that it was designed by committee and executed by a sewing mom.  I could not take my eyes off of it, during the three minutes or so that the team performed their jazz routine.  I can not tell you how the team danced, because I could not see past the dresses!

What was wrong?  Well, I could not find anything right with it!  The colors of the fabrics did not match.  This was probably caused by the lack of foresight when you layer sheer fabrics, the colors can change, at least how they look from stadium seating.  When fabric colors are meant to match, but they do not, it is a visual mistake.  Secondly, the various parts or details of the costume did not mesh, they did not work well together.  Thirdly, proportion.  The skirt length was wrong.  It should have been either longer, or not layered.  It looked very boxy, and not flattering.  The lack of a finish on the skirt layers made it look cheap.  Fourth, the cut fabric fringe strips on the skirt curled up, and did not hang nicely.  Once again, this made the costume look cheap.  The fifth, and most obvious to us detailed oriented people, is the back bodice criss-cross detail.  It was not symmetrical! If it was meant to be off-center, well it just looked like a mistake, really making the costume look homemade.  And to top it all off, this gathered fabric tie did not connect to anything on one of the sides!  I overheard someone behind me, at the competition exclaim-oh my, what is that on the back, an afterthought?  It was a very sad costume.

Minnesota has had a certain look, with their high kick costuming.  Traditionally, the costuming had always added 3-D visuals by doing front-to-back and side-to-side color changes for fabulous effects that visually energize a routine.  Jazz costuming has traditionally been pretty or edgy, sometimes both.  I was disappointed with many teams trying to mix it up, but missing the mark, in my opinion.  Front-to-back color changes in a jazz routine seemed distracting.  The lack of visual surprises incorporated in the high kick-precision routines left me bored when the teams did not have flashy themed costuming of some type.

I know that many dance team coaches are totally responsible for the costuming of your teams.  Others of you rely on a booster parent group to help with the daunting task of choosing suitable costumes.  Committees of dance captains also work towards the design and creation of team costumes.  I challenge you to VISUALIZE what your costumes look like from all perspectives, especially from performance distance!

My mission is to stop unflattering, poorly constructed, inappropriate and downright ugly costuming.  I want all dancers of every size, shape, age and genre to LOOK GOOD!  Call me, I would be glad to offer my critique!

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Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Studio, Costume Design, Costumes (all tags)