DWTS-Season 10: Week 9 Costume Critique

Satin Stitches | May 19, 2010 | 0

Big, Black and Bold Costuming for Evan and Anna

The dancing was top-notch this week! And the costuming generally was, as well. There was really only one dress that I was really disappointed with. The guys outfits? Generally nicely done. Lots of sheer shirts and bare chests this week.

Brookes leather trimmed two-piece ensemble on Monday night was stunning, albeit with really too much cleavage. Tuesday night, she went with a strappy silver-gray dress with rows of straps or bands. Her cleavage was kept in check, so she looked sophisticated.

All three muddled pink chiffon, ethereal gowns fit very nicely with Sarah McLachlans songs. It was too bad that Sarahs red gown was nothing special. It would have been prettier in a pastel or dusty shade of darker red, to coordinate with the dancers who accompanied her. Of course it should be the other way around. She sang a light and airy song, wearing red? The dancers got it right.  Three dancers with three slightly different styled dresses.

The Design-a-Dance presentation was fun. Joey Fatone-in black vinyl with studs-a real eye opener. Melissa Rycroft coordinated with a skimpy black chiffon and black vinyl ensemble. She wore a real bra with STRAPS-nice job for the winning costume designer, Emilio O. Adequate designs, suitable for the music and choreography. But Joey seemed a little short for his outfit! Add another foot to his height, and-NOT BAD!

Perfect Dance and Perfect Costume for Nicole

Do I know my Purple, or what?

As for the College formation team costuming, they were definitely amateurish.  Rutgers some how put together a team, just for this event, it seems. The girls wore hot pink spangled dresses. The spangles started in an odd place, and I just kept staring. There were rhinestones in the non-spangled area. I would have eliminated the rhinestoned, plain area, and extended the spangles to all over the bodice. Maybe this would have helped them look slimmer, as the placement of the spangles sort of emphasized a thick middle area, and I am guessing that these trim, toned ladies were NOT thick in the middle. Then they also had what looked like brown-nude elastic, on light skinned ladies-weird. Why not hot pink straps???

Then the better, more experience formation dance team took the floor-Utah Valley University. They ladies wore red and black dresses which had a very nice shape-silhouette to them, but the rhinestoned trimming was amateurish. The zig-zagged color change reminded me of high school high kick costuming from a couple of decades ago. Added rhinestone detailing was fighting the fringe AND the lace AND the hanging spangled fringe AND the spangled fringe tufts. WAY TOO MUCH. A case of everything but the kitchen sink, I think. The guys costumes, from both teams? Basic and plain. Adequate.

Miley Cyrus also entertained and was fully costumed, with all her dancers, with thigh high boots, feathers and fringes and leather. Definitely a production. Her segment of the show definitely had a costume budget. It was dramatic and I enjoyed the spectacle! Would I feel the same, if she were MY 17-year-old daughter? No.

Back to the Stars and their routines this week. As I mentioned, I really was only really disappointed with one dress, and that was Annas teal charmeuse gown. Evan and Anna danced a lovely Fox Trot, where Evan danced with PERSONALITY! Evan was very debonair in his white dinner jacket and black, satin-striped tuxedo pants.

Annas dress was all woven satin charmeuse. Because it had no stretch, if you watched, you could see it gap along the back neckline. Is this bad? No. But you need to be aware that this is what happens with a non-stretch costume. Her trim was very minimal and just too cutsey for me. It was silver and just sort of cute, but unsophisticated. The large flower in her hair and a weird beaded, tied armband seemed out of place.

It seems that I have not liked many of Annas costumes this season, but when thinking of what got my vote this week for my favorite couples costume of this week, I think I like the black and white costumes of Anna and Evans Paso Doble routine the best!

The dramatic black costumes with their unique, large white pearled pattern trim detail was exquisite. The drama of their costumes fit the drama of their choreography and their music. I LOVED the modern take on the Matador jacket that showed off Evans bare chest and bold, dramatic dance moves. The costume transformation-that of removing the red and black skirt drape that became the cape for Evan to twirl during his solo section of their dance, was very visually effective.

The bold pattern of the white-on-black design was created by texturing jet-black rhinestones on the black fabric, and then pearl-type trim formed the sort of diamond-scallops of the pieces. VERY nice! Dramatic black, back lacing and a black charmeuse skirt with slit and ruffles completed Annas costume. The combination of their outfits was unique, bold and beautiful and especially sophisticated. Bravo!

My favorite costume for a lady, this week, was Nicoles Argentine Tango dress. Her deep taupe knit, body-hugging dress was so smooth with perfect lines. Actually, you did not notice any seams in the dress. Of course there were seams to create the classic fit, around every curve and flipping out into a trumpet skirt for her dynamic skirt.

Besides the exquisite fit and shape to the dress, unique embellishment was used. Jet-black rhinestones either created the starburst sort of splat designs on the dress, or actual splat designs on the dress were accented with the rhinestones. I could not tell which it was, but I suspect the designs were created by the rhinestones.

Think of the craftsmanship that was needed to do this! You needed to perfectly place each splat, so they all seemed random. This takes LOTS of talent. Think of starting with your designs, and moving around the body with them, and then coming to where you started, with oops-not enough space for another one, or too much space? Believe me, these splats were engineered to look effortless. And NO, you cannot unstick rhinestones! Once they are glued in place, you cannot scrape them off, and start fresh!

I was disappointed with Dereks companion outfit. To me, adding a red tie and pocket hanky to match the large red flower in Nicoles hair, looked sort of tacky.  His black suit with black shirt just seemed to be an afterthought.  What would I have done? Maybe as simple switching to a matching dark taupe shirt and nothing red, I think. And I think I would have skipped that red flower, too!

I watched in dismay at the funky, blousy look that Erin started out with, during her Paso Doble with Maks. THANK GOODNESS it was a costume transformation! Come on-I know it is exciting to transform costumes right before your eyes, but they have to start out looking good! When they start out with you wondering-what is going on with that weirdly unattractive costume, it really is not a good thing. On-stage transformations are difficult to pull off. They take lots of extra work for the costume designer or dressmaker to get it right, and then lots of practice for the dancers to perform them, as so many things can go wrong! Think-costume malfunction. Fabrics and trims can stick and not come undone, and it might take longer to do, than you planned, making the choreography suffer.

Happily, the transformed, gold bustier with sleek charmeuse skirt looked great, once it was in place. And with Erins embellished booty shorts and thigh-high boots, the outfit was really HOT. Of course Maks could show off his chest in his leather vest, gold lame cummerbund and tanned and oiled skin, to match Erins hotness!

The turquoise Palazzo panted costume that Erin wore during her Viennese Waltz with Maks was beautiful. It was a really nice example of a perfectly fitted woven charmeuse fabric coordinated with a matching stretch Lycra fabric. The bodice was encrusted with thousands of rhinestones-several similar colors and crystal-clear stones. Some of her straps were matching with rhinestones decorating them. It is too bad that not all of her straps were done the way. Two stacks of rhinestoned bangle bracelets accented her costume.

Of course Maks accented her costume with a sheer chiffon shirt with non-sheer satin collar, cuffs and front band. It was held together only at the front waist and was untucked, as most of the featured mens shirts have been, this season. This couples look was sexy, sassy and fun.

Chad wore another sheer mens shirt this week. His was a wrap shirt, where it fastened, overlapping on the front waist. His shirt had a satin shawl collar. Cream was the color, for his and Cheryls Waltz.

Cheryl wore a beautiful cream dress with a shiny bodice fabric and with sheer godet-triangle shaped skirt sections. There were lots of embroidered decorations with beaded tufts and tassels. Her bodice was encrusted with yes, thousands of rhinestones, but also with large colored jewels that added dimension to the embellishment. Her gown was unique and much more sophisticated than her gown with the funky back nude area, last week.

Cheryl and Chads Samba costumes were also very attractive. Chad had another semi-sheer, shiny-foiled mesh shirt. Cheryl wore a stunning gold two-piece costume. She had a fringed bra-top-unfortunately with those darn nude elastic straps and a beautifully cut, asymmetrical little short skirt. Both pieces had really interesting trimming, with lots of tufts of fringes, drapes and fun, large embellishments. Glittering gold!

To finish out the competition this week, I saw peeks of Nicoles costume for her and Dereks Cha Cha. What did I see? I glimpsed a white ruffled jabot and sparkly purple, with a rhinestoned decoration on one shoulder. Hmmm. Could it be? YES! Out danced Nicole to the music of Prince. It was a cute interpretation of our Minnesotas-own Purple Rain costume, worn of course, by Prince. It was a really fun girly version of the classic 80s outfit. Yes, I saw the original jacket on stage, worn by The Artist, back a few decades ago!

The lower half of Nicoles costume was also fun, and suitable for a Cha Cha. Do I recall, that this type of pant-tight to below the knee, with lots of ruffles, were these not called Cha-Cha pants? Perhaps. Anyway, her outfit was fun, and a nice change of pace from the cliche Latin costumes. Derek wore toned down ruffles on his white shirt, and coordinated nicely with his partner.

The dancing was dynamic and the costumes were classy. I am already worried what I will do when the mirrored trophy is awarded. Oh, that is right-I saw commercials for So You Think You Can Dance, starting very soon! Whew, no dance withdrawal, yet.

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Jazz, Tap, Broadway, Ballroom, Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Studio, Costume Design, Costumes, Dancing With the Stars, Reality Television Shows (all tags)