Dancing with the Stars – Who Wore It Better, Part III
As promised, here is your third weekly installment of our continuing analysis of reused costumes on the show. 🙂 While the first 2 editions dealt solely with costumes reused in season 10, this one is a mixed bag of dresses going as far back as season 5 – proof that if the folks at Randall are reeeeally having a hard time selling a costume to the public, some lucky/unlucky pro or celeb may get the privilege/punishment of having to wear it a second (or sometimes third!) time. Read and discuss!
Oh, and P.S. – we’re trying hard to do a guys’ edition of Who Wore it Better, but it’s proving to be really, really hard…so if you know of any dittos, please let us know, and please at least look up pictures or find them on youtube to ensure they are, in fact, the same costume – some of the ones that have been brought up to me are really just similar (but not identical) pieces. 😉
Battle of the black, silver-spangled Latin dress: Melissa’s cha-cha with Tony in season 8 vs. Kym in the ladies’ pro dance opener in season 9
Courtney: As an aside, I really didn’t care for that opening dance that the season 9 pro ladies did – it felt a little low-energy and kinda like it was just thrown together at the last minute to fill space (lord knows why). That probably explains why Kym just doesn’t look quite as “finished” in it as Melissa does – love the fedora and jewelry that really ties it together on her. Both gorgeous ladies with fabulous bodies – but I’m giving it to Melissa for having a little bit of extra “oomph”.
Heidi: Boy, this is a tough one! I do agree about the ladies pro dance – very messy, disjointed. As for the dress…not sure how I feel about the fedora on Melissa – it almost feels like overkill, what with the choker and the bracelets and the earings AND the hat. Who was the famous actress that said she always took one thing off before she left the house? This could have been done here to better effect. She needs to lose something from the head/neck area. That said, Kym is the opposite extreme – too minimalist. And really, those pro dances are the opening numbers so there’s really no excuse for it except maybe laziness.
The winner: Melissa, by a choker.
Battle of the short, red, fringed, Latin dress w/matching belt: Karina in the Michael Jackson tribute in season 9 vs. Julianne’s cha-cha with Helio in season 5
Heidi: Again, two beautiful girls who can wear just about anything. If I have to pick I have to go with Karina because of how well she can wear red. Jules wears it well too, but it looks better on Karina. Have to agree with Courtney, below, also – Jules’ hair is too severe.
Courtney: Now as adorable as Jules tends to look in pretty much anything she wears, I think I actually like this one better on Karina – it could be the lighting, but I think the red looks better against her skin than it does Julianne’s, who looks a bit more washed-out. Also prefer Karina’s loose curls to Julianne’s bump-it updo. I hate those damn things!!!
The winner: Karina, by the skin of her…skin.
Battle of multi-colored, neon-fringed Latin dress: Jewel’s would-be preseason photo shoot with Dmitry in season 8 vs. Misty’s mambo with Maks in season 7
Courtney: Ok, I’m putting it out there – this dress is cursed and should probably be burned due to bad karma. Misty donned it for a mambo; two weeks later she withdrew with a devastating Achilles’ tendon injury. Jewel wore it for her promo photo shoot; not long after she was sidelined with 2 fractured tibias and had to be replaced with Holly Madison. And really, this dress is just tacky with a capital T. I loathe neon – especially multiple shades of it on the same dress – and I particularly loathe it when it’s fringe. Blech. Nobody wins in this one!
Heidi: Have you noticed that Maks has a fondness for multicolored, bright, tacky dresses? It’s weird, because then he puts Joanna in a classy beautiful dress – which I’m going to credit to Derek since the design is done early in the week and Maks has a bad track record. 🙂 But yes, this is one nasty dress and they seem to pair it with bad hair and OTT jewelery.
The winner: Do you see any winners here? I sure don’t.
Battle of the two-piece, tri-color ruffled & feathered Latin dress: Joanna’s preseason photo shoot with Derek in season 9 vs. one of the dancers in the Tiempo Libre performance in season 9 vs. Kym’s samba with Warren in season 7
Heidi: Okay, I’ve decided that I don’t like multicolored dresses. Too, too much. But like every other possible article of clothing, Joanna can pull it off. Partly confidence, partly issues with her competitors, like Courtney says below.
Courtney: Poor Kym & unidentified Tiempo Libre performer – it’s really hard to hold a candle to Joanna in, well, pretty much any costume. And I daresay she rocks what would be an otherwise rather awkward dress pretty damn well – having a fab figure and a great spray tan doesn’t hurt, either. Kym looks a little pasty in the sunset color scheme; the costume just looks kinda loose on the brunette from Tiempo Libre.
The winner: Joanna, by default.
Battle of the silver-fringed, super-sparkly, cut-out Latin dress: Mya’s preseason photo shoot with Dmitry in season 9 vs. Lil Kim’s cha-cha with Derek in season 8
Courtney: Ok, observation: the lighting in the pre-season shoots never seems to do justice to some of these dresses the way the lights of the dance floor do. This is no exception – the dress just glows on Kim, while it barely reflects any light on Mya. Plus Mya’s pose just looks awkward to me – really kinda surprised they picked that one as her best shot. The dress seems to be wearing Mya, rather than the other way around. Kim DOMINATES this dress!
Heidi: Kim dominates everything. It’s all about confidence and attitude and Kim has plenty of both!! Both dresses were used early on too, so that’s not a reason. It’s weird too, because Mya was a trained dancer – I would expect a more confident stance from her even that early.
The winner: Kim by a ‘tude. 🙂
Battle of the blue-fringed & stoned Latin dress: Shawn’s samba with Mark in season 8 vs. Natalie’s preseason photo shoot in season 9
Heidi: Not a fan of this dress, really. I think it looks better on Shawn but only because she’s moving. Hate her hair and think they went overboard on the make up though. Natalie is fine in it and she has a beautiful smile. But I have to give it up to Shawn.
Courtney: Another instance where photo shoot lighting doesn’t do a girl any favors, and neither does standing still – this dress doesn’t look nearly as impressive on Natalie as it does on Shawn. I wouldn’t say it necessarily looks BAD on her, but it’s just kinda…blah.
The winner: Shawn, for not being a statue.
Battle of the long, dark blue, corseted paso dress: Brooke, Kym, & Cheryl in the team paso doble in season 7 vs. Kelly’s preseason photo shoot with Louis in season 9
Courtney: 4 very different ladies, one dress. Poor Cheryl – everything costume they made her wear in season 7 just seemed to look mediocre, and unfortunately this is no exception. I think what bothers me about Brooke wearing it is her expression – it’s supposed to be aggressive, but to me it looks more confused…so she’s out, too. Kym looks decent in it, but I really love Kelly in this one – the dramatic feel of the dress seems to suit her personality well, and looks good with her coloring.
Heidi: Love, love, LOVE this dress. It’s probably one of my favorites ever on the show. Love the color, love the corset, love the flowy skirt. Love. As for who wears it best? Well, not Cheryl, for reasons stated. She doesn’t look horrible in it, she just doesn’t hold up as well as her competitors. The thing I remember about this dress is Kym’s fierce face during the dance with Warren, and how beautifully they all pulled this dance off. I think the dress brought out the right attitude in all the women. Kelly? Yeah, I love it on her too. If I have to pick a winner, I’ll go with a tie between Brooke and Kym, mainly because of my fond memories of that dress.
The winner: Kelly, because Heidi can’t pick just one.
Feel free to give me the stupid question award (hey, I’ll display it proudly in a case!) but is it by accident or design that these costumes do not have fitted waists? Even the corset can be adjusted, no? Makes sense but also explains why many are so unattractive. I realize that these are costumes but, sheesh! Any costume designers out there?
Jay, you may be onto something there – I almost wonder if they make an effort to not “fit” the costumes too much to a particular wearer, so as to ensure that someone else may be able to wear it in the future. It may be something that is done for ease of altering, should the costume be used again.
Then again, just from my knowledge of ballroom costuming, most costumes have a good degree of “stretch” to them, as the base fabric is often lycra or spandex or even a mesh – so it would almost seem like a moot point to try and leave a whole lot of extra fabric hanging about the waist for sizing later. I mean, from what we can tell, it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to have ladies with vastly different figures sharing the same costume; extreme alterability doesn’t seem like it should be an issue. Who knows – maybe the seamstresses are just trying to give the ladies a bit of extra wiggle room in case they had a big lunch, in order to avoid the dreaded “food baby” look, hehe.
Oh and Heidi – the lady that took one thing off before leaving the house was Coco Chanel 🙂
Didn’t Shannon Elizabeth wear that same short red fringed outfit for her week 1 Cha Cha Cha with Derek? I’m shocked Heidi missed that one. 😉
http://por-img.cimcontent.net/api/assets/bin-200911/5023851fdb27c0a40c4ff34644490a84.jpg
ck410 – It’s similar, but not the same dress. Shannon’s has one sleeve and a halter strap around the neck. Here’s a pic where you can see the other side a bit better:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tvsquad.com/media/2008/03/112496_0445_pre.jpg
And I think I mentioned this in another post, but once a dress has been used in a regular, weekly dance between a celeb & a pro, it only gets used after that for pro dances, pre-season photo shoots, guest performances, etc. That’s at least what I’ve gathered thus far in my searches…it’s actually me that finds the dittos, but it’s Heidi’s mad editing skills that puts them side-by-side and makes ’em look pretty 🙂
Ah, gotcha. Yeah I noticed they were a bit different up top. But I’ve seen you guys compare “altered” versions of the same outfit so I figured that one qualified as a match. My bad. 🙂
Ah yes, Coco Chanel – I should have known that, pop culture nut bar that I am. 🙂
I think that the vast majority of costumes on the show are amazing, especially considering what they have to do – maintain control over busts so there is no accident on live TV, yet allow plenty of freedom of movement for dancing. When you take those issues into account, it’s no surprise they have a few duds. You also have to take into account changing body shapes – the stars shrink over the course of the season and the designers have to keep up with that. Then some pros like Cheryl and Lacey change in size from one season to the next, so they have to keep up with that and what will look good on TV (don’t get me wrong, I think they always look amazing, but their bodies do change). Heck, even some of the men (mainly Derek, I think) shrink over the course of the season, so their pants have to be kept up with. I thought he got way too thin towards the end of his season with Lil’ Kim, thanks to a full season with Brooke, followed immediately by a full DWTS/BHB tour, followed immediately again by season 8. That’s a lot for a group of designers/makers to keep up with – that can’t just have a size pattern for each of them.
ck410, that’s why Courtney finds the pictures – my brain doesn’t remember costumes like that unless it’s something really good (like white pants on Derek 🙂 ). Now that I see Shannon’s dress again, I do see a pretty heavy similarity, particularly by the belt.
The only reason I remember that dress from that dance is I remember thinking, “DAMN. I wish I had legs like that.” It was a hot dance.
About the similarities between Shannon’s dress, and the red dress from the post…. I remember in Season 6, that there were A LOT of costumes that Derek put on Shannon, and Mark put on Kristie (meaning… the pros do quite a bit of the designing of the costumes, we all know that) were VERY similar to costumes that Julianne wore in Season 5. The red dress that you mentioned was one that I noticed, and I THINK it was Kristie’s waltz dress that was VERY similar to Julianne’s angel waltz dress from Season 5.
Hey, there might be another costume repeat idea…. How many SIMILAR costumes? Like the ones above… And Brooke’s season 7 gold fringe pants costume/top, and Julianne’s season 8 yellow/orange version of the same? Or… The repeat song/costume from Season 4 Julianne jive, and Erin’s Season 10 jive? Not repeat, but WAY too similar.
And I KNOW there have been other instances where a costume reminded me of one worn in a previous season, these are just the ones I remember offhand.
Or…. What Were They Thinking? costumes….
Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re doing a “what were they thinking” post about costuming, for sure. 🙂
The fringe pants – Derek also put them on Joanna for a dance or two. Frankly, I think the boy is pretty smart when it comes to costuming – those pants create the illusion of a lot more hip movement than there actually was on Joanna. So, in some cases it’s not a lack of imagination, but strategy. Why else would Maks put Erin in that gawdawful feather skirt for one of her early dances – was it the Cha Cha???
Mya totally beats out Kym in that silver dress. Mya looks great in it.
Natalie also takes that blue dress over Shawn for me. Sadly, it was the only picture that Natalie really looked good in the whole DWTS season.
Oh, rest assured, I’ve already started compiling pix for a “What Were They Thinking???” costume post, as well as a “Best of” costume post where I show my favorites. Those will come around eventually…but for the time being, I still have plenty more dittos to share 😉
As for a “similar” costumes post…ooh wee. After hours upon hours of plodding through pix from seasons 2-10 (in season 1 the costume designer was Designs to Shine, thus none were dittoed) as well as youtube footage of pro dances and guest performances, if there’s one thing I’ve discovered, it’s that sometimes, the folks at Randall just have a brain fart and recycle a dress pattern they’ve already used, and just change the color and perhaps add some trim. This means that certain silhouettes have been used innumerable times on the show – a good example is the standard spaghetti-strap, short, fringed Latin dress, like the one Julianne wore for her samba with Chuck in season 8 or that Lacey wore for her dance-off with Mark in season 9 (there are many, many more instances than that). My point? If I started trying to put together a post with just dresses that were just similar, I would never finish – the volume is just too great. I could maybe do an “almost alike, but not quite” post for dresses like Shannon’s that, at first glance, look identical to another dress, but prove to be different upon closer examination. But dresses that were just KINDA similar…no way, Jose. I would get totally sick of looking at costumes 😛
As for Maks’ odd choices in costuming for his female partners, my only theory is that it’s residual from his days as a pro Latin competitor with Elena – man, she wore some HIDEOUS stuff when they were in their competitive heyday, and at one point had a god-awful Dorothy-Hamill-with-a-bowl-cut hairdo. But it was all in the name of getting noticed by the judges on a crowded dance floor – if you check out some of the Blackpool Latin competitors, their outfits are just heinous. But whatever catches the judges eye is good, whether or not it’s the most flattering style. Really, that’s the only excuse I can think of for that hideous samba dress (the purple one I think you’re referring to, Heidi). 😉
i found another repeated dress:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/images/2009/03/shawn-johnson-abc.jpg&imgrefurl=http://realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/blog/2009/03/08/dancing-with-the-stars-opportunity-of-a-lifetime-for-shawn-johnson/&usg=__VjD5inGPLMIyWFwbduSBM2NAJkA=&h=513&w=426&sz=20&hl=en&start=35&sig2=oeBAzSS2vTIGvbjPlX_O8Q&tbnid=Hto7Oc-jdXGeMM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=118&ei=1wVLTLjFNYH78Aagpp0_&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dshawn%2Bjohnson%2Bquickstep%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Dew1%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D619%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1029&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=524&vpy=67&dur=3220&hovh=246&hovw=205&tx=74&ty=262&page=3&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:35&biw=1280&bih=619
and
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2008/stylewatch/bodywatch/080324/marlee_matlin300.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/package/gallery/0,,20222169_20183283_20448184,00.html&usg=__kKJgXdZisIreF3RebkqirGEcAjo=&h=400&w=300&sz=40&hl=en&start=0&sig2=AtpzwpN19NT7ZTgC8yd4RQ&tbnid=7kHtbWzes3LdgM:&tbnh=157&tbnw=131&ei=UQZLTMiiLMyQnAfYs6iCDw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmarlee%2Bmatlin%2Bcha%2Bcha%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DFy1%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D619%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=137&vpy=253&dur=194&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=103&ty=288&page=1&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:0
i honestly have no idea who wore it better. but they both look great
and i found similar dresses…
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.thehollywoodgossip.com/images/gallery/aiden-turner-and-edyta-sliwinska-picture_378x566.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.stars-news.info/en/people/brooke-burke/&usg=___6auWFlbopo3B3sXz2mkTUcyts0=&h=566&w=378&sz=31&hl=en&start=0&sig2=y6mwoyABqmmkPgrzsZrEyA&tbnid=w04VvkenhkUWEM:&tbnh=153&tbnw=100&ei=qgVLTLKGO9GgnQfwx-TaBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dedyta%2Band%2Baiden%2Bquickstep%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DYv1%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D619%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=694&vpy=253&dur=4746&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=84&ty=296&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:0
and
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Editorial/091123/dwts-sexiest-outfits/dwts09-sexiest-outfits5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tvguide.com/PhotoGallery/Dancing-Stars-Season-1012333/1012337&usg=__Pg3c7HMGdbztRDTR6lcmQyrf1RI=&h=385&w=280&sz=63&hl=en&start=39&sig2=0HNZvbO1CVcfaLvtlF0Vog&tbnid=cpsk-mOGeyRPwM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=116&ei=ygZLTPzlGcH-8Aa1q-U0&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchelsie%2Bhightower%2Brumba%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DuKh%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D619%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C823&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=597&vpy=265&dur=2003&hovh=263&hovw=191&tx=92&ty=276&page=3&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:39&biw=1280&bih=619
definitely not the same, but same fabric.
@John Yup, Mya and Natalie both beat Kim and Shawn. Mya and Natalie both looked better in those same dresses.
Mya and Natalie both beat Kim and Shawn. Mya and Natalie both looked better in those same dresses.
I have to comment on the fringe pants. Those weren’t Derek’s idea. They’ve been around in the Ballroom world for a while, most famously worn by Yulia Zagoruychenko:
http://www.tonyaplank.com/photo_journal/thumbs/lrg-774-dscn4279.JPG
Just a different color
http://www.heathershow.com/photos/yulia-yellow-01.jpg
Same pants Karina wore when she danced with Maks right before they broke up
http://www.yuliazagoruychenko.com/2008/
Katrina, re the Fringe pants – all I can say is DUH. I know he didn’t invent them, but he certainly knows when to use them to their best advantage. You must be bored.
wow, Princess Heidi, that was a bit of a harsh comment to make on what Katrina was saying
@is it me – I don’t think it was necessarily harsh. I feel as though Katrina was assuming that Heidi was claiming that Derek “invented” fringe pants, when really she was just crediting his clever use of them to conceal a lack of hip action from some of his partners. You know the old addage about what happens when people assume things? 😉
@Katrina – Yes, many of us are well aware of the famous fringe outfit Yulia wore for her award-winning showdance with Maxim Kozhevnikov to “Hip Hip, Chin Chin”. I was actually there at the Ohio Star Ball the night it was performed in 2005, so yes, I agree that Derek did not invent them – but Yulia didn’t either, and she wasn’t the first competitor I had seen with them on. I think you may have misread Heidi a bit on this one 😉
Weren’t the Maks/Erin purple samba costumes designed by Erin? I thought that was the week that the celebs did the costumes, but I could be wrong.
mmc – that was the week that the celebs supposedly designed the costumes. I think Erin got a lot of help from Maks because the skirt just looks like too many others he’s done (like the multi-colored horror that Debi Mazar wore). I don’t know if I believe that the celebs do the whole thing – I think it depends on the celeb.
what about michael ball and antonio bandares i would love to see them on dwts
what ever happened to karina and julianne are they coming back on dwts again i miss them both
[…] your copycat costume fix while it lasts, kids! Reminisce over parts I, II, III, IV, V, & VI of “Who Wore it […]
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Good heavens! I love this blog, having just discovered it, but I now know I’d never dare openly comment.
There is a difference between “assuming” in an asshole-ish way, and simply making the honest mistake of misreading/misunderstanding something.
Someone writing in a polite, respectful tone and then offering additional information would, to reasonable people, I believe, appear to be making a good-faith effort toward mutual communication and shared expanded knowledge. Someone who addresses another sarcastically and snarkily is the one who sounds like a) they’re making a holier-than-thou assumption that the person they’re addressing either has malicious intent or is possibly feeble-minded, or b) just really had a bad day and is channeling their inner 9-year-old.
Out of Katrina and Heidi, guess who fit which definition?
It’s even worse to me that you’re the proverbial “host” here; I feel like bloggers in a way invite us into their homes (granted there is a personal gain to be had, but I don’t think that makes it any less inviting or intimate). As a hostess, you behaved terribly ungraciously, to someone who clearly didn’t deserve it, and obviously made others feel quite uncomfortable about it.
I’m sorry, but that was just icky and immature.
I hate to break it to you, but you just DID openly comment. LOL.
As for Katrina, she’s been posting here for a very long time, with a holier than thou tone of her own – not to mention a desire to correct every single post AND prove how knowledgeable she is. If you can dish it you, you’ve got to be able to take it. And that goes for YOU as well. You might want to check that mirror before casting aspersions.