DWTS Week 7 – The Celebrity Contestants Put Their Own Spin On Their Costumes This Week
The costume designer for Dancing With The Stars, Randall Christensen, told Stylist that he let the celebrities put their own “flirty” spin on their costumes this week. Read below and at the link for what happened behind the scenes in preperation for week 7. Note how they had last minute issues with Karina’s costume and they had to rework it. Kirstie added sparkle to her leggings an hour before showtime. What a rush they must have had.
Wilkinson: “Tango is typically danced in black or red and many times lace,” Christensen notes, but he went with a completely different vibe for the reality star. “It was fun to put a spin on that classic silhouette and do a crystal-studded fuchsia bustier.” He added a red, silk satin hip treatment and tiers of red, organza ruffles for a Spanish twist. “The wow factor was hard to miss,” he says.
Alley: The inspiration for her big flirt jive look was the “Cha Cha” character from “Grease.” Her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, ordered up the sparkling leggings for his partner. “We wanted to expose those naughty leopard bra straps and we covered her shoes in leopard on Friday,” Christensen says. After her first fitting, Christensen ripped off an over-skirt to expose the layers of tulle. Then, Alley asked for more sparkle on her leggings, which was applied an hour before show time. “Of course, I couldn’t deny her THAT.”
Hines Ward and Kym Johnson: The football pro channeled James Bond in a tango hall, wearing a white dinner jacket, while his partner wore an ultra-sexy, one-shoulder lace gown with a seductive rose fastened at the skirt’s leg-baring hip slit. “The black lace over the nude mesh was the ultimate tango dress. And Hines was Bond — suave, sophisticated and masculine.”
Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff: Climbed to the top of the leader board in a kelly green roaring ’20s inspired ensemble that produced as much drama backstage as it did in the ballroom. Christensen had to rework Smirnoff’s look hours before the live show after fringe for a planned skirt was sent out for dye and came back the wrong color. “It was a moss green, yikes,” says Christensen. “Karina was a real trooper trusting us to bring the newly conceived skirt idea to reality.”
Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas: Her head-to-toe lace body stocking wasn’t exactly a typical Paso Doble look. Nor were the edgy goth details on partner Ballas’ jacket, but Christensen is game for the young Disney star’s desire for unusual costumes. “Traditional paso doble? No! Perfectly appropriate for her age, music and talent? Absolutely!”
The Dancing With The Stars Hairteam at Facebook has pics of some of the ladies costumes up close. Below is Chelsea and Karina’s costumes. The detail is amazing when you think about how fast they have to put these together. More at the link.
And below is Kym getting her make-up fine tuned before the show.
So, who had your favorite costumes this week? I was fond of Kendra’s, Kym’s, and Chelsea’s costumes the most this time.
Thanks Vogue!
I liked Chelsea Kane, Kym, and Karina. I thought Kirstie’s was terrible, it makes sense that something else was over that cause I kept thinking it looked like it hadn’t been finished. Shame, cause last week her dress was awesome.
Loved Kym and Chelsie’s dress/outfit the most!
I think my favorite was actually Karina’s team cha-cha costume. Reminded me of Catwoman
Hated Karina’s costume, and I really wasn’t as wild about Kym’s as everyone else seemed to be – it just kind looked like they couldn’t decide between 2 dresses, and just sewed them together at the last minute. I think I would have liked it a lot better if it was all black lace or all red-jeweled mesh…not both.
It’s always kinda interesting to me that while the costumes (usually) look impressive from far away, a lot of times they aren’t so impressive up-close. Such is the case with a lot of ballroom costumes – stunning from a distance, under the bright lights of the dance floor; considerably less sparkly & exquisite when you look at them from arm’s length. I guess it just loses some of the magic, like “Ugh, I hate flesh-colored mesh!” or “Those appliques look tacky.” Guess it’s a testament to having a good foresight for how something is going to look on the floor…kind of like the makeup team, too. The makeup can look totally caked-on and unnatural in normal lighting, but is just perfect on the dancefloor. Wish I could say I had that kind of eye!
I’m not usually crazy about Karina’s costumes in pictures, but they always look fantastic in motion. I think that’s because she’s just THAT good.
It’s really amazing how they’re able to put so many new costumes together in just a few days. I can’t imagine how stressful that job must be!