DWTS Who Wore it Better? Part XV – The Pre-Season 14 Edition!
Yep, we’re back to talk fashion for yet another season’s promo pix 🙂 And kids, this batch was a bit of a challenge for even me – at least 3 brand-spanking new dresses that weren’t dittoed, some wacky alterations, weird lighting, and the fact that we don’t have pix of Cheryl & Katherine yet made this edition a little less fun and a little more frustrating. But alas, it’s here now, so enjoy! And a very special thanks to our reader Manny, who graciously helped us out with the screen cap of Niecy, since Hulu only has season 13 available to stream and the DWTS website has taken down all of the photos from old seasons…grrrrr. *shakes fist at sky*
Battle of the gold, silver, super-sparkly jive dress: Kym’s pre-season 14 photo shoot vs. Kym’s jive with David in season 13
Heidi: I know I’m going to disagree with Court on this one – by choosing the photo shoot version. 🙂 I like the more asymmetrical hem and I like her hair better in that pic. But damn, Kym always looks amazing and she does stick to the similar color pallette much of the time.
Court: Kym has always known what looks good on her (everything) and what doesn’t (not much), but I love how she seems to stick to a lot of nude colors and just lets all the embellishments do the talking. I remember thinking “Wowwwww…that’s soooo sparrrrrkllllllyyyy!” as she walked down the stairs last season in this number. But alas, the magic is a bit lost in the whitewash of the photo shoot – so I’m gonna go with jive Kym on this one 🙂
The winner: We love Kym in the nude (colors) 🙂
Battle of the black lace turtleneck tango dress: Bristol’s Argentine tango with Mark in season 11 vs. Martina’s pre-season 14 photo shoot
Court: I think this may actually be the very first ditto of a Bristol costume we’ve ever seen! Although if you’ve seen one Bristol ditto, I think you’ve pretty much seen them all, as this girl wore A LOT of black lace in season 11 – a fact that made my searching though her costumes all the more confusing 😛 But anyway…I gotta say, I’m not really wild about this costume on either woman. It just seems kinda…dowdy. But I guess if I had to pick, I’d actually pick Bristol – because I can at least tell it’s a tango costume with the way she’s styled & made up. Martina…just kinda looks like she’s gesturing for no apparent reason. But she looks damn good for her age! 🙂
Heidi: I can’t pick…too distracted by Marky’s face in that picture. 🙂 The hell? Okay, all kidding :::cough::: aside, I have to agree with Courtney. Martina looks fabulous, but Bristol is fully made up for this dress and she wears it pretty well. I will say, very proud of Martina for going with a dress that is probably more daring on the bottom half than I would have expected.
The winner: Bristol takes this one because we can actually tell what she’s doing.
Battle of the bronze, sparkly Latin dress: Anna’s pre-season 14 photo shoot with Jack vs. Anna’s cha-cha with Carson in season 13
Heidi: I pretty much hate this costume and I don’t think I realized it until Carson wasn’t there to distract me from it. 🙂 Anna is so beautiful and has such a great body, but the draping across the front combined with how low it rides on her hips makes her look a bit shapeless. Color is nice though. I pick Cha Cha Anna because the movement improves the dress incrementally. 😉 Oh, and Jack?? Call me. We’ll discuss the weird hand placement on your hip. I can show you the best way to do that. 😉
Court: Ok, so I’ve often said that I think some of the magic of the costumes is lost in the pre-season shoot, just due to lighting & awkward poses. But really – could anyone hold a candle to Carson in his sparkly bronze suit, strutting around to “Moves Like Jagger”? 🙂 No contest – cha-cha Anna on this one. But I give Jack props for trying!
The winner: Nice try, Jack, but this costume only looks good with one accessory – Carson 😀
Battle of the sparkly silver fringed halter dress: Niecy in the season 10 finale opening dance vs. Sherri’s pre-season 14 photo shoot with Val
Court: Ok, I may catch a bit of flak for this, but I’m gonna say it anyway: would it kill the folks choosing the costumes to avoid having every outspoken, full-figured black female contestant ditto a Niecy costume? I called this one before the promo pix were even released, and I’m just a bit irked at the fact that it actually came true, since it seems like they’re pigeonholing a bit. Niecy is not the only curvy gal they’ve had on the show – Marissa, Ricki, Belinda, Macy, Margaret, Kelly, & Bristol were all pretty curvy, too, yet they only seem to pull out Niecy costumes for ladies like Wendy & Sherri. Maybe they just really like Niecy’s style? Idk…but I guess I was just hoping for something a bit more out-of-the-box, y’know? Seems like both Wendy & Sherri have drawn comparisons to Niecy already…and it would be nice to have them differentiate themselves a bit. But anyway! I guess I’m gonna go with Niecy, for the simple reason that the dress seems more proportioned to her figure. I’m afraid Sherri’s got a bit of a case of monsterboobs in this dress – they just are RIGHT THERE, so they’re the first thing I see, before anything else. I’m having bad flashbacks of Wendy…*shudder*
Heidi: I was gonna say…calling Sherri “curvy” is a bit of an understatement in this picture – monsterboobs indeed!! I definitely prefer it on Niecy for all the reasons mentioned, but I’m docking points for that awful flower. 🙂
The winner: Niecy, for lack of monsterboobs.
Battle of the white & flesh-toned fringed salsa dress: Chelsie’s pre-season 14 photo shoot vs. Chelsie’s salsa with Romeo in season 12
Heidi: Another costume that I just don’t understand. Why the need for the sweater like attachment over the top?? I don’t get it. That said, I’ll go with photoshoot Chelsie for the hair. And for the great photo shopping by the photographer. Noticed it on Martina’s photo as well. 🙂 That’s one problem with screencaps versus photo shoot pictures – in the live shots it’s pretty much warts and all.
Courtney: Because Chelsie is oh-so-modest, m’dear 🙂 And she never completely shows her stomach. But I know I can’t be the only one that thinks Chelsie did some serious growing up over her season-long hiatus! She looks so grown-up & STUNNING in her promo shoot pic. The loose, sexy waves in her hair, the come-hither expression – it’s a definite increase in maturity over the youthful, giddy, flower-in-the-hair girl that did the salsa with Romeo almost a year ago. But no worries for those who love girl-next-door Chelsie – I’m sure Roshon will keep her firmly grounded 🙂
The winner: Photoshoot Chelsie for some great photoshopping & airbrushing.
Battle of the black & purple fringed strappy Latin dress: Karina’s pre-season 14 photo shoot vs. Karina’s cha-cha relay with JR in season 13
Court: Have I mentioned that I hate the photoshoot lighting? 🙂 It tends to wash out all the bright colors and dull the sparkle of the costumes…which is why I didn’t even notice that there was purple fringe on this costume until after I found where it was originally used. I tend to hate dresses with lots of strappy pieces like this, because it looks vaguely dungeonish to me and can create unsightly bulges if the strappy parts are too tight or you don’t have a perfect body, but Karina seems to rock it well. I’m not wild about her hair in either photo, though – the first one looks a little old-fashioned, and she’s wearing that funky piece of lace in her hair on the 2nd one. But I guess if I had to pick, I’d choose photo shoot Karina – for looking slightly more normal than cha-cha relay Karina 🙂
Heidi: Ditto. Bizarro dress, but if anyone can pull it off it’s Karina. It looks substantially more bizarre in the live shot, and I don’t like her hair at all in that one, so I’m going with the photoshoot version. Are you sure they didn’t change the fringe though?? That sure looks black to me – although it could be our fabulous photoshopper at work again. 🙂
The winner: Photoshoot Karina manages to make a strange dress look good.
Battle of the pinkish-purplish sparkly strapless dress: Nicole in the first troupe number in season 12 vs. Maria’s pre-season 14 photo shoot
Heidi: Maria’s dress is kinda weird too (lots of that going around) – she looks great, but not very ballroom-y. They have so many dresses at their disposal, I’m not sure why they would go this route…unless Derek was involved and he’s trying to get her in as short a skirt as possible?? 🙂 Perhaps Maria likes pink?? Because you gotta know they have a choice – perhaps a limited selection, but still a selection. Very odd. Don’t think Nicole’s dress makes the cut either, but it’s got fringe and a slit. 🙂 So she wins.
Courtney: Ok, so it’s not the same dress – but we didn’t wanna gyp you guys on your “Who Wore it Better?” so we did the best we could 🙂 I think Maria’s dress may be another example of something that was purchased rather than created for the shoot – and I think we may start seeing more of these ready-to-wear simple pieces in the coming seasons…which kinda irks me, because part of the fun of the show for me is seeing all of the over-the-top, hand-crafted, custom-made costuming. This (like Kristin’s photo shoot dress last season) looks more like something a high school sophomore might buy from Wet Seal & wear to her homecoming dance 😛 I guess it’s not BAD, per se, but I just feel like it’s a bit of a cop-out…and not very ballroom-y. Which is why I’ve gotta go with Nicole on this one – her overall look feels more like bona fide ballroom wear to me, whereas Maria (while very pretty!) looks like she could be doing a red carpet interview…or heading to a club…or doing pretty much anything other than ballroom dancing 🙂
The winner: Nicole, by a …oh, nevermind, that sounds kinda bad. 🙂
Battle of the purple embellished bustier: Peta’s pre-season 14 photo shoot vs. Adriana Lima in the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
Court: Ok, so I was actually pretty proud of myself for spotting this one – my lingerie obsession finally paid off 😉 But it does kinda raise some interesting questions about what direction the costuming on the show might be heading in. It’s not a rarity for ballroom costumes to be made using “pre-made” parts – a lot of my costumes from back in the day had Victoria’s Secret bras & shapewear sewn right into the bodice to ensure the right fit. But it is a bit peculiar to me that the costume department decided to take a piece of lingerie and just throw some draping on it and call it a costume – maybe I’ve been spoiled by our days with Randall, who I consider to be more of the “old school” of designer that makes everything from scratch and avoids using a ton of pre-made parts, but to me costumes like this seem like a bit of a cop-out. And who knows, maybe we’ll start to see more costumes like this on the show from now on, as a sort of time & effort-saving measure. But if I had to pick someone…I have to go with Adriana. Peta looks fantastic, but I really feel like this bustier is more of a couture look, and the drama of Adriana’s thigh-high stockings, dramatic jewelry, and those fabulous black wings just make such an impact.
Heidi: Nah, I’m sensing a pattern here – last season Peta wore some wack ass costume too for the photo shoot. I think she’s making the selection here and I can’t say that I care for it. It definitely belongs on the VS catwalk and frankly, I think it should stay there. Plus I like the feathers and the stockings. 🙂
The winner: Even Peta can’t hold a candle to an Angel.
Battle of the black lace jeweled & fringed one-should dress: Melissa’s pre-season 14 photo shoot vs. Kathy in the season 9 finale returning stars dance vs. Kelly, Joanna, & Kym in the season 9 team tango
Court: Admittedly, I’m not 100% confident that this is the same dress. But after (literally!) a few hours of consulting Google images and YouTube, I figured this was probably the most likely candidate, as Melissa’s dress looks like it’s probably a drastic alteration of a previously used dress on the show. I’m thinking the only thing they might have retained was the the red bodice underneath, and completely redone the skirt & the lace overlay – but maybe used the same pattern as the original for the sleeve? Idk…I think it’s most likely Joanna’s, as I noticed from YouTube that Joanna was the only one of the 3 ladies that had an open-back design for her team tango dress, and you can see from Melissa’s picture with Maks that her dress has an open back as well. Oh hell, who cares if it’s the same dress – it’s similar enough and I’m tired of hunting through pictures and slo-moing through videos 😛 But I gotta give this one to Melissa – LOVE LOVE LOVE how dramatic the colors look with her red hair. I miss my red hair :-(, but I definitely don’t miss how high-maintenance it was!
Heidi: The only thing I like about these pictures are Kym’s fierce dance face and DEREK…and HIS fierce dance face. That’s pretty much it. Dresses. Bleh. There are no real winners here, but Melissa comes closest out of all of them. 🙂
The winner: Melissa, for some great coloring.
And as for Gladys…
Court: Gladys was just so awesome that they said “We couldn’t POSSIBLY give the Empress of Soul a previously-used costume! We’ll whip her up a new one…or let her wear whatever she wants. Or let her go naked. Or whatever!” Gladys just looks awesome here…love her hair, her smile, and her overall energy. And she looks fantastic for her age! Tristan’s gonna have so much fun with her this season.
Heidi: Yep, I’m with you. She looks amazing and Tristan ain’t too shabby either. 🙂
The winner: Gladys Knight laughs at Chuck Norris. 🙂
Hope you all enjoyed this edition of “Who Wore it Better”…we will keep an eye out for William & Cheryl and Katherine & Mark’s promo pix, and add them here if we see them 😀 So stay tuned!!!
Wow, Niecy and Sherri are twins in that dress, aren’t they? 😯
And I hate to say it, but, I’m not a fan to that dress on Anna either. I think it’s the color which doesn’t do her justice.
LOL Heidi to Mark’s face in the Bristol picture!! Too funny!! 🙂
Excellent Girls!!
I’ve been waiting for this, and you gals didn’t disappoint! Agree with all of your selections! Can’t wait to see more WWIB this season!
Good job, ladies. I LOVE Who Wore It Better. I hope we aren’t disappointed with the constuming this year. The costumes are part of the fun for me, too. And my two girls (both toddlers) they love how everything sparkles! They want to wear pretty dresses like the dancers on TV. They’ve been asking me when the “dancing show” was coming back on since it went of in November. 🙂
I have to say that the dress Melissa is wearing is exactly the same Melissa Joan Hart wore on season 9 week 5 Argentine Tango with Mark Ballas
Looking at Markie’s face in the Tango picture with Bristol, I can’t but think – maybe some Metamucil would help? 😀
Grrr…well thanks for clearing that up, Oz. This is why I hate season 9 – too much to keep track of, and so many couples lost in the shuffle. I had almost forgotten she was even on that season until you mentioned it. Maybe if Heidi & I feel up to it, we’ll redo that photo merge. But until then, here’s the best pic of Melissa in that dress that I can find: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm253135104/tt1497683 And yes, that’s a ghastly pose. I still say Melissa G. wore it better 🙂
I agree with all of those except for the pics of sherri, mellissa, and the one of martina (I’ll give my reasoning). The one of Sherri makes he dress look better I think. And It looks better on a person who is not that tall (like sherri). Just becuase Kym wore it too I’m going to say Kym loks bnetter than Melissa (but than agian Kym can do no wrong in my opinion 🙂 ). The only reason I say Martina looks better is becuase I am not a Bristol fan.
Also, I agree with Princess Heid on Peta’s outfit. As much as I and every guy appreciates Victoria’s Secret it belongs on the angels 🙂
I was rather shocked when the cast photos emerged and Anna was wearing that ugly brown costume. Its hideous.
And Gladys, what can anyone say other than … She looks fabulous!! And her arm-candy ain’t too shabby either…
@Sandy: I used to think that it was rthe worst costume from last season until I saw Ricki’s big bird dress (samba I believe). Anna’s dress just reminds me of Carson now so I’m ok with it lol
I think I have said this, but I think Peta is also wearing her “I Am Woman” female pro routine costume for her photoshoot also. Although the Victoria secret model does look better
Ricki’s big bird samba dress was so awful…can’t understand why they copied it in white & black for the freestyle 🙁
Thank you!! Love love love WWIB. And I’m very impressed that you recognized Peta’s costume.
So they bought a piece of lingerie and slapped some fringe and it looks like a bustle on it?? Oy. Really hope this isn’t a continuing trend.
@sheery: I just watched the freestyle again from ricki and derek. same dress different color. I shall refer to it as the ostrich dress now 🙂
Thank you for a very fun WWIB! I love it.
That “dress” on Peta is ridiculous and Gladys looks absolutely fabulous.
In (slight) defense of Ricki’s “Big Bird” samba dress, you gotta remember that both she & Rob got some truly dorky samba songs that week – so I almost feel like a more “typical” samba dress would have felt a bit out of place. If there’s any song that the Big Bird costume would have worked with (at least in a quirky way), it was “Jump in the Line”. 🙂
Yay, WWIB! Thanks Courtney and Heidi for all the hard work that goes into putting this piece together for your demanding audience. Great job, as always. 😛
I can deal with the makeovers and dittoes, but I hope they don’t start using more “ready to wear” stuff. It just doesn’t have the same panache that a true ballroom costume has.
My picks:
Bristol – Martina’s photo shoot makes it look like her boobage is sagging (they need a better foundation for her; get “the girls” up higher).
Niecy – she has better overall proportions so she doesn’t look monsterboob-ed
Nicole – it looks like a “real” costume.
Peta – I like VS but neither look works for DWTS. The angel looks like a dominatrix; Peta looks like she’s on her honeymoon.
Melissa Joan (from url in #6) – Melissa G’s posture is all wrong for this dress; she needs to stretch up through her spine, throw her shoulders back, and lift her chin. She actually looks bored/tired in this picture.
Gladys – she can wear whatever she wants; and I love how she accesorizes 😉
I like Martina in the dress better, because she’s smiling. And, it’s lighting up her whole face. Makes her look gorgeous!
Not to mention that Derek is known for dressing his partners strategically – if he’s putting feathers around your butt, there is a good reason for it. He’s quite clever, that one. 🙂
Gold stars to Court & Heidi on another excellent, witty & fun WWIB! You girls rock!!!
Anna: Such a droopy dress on such an exquisite body – not flattering in the least.
Martina: I agree her boobage is a tad low but I’m amazed to see her in a “dressy-dress” after every publicity picture over the years showed her in pants/shorts. But that black turtleneck is such a drab choice – for anyone.
Sherri: OMG, who put her in that maxi-boob costume? Not flattering at all.
Gladys: Looks amazing especially with Mr. Eye Candy on her arm.
Can anyone help answer this question?: Why do some of the women have their dance shoe straps crossed around their ankles and some crossed around top part of their foot? Is one way more stable for dancing?
Was the spray tan man on vacation last week? the faux-tan helps hide a multitude of sins, even with studio lighting and photoshop. Melissa needs it and I think part of the issue with Anna is she’s too pale in the dress and Jack’s non-spray tanned big a$$ hand is just plopped on there.
Thanks for the post – always love who wore it better – it means the new season is getting close!!
Thanks for the latest Who Wore it Better, Pure gang. A riot, as always!
Joanna’s expression in the Tango photo cracks me up. Everyone else looks like they’re at least somewhat into it (Kym and Derek’s expressions are great!), but Joanna looks bored as hell and vaguely annoyed. LOL
Karina looks awesome! (but you guys already knew I would say that! 😉 )
DW, I think, and someone will correct me if I’m wrong, some of the ladies are wearing their latin dance shoes and othes are wearing their ballroom dance shoes. 🙂
All of them are actually wearing Latin shoes, but as for the strap around the ankle vs. the strap across the top of the foot – it’s really just a matter of preference, whatever is most comfortable. Most ankle strap-style ladies’ Latin shoes come with both a longer and a shorter removable strap to accomodate either option. I personally used to wrap around my ankle, as I have rather high arches and simply wrapping around the top of the foot often felt tight & uncomfortable. I often found that those who preferred going over the top of the foot often had flatter feet, or didn’t like the unsightly bulge that wrapping around the ankle often created. I don’t want to say they had “cankles”, but, well…some of them did 🙂 Then you have people like Anna that prefer the t-bar style which only goes across the top of the foot & then connects to the vamp. I kinda wish she’d at least choose a light-color shoe, though – that dark brown just tends to make her look even more pale 🙁
See? 🙂 Thanks Court! (I’m giving myself points for knowing there are different shoes though. *wink*)
No prob 🙂 And yes, I am very proud of you for knowing the difference between Latin & ballroom shoes! You paid attention to my shoe post 😉
I agree with SueB (#21). They could have used the spray-tan man at the title shoot. There was a lot of pale skin that needed bronzing.
Thank you Court and Evaine for the shoe info: I appreciate it! Agree with SueB about the dire lack of spray tan as well!
I have to say I’m not particularly impressed by this title shoot. The lighting is bad, styling iffy, there doesn’t seem to be any cohesiveness through any of the looks… I agree on the dire lack of spray tan and is it just me or is Gladys actually wearing hose paler than her actual skin tone? On the positive side, I do like the photoshoot hair though.
It doesn’t look good for William or Katherine that ABC haven’t even bothered getting a title shoot done for either of them. It’s not the first time celebrities haven’t been in LA before the start of the show – didn’t David Hasslehoff do his with the Strictly Come Dancing people? I seem to remember Kym wearing a “ditto” dress from that show?
Agree with you, KJ. When are we going to see title shoot pics for William and Katherine!?! At least we’ve seen some rehearsal pictures for William. All we’ve seen for Katherine is tourist photos from the Daily Mail. Maybe I’m overestimating the importance of preseason exposure, but right now I’m seeing Katherine as a possible week 1 elimination because no one will be invested in keeping her on the show. If she has two left feet, that’s fine; but it would be a shame if she can dance.
More fine memories and humor from the PDWTS crew! For me, Kym photo shoot, Bristol, Anna en Jive, Neicy (more proportional and the golden cast helps), Chelsie photo shoot, Karina photo shoot (like the hair and colors better), Nicole, Adriana, no one on Tango and Gladys is a true golden original.
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