DWTS “Who Wore it Better?” – The Pre-Season 15 All-Star Edition, Part I!
This season, we opted to do things a bit differently – as we have with just about every other regular feature we do each season, since the format is a bit wacky, to say the least 😛 First, we’ve divided WWIB into two parts – mainly to accomodate the fact that Kirstie & Maks’ and the 13th couple’s (who we now know to be Sabrina & Louis) promo photos have yet to be released, but also to buy us some time for the labor-intensive task of finding good pictures for some of these 🙂 Secondly, we’ve included the couples’ promo photos from their original seasons for comparison as well. But as always, we’ve offered up our usual snark commentary on each of the costumes, for your enjoyment 😎
Battle of the turquoise & black lace corset dress/Kelly & Alec vs. Kelly & Val: Kelly & Alec’s season 1 promo pic vs. Kelly & Val’s season 15 promo pic vs. Edyta in the season 9 pro tango demo
Courtney: The Iceman cometh! Wow, even Alec’s promo pic screams “I have no emotions” to me. And while Kelly is a bit better, I still wish she’d actually smile in her promo pics – the whole “smoldery non-smile” she does just seems like she’s trying too hard to me. And I’m probably the only one that feels this way, judging from some of everyone’s initial comments on the promo photos, but I’m not really all that wild about Kelly & Val’s pic…you’ll see I’m not much of a fan of the couples that went the “smoldery” route with their promo pix. As for the costume itself – gotta go with Edyta on this one. Granted, it’s hard to hold a candle to Edyta in pretty much ANY costume, but I think I like it better with a lace skirt, as opposed to a fringed one. And while I was cursing under my breath while putting this edition together about how BAD some of the costumes have gotten since Randall left, I thank my lucky stars we’re not still stuck with Designs to Shine, who costumed the first season. Can we say “tacky”? 😯
Heidi: Val sez, “You…are sooo sexy.” To which Kelly sez, “You are sexy, but I am sleeping with my cousin’s best friend’s husband’s brother and am simply toying with you as a cover to hide our true looove….” That is my long winded way of saying, Kelly is a soap actress…they only do smolder. Sometimes well, sometimes not – and Val is a huge step up from Alec in terms of emotion and Kelly has evolved to smoldering with her mouth *closed*. 🙂 The dress you ask? I go with Edyta sans fishnets. Although I think it’s cuter in the shorter length.
The verdict: Just say no to soap opera smolder.
Battle of the sparkly mesh, blue-feathered Latin dress/Drew & Cheryl vs. Drew & Anna: Drew & Cheryl’s season 2 promo photo vs. Drew & Anna’s season 15 promo photo vs. Chelsie’s salsa with Roshon in season 14
Courtney: Ermagerd, Muppet costume!!! Thankfully, they seemed to have ripped off a lot of the extraneous featherage from when Chelsie wore it, so the end result is considerably less “Muppety” for Anna (although she still vaguely reminds me of Rosita from Sesame Street). Gotta say – I think Drew & Anna’s promo pic is my favorite this season. They both just look so damn excited 😀 Drew & Cheryl’s ain’t bad, but I think Drew & Anna’s is just hard to beat…he looks a bit more relaxed and happy in he & Anna’s photo.
Heidi: Anna just looks amazingly happy – it’s a good look on her. I did read though, didn’t I, that Anna added a blue feathered boa to the body suit?? I think it was in pieces and she made something up. I looks like Chelsie’s body suit chopped up.
Courtney: If you look at Chelsie’s costume from another angle, there actually is a sort of feather boa-ish bustle on the back – I’m guessing Anna just added a bit more of the blue feathering to make it one uniform color…plus she ripped all that multicolored jazz off of the front of Chelsie’s costume and had them rip off a sleeve. The end result is indeed better 🙂 And there does seem to be a good deal of disassembly/reassembly going on in the costume department these days…
The verdict: Sometimes, chopping up costumes is a good thing.
Battle of the silver fringed Latin dress/season 4 Joey & Kym vs. season 15 Joey & Kym: Joey & Kym’s season 4 promo photo vs. Joey & Kym’s season 15 promo photo vs. Shannen’s season 10 promo photo vs. Edyta in the season 10 opening pro dance vs. Kym’s cha-cha with Donny in season 9
Heidi: Well, first off, NO ONE beats Kym Johnson in terms of great photography in redone costumes. 🙂 But this costume has always been kinda weird – at least in terms of DWTS. Too gape-y and not fitted. I know they’re going for a particular look, but it’s not one that I care for. 🙂 It’s not one that I can NAME at this point…
Courtney: Joey & Kym’s promo photo from this season is another one of my favorites, for the simple reason that they don’t seem to be trying too hard (like some certain other couples…), and you can clearly tell that they get along and are happy to be dancing together again. Their photo says “we’re good friends” rather than “we may or may not be engaging in coitus after hours”. I really like their original one, too. But I’m not gonna lie – I’m getting pretty sick & tired of the silver fringe dress reappearing every so often. I thought it was kind of a strange costume to begin with, but now I’m just altogether over it – and Kym seems to just LOVE it, as she also wore it for her cha-cha dance duel with Jaleel this past season. If she keeps it up, we may have to add it to the “burn immediately!” costume list we’ve started, along with Lacey’s razorblade bra & the big red Muppet dress 😛
The verdict: No one beats Kym…except this bizzare silver getup.
Battle of the dark blue sequined mini dress/season 8 Melissa & Tony vs. season 15 Melissa & Tony: Melissa & Tony’s season 8 promo photo vs. Melissa & Tony’s season 15 promo photo vs. Oksana in the season 12 opening troupe dance
Courtney: Wow Tony, you sure are creative with your promo photo poses! You just moved your left hand a little higher and your head a little lower and BAM! New pose. When you gonna drop Blue Steel on us, Zoolander? 😛 Anywho, this is another one of those dresses that looks more like something from the clearance rack at Wet Seal than something out of the DWTS costume department…which is just further proof for me that the current costume department has gotten pretty lazy, compared to the hard work Randall seemed to put into every costume. Anyone else think that Oksana looks like a blonde version of Melissa here? Their expressions seem identical, as does their dress. I guess I’ll go with Melissa, for the simple reason that Oksana and her lethal weapon hair irk me to no end. 😛
Heidi: Yes, they are VERY similar except for Oksana being stiff as a post. 🙂 But the smiles are kinda freakishly similar – all those teeth. A tad bit scary…like Bride of Chuckie or something. :::shiver::: All three pics are the same, facially, right down to huge smile and slightly squinty eyes. I will pick Melissa for the same reason that Courtney does….plus I don’t think hair choreography is actually a legitimate dance form. 🙂
The verdict: Hairography kills…and Tony needs to expand his repertoire of poses.
Battle of the blue lace, open-sided tango dress/Gilles & Cheryl vs. Gilles & Peta: Gilles & Cheryl’s season 8 promo photo vs. Gilles & Peta’s season 15 promo photo vs. Peta’s 2nd Argentine tango w/Donald in season 14
Heidi: Gee, what a choice. I pick Peta with Donald mainly cuz that is one long, bare leg and I HATE the front stomach panel with the cut out sides. And those neon flounces do NOT help the situation at all. 🙂 I also tend to favor solid colors and not a whole bunch of crap that makes one look like a well-frosted cake.
Courtney: Though Gilles is one pretty man, he sure doesn’t seem to take very pretty promo pictures…in both, he looks a bit pained & uncomfortable to me. I kind of hate both ladies’ dresses – Cheryl’s is just a ridiculous smorgesbord of neon on black, and Peta’s is…barely a dress. 🙂 But at least Cheryl isn’t trying to be as over-the-top sexy as Peta – seriously, what is with that face?! I don’t know if it’s just because it’s the all-star season or what, but some of these couples are trying WAYYYY too hard, methinks.
The verdict: We’ll give it to Peta for having the cojones to don a costume with no sides whatsoever.
Battle of the short, black lace Charleston dress/season 11 Bristol & Mark vs. season 15 Bristol & Mark: Bristol & Mark’s season 11 promo photo vs. Bristol & Mark’s season 15 promo photo vs. Melissa’s Charleston w/Mark in season 9
Courtney: Hmmmm…does Bristol look a tad different to any of you? 😉 Looks like she’s dropped about 20 lbs…and a few extra chins. But I’m not gonna hate – as I’ve always said, I don’t really understand why some people get so hung up on plastic surgery, and if it helps someone feel a little bit better about themselves, I say go for it…and I actually have to applaud Bristol, because she seems to have had some very conservative, tasteful work done on her chin. Physically, I actually think she looks very pretty – on the inside? That remains to be seen 🙂 While I think she looks cute in the Charleston dress, I guess I’m just a little tired of seeing Bristol in all black – her old promo photo was in a black dress, her Argentine tango was in a black dress, her paso doble was in a black dress, her waltz was in a black dress, her freestyle was in a black dress, and now this. Guess I was kinda hoping that with her new, more slender look, she would be a bit more adventurous and pick a bright color – rather than the go-to, slimming black.
Heidi: This girl ain’t pretty on the inside, and how tasteless is that gun pose?? Yeah, like we need more of that in this country. Then when you take points off for Mark’s spats and dorky glasses? Melissa wins. 🙂
Courtney: Agreed, but I’m actually going to defend the gun pose a bit…I kind of like that Mark went the self-deprecating route 😛 I’m beginning to get the feeling from this pic (and Mark’s seeming disinterest in this season thus far) that Mark kinda knows he’s screwed – so he’s at least going to have fun and act like the biggest stooge he can. I’m fully expecting him to pull every single face he has in his repertoire, don every single pair of spats he can get his mitts on, and generally just act extra amoeba-ish this season. Can’t wait 😛
The verdict: You can makeover your face…but can you makeover your personality, too?
Keep an eye out for the release of Kirstie & Maks’ and Sabrina & Louis’ promo photos, which are set to be released this week – and then wait for baited breath for the 2nd installment of our season 15 edition of WWIB 😉
You’ve outdone yourselves! GOOD JOB!! I love these so much.
Wow, I really liked Kelly’s dress, but, Edyta wearing it with big fishnet stockings makes that dress even HOTTER!
And I have to give it to Bristol. She does that dress justice in every way vs. Melissa in it.
LOL to Tony and Melissa’s poses being so alike. I wonder if they did that on purpose? Hilarious.
Thanks Vogue 🙂
Thanks, Courtney, for doing this! Love it! Love Anna and Drew here. I think Joey looks better in his first photo – no slouching! Kym looks good in all of them! I actually think Bristol looks better in the first photo, although I like her dress better in the second one. At least there’s a difference – Melissa and Tony – not so much!
I always enjoy the WWIB posts and really appreciate all the work that goes into them BUT — they really, really make me miss short-haired, spunky, athletic Cheryl. Long-haired sex bomb wanna-be Cheryl isn’t nearly as interesting to me (read that as “barely tolerable.”)
Anna Trebunskaya also wore the “Battle of the silver fringed Latin dress”, in the Pro dance from the 200th show.. And I have to say it looked preeeetty well on her as well.. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ3Dk7N2mrY&list=PL180B77ABCBEC47AF&index=15&feature=plpp_video
Thanks mbarbaroja 🙂 We deliberately left that one off because our photo merges were just getting too wide.
And just a note to everyone: while we appreciate your help with costume dittos, please keep in mind that some of these costumes have been dittoed NUMEROUS times – and for us to find a decent-quality photo and merge together every single instance that a costume has been used is just not feasible, given how many times costumes get reused. We’d have picture merges wider than your computer screen 😛
I really love the “Who Wore It Better” Posts–thanks for all your hard work.
I miss Cheryl’s short hair (and the attitude she had back then), too, JustMe 🙁 I wish that Cheryl would come back.
I like Kym and Joey’s season 4 promo much better than this season’s. They both look much nicer, IMO.
I like the short version of Kelly’s dress better, and I think she matches up with Val much better than Alec. They’re promo pic is still my favorite, and I don’t think K/M or S/L will beat it for me, but you never know.
Bristol and Mark…meh.
I think Tony and Melissa had to do that on purpose. Too much of a coincidence. I’m not a fan of her BIG hair in the season 8 promo shoot, but I don’t really like this season’s either, and I think Melissa and Tony are really cute together. Maybe they just don’t photograph as well as some of the others? I dunno what it is.
Anna does look so happy in her pic. I’m really excited for the pairing of her and Drew.
I don’t like Peta’s pics in that dress at all. I actually hate that dress. And I agree, she is trying much too hard in her promo pic with Gilles. It makes me wonder if this couple will not live up to the hype.
I can’t wait to see Part 2. 🙂
bristol looks great but all i agree w you. can she change on the inside as well? thats left to be seen. As for the pic of shannon and mark, i think that it summed up their partneship perfectly: no chemistry but they looked good together. Thats still the biggest disappointment to me. If they would have partnered her with Maks and mark with Erin I think it would have been much better
Bellagrazi, go away.
Thanks for all the hard work, insight, and laughs.
My favorite poses of these 6 couples are Anna/Drew and Kym/Joey from their first season.
Not a fan either of Kelly’s smolder. Can she smile?
Another round of Bristol Palin puts a big cold wet blanket on the whole season for me. But who am I kidding? I’ll watch every second of it.
Thanks for another great edition of WWIB!! I’ve been looking forward to it & now I’m looking forward to part 2! Thanks again. Some
snark was just what I needed 😉
I missed Bellagrazi’s comment, but she was supposedly told by fans on twitter that she’d be laughed at on this site….guess a sucker for punishment?
What a fun post! I loved looking at the old and new pictures and reading the commentary. Thanks for the work that went into creating this for us. 🙂
Kelly’s “Viking Princess” look is scary!
My apologies for this up front – you’re NEVER supposed to second-guess the DWTS WWIB gods, PH & Court…. 😉 But that costume Anna is wearing, at least on the top, looks a whole lot like a hacked-up version of Kym’s jive dress from a season or two ago… or, have my drugs finally kicked in? 😀
Oh, BTW – I LOVE THIS SERIES! Thank you, Court & PH!
@Sally I think the drugs kicked in 😉 KIDDING! The top does indeed look similar to Kym’s uber-sparkly gold jive dress from a few seasons ago, but I think the costume department, given their lazy tendencies as of late, probably had to do less work to Chelsie’s salsa dress to get the desired result…so I’m guessing that’s the one they altered. Plus She of the Awesome Boobage seems to LOVE her sparkly jive dress (she wore it for the Motown Marathon last season, and I think she also had it on one week in case she & Jaleel ended up in the duel…in addition to their promo photo!) and I don’t think she’d let them hack it up without a fight 😉
And thank you all for the kind words 🙂 I kind of needed them, after the headache that was this edition of WWIB 😯
WWIB made my day!
Bristol and Mark, did I miss something? What is withthe nerd glasses. They don’t make sense to me and seem like a gimmick/prop when no one else used anything like that.
Love Anna and Drew, I think their positive attitude is shinning through in their promo shot.
Mark with Erin?? She’s like a foot taller than him!!
Maybe he was supposed to teach her to lead, Heidi. 😉
Bwahahahahaha! Thanks, Court! 😀 Now that I see the pics of the uber-sparkly jive dress, I see you’re right. There’s no uber-sparkly on Anna’s getup on the edges like with Kym’s….
Thanks, gals, once again, for a wonderful WWIB!!
Changing topic slightly, but since Bristol was mentioned, almost not really… In a discussion elsewhere about their gun pose… Bristol’s nickname is Bristol the Pistol… So their pose made some sense, and it wasn’t random….. Still not smart, but at least it wasn’t random…..
These posts are always so much fun. Thank you for all the work you put into them, @Courtney.
@Violet, I second your “meh” about Bristol.
LOVE Drew and Anna.
I love these posts thanks for making more 🙂 I absolutely can’t wait for part two 😀
Thanks – as always, great post.
Question on Mark/Bristol’s pose. Am I remembering wrong or is the gun pose some call back to one of their dances where they did a move out of hold (maybe rock week) which was this gun thing – and Len called them out on it and they did it again in the finals, not caring if he cared?
I hope that is why they are doing that, cause if it’s just for the heck of it, it is pretty insensitive given what happened in the movie theater in Colorado…
I think the answer to the Mark/Bristol pose is very simple, as Lori said… Bristol the Pistol. I know it’s the fad to turn everything into some kind of ‘statement’ where these two are concerned, but I’m pretty sure everyone is over-thinking things. It’s a silly, glittery dancing show, folks. 🙂 Hopefully I’ll be successful in enjoying at such this season. *LOL*
Agreed, Evaine – honestly, I just don’t see Mark as someone that is particularly socially conscious or outwardly political (and I doubt Bristol came up with this pose), so I highly doubt the pose is some artistic protest of gun control laws…especially since the fact that he’s cheesin’ like a Muppet kinda ruins any impact that politcial statement might have. 😛 I honestly took it as Mark kinda saying “Welp, we’re screwed, may as well have fun!”
I guess it depends on if you think she’s a “pistol” and therefore the name is apropos, or if you just think she’s an asshole so the nickname idea doesn’t fly. 🙂
I will also add, that people are accidentally stupid and insensitive all the time and use just such phrases to make excuses for themselves for not thinking.
Losing weight is fine and Bristol’s body looks better. I thought Bristol looked cute. Now, I just don’t find her new face appealing.
All I see when I look at Bristol is her mom Sarah’s meanass face. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
…I feel really stupid asking this, as I probably missed something that’s apparently blatant to everyone else, but I’m honestly curious and want an example.
Why is practically everyone acting like Bristol is the single most horrendous thing to ever happen to the show? Was she especially likable? Not really in my opinion. Did she deserve to go as far as she did in her original season? No effing way in hell.
But was she absolutely despicable and had a horrible personality? Besides that whole middle finger comment she made in the finals, I personally didn’t think she was that bad, other than being pretty bland. I can understand people not being a fan of hers, but the worst person on this show ever (as I read one person’s comment)? I can name a couple stars and even pros off the top of my head whose personalities I absolutely despised and were worse than hers.
But anyway, not to sound like a complete idiot living under a rock, but I seriously feel like there was something I missed now with all this Bristol hate going on recently…
Kelly just looks so tiny in their promo picture…
@Hotaru, I don’t think Bristol is the worst celebrity ever on the show. But I definitely, without a doubt think she’s the worst this season. I know she made it to top 3, but I don’t think she is at all an All-Star, and for me that is based on her dancing. I actually feel the same about Pam. Which is why I’m “meh” on both of them. And Helio, too.
I base my opinion of Bristol on her vast array of shitty behavior and nasty comments and her family’s general ick factor, not necessarily how she was on the show. I actually gave her the benefit of the doubt on the show and started liking her…until her true colors came through once again.
Oh wow, well I don’t paid a bit of attention to her when it hasn’t involved DWTS (or most of the stars for that matter). That sucks, since on the show she never seemed like that bad as a person (though not so great as a dancer and I definitely agree she’s the worst for this upcoming season). What kinds of things has she said?
(LAUGHING!) Holy sh*t…Princess Heidi, thank you very much for the laugh. I completely missed the (Bristol) pistol reference yesterday. It kind of makes sense, I suppose, if they were that clever. But what would Bristol the asshole pose be?
Hotaru, the list is soooo long of Bristol and family’s crap – not to mention off topic – that it would take too long to list.
Great WWIB Court and PH! Nobody does it better; makes me feel sad for the rest…
Violet (#34) – I’m with you. Bristol isn’t the worst DWTS celebrity ever, that honor (IMO) goes to Kate Gosselin… 😀 Or, maybe shared between Kate and Master P… 🙂
Ooh, Sally, don’t forget Wendy Williams! That was painful to watch. I literally almost couldn’t look at the TV when she was on.
Are y’all doing cheesecake awards this season?
I got the Bristol/pistol connection right away, but that doesn’t excuse a pose that in my opinion is classless and inappropriate. However, since this is the pairing who thought gorilla costumes were a great idea, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Someone who follows Corky claims it was his suggestion to Mark, but I didn’t see a twitter or fb post about it, so who knows?
Not sure where to post this as most of the current posts dont apply but some of the first dances are known:
1. Kelly & Val- Cha Cha
2. Kirstie & Maks- Foxtrot
3. Bristol & Mark- Cha Cha
4. Drew & Anna- Foxtrot
5. Emmitt & Cheryl- Cha Cha
6. Apollo & Karina- Cha Cha
7. Sabrina & Louis- Cha Cha
I think Corky is an opportunist, so hard to say it was really his suggestion.
I figure if folks don’t like Bristol’s post, then maybe she won’t be on very long. 😀
..and I meant… POSE.
I think we need an edit button here. :/
Useful information. Fortunate me I found your web site accidentally, and I’m shocked why this accident didn’t came about
in advance! I bookmarked it.
Thank you, Andrea, but we are keeping track of the dances for my “Who’s Dancing What…” post. It will soon be time to hash out the dances. It’s a bit early yet.
[…] if you’d like to repeat the magic of part I, you can check it out here. And be kind, kids – this particular edition was an absolute betch to put […]