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Randall Christensen, Former DWTS Costume Designer, Passes Away

Got the most heartbreaking email yesterday from Randall’s publicist, letting me know of his passing 🙁 For those who maybe weren’t around in the earlier years of the show, Randall was the main costume designers for seasons 2-13 of the show, and created some of the most memorable costumes in the history of the show (think Toni Braxton’s Marie Antoinette gown, Nicole Scherzinger’s Prince getup, Derek & Joanna Krupa’s futuristic paso doble outfits).  He was also a great friend of ours here at Pure, and was gracious enough to grant us several interviews over the years, giving us the behind-the-scenes story of some of the costumes.  Per his publicist, Randall had been courageously (but quietly) battling carcinoma for several years. I had always wondered why he had parted ways with the show – did he quit to pursue other opportunities? Was he let go? But I never wanted to offend him or hurt his feelings by asking…now I understand that he was putting his health first. Those of us here at Pure send our deepest condolences and warmest prayers to his family and friends during this difficult time.

Emmy-winning costume designer, Randall Christensen died Sunday, June 16 at the age of 60. Randall
was best known for his dazzling work on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars for 11 seasons. Mr. Christensen
had been struggling with carcinoid cancer for the past several years.
He was born October 7, 1958 in Camden, South Carolina and was a recent resident of Long Beach,
California. Mr. Christensen is survived by his husband, opera singer, Aaron Ball, mother Joan, and
siblings Steven (Kay), Bruce, Dana (Patti), and Valerie Kirkley. He is preceded in death by his father
Hayward and brother Mark.
Winner of the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety or Music Program (Dancing
with the Stars) and four-time nominee for the Costume Designers Guild Award for Outstanding
Contemporary Television Series (Dancing with the Stars), South Carolina-born costume designer Randall
Christensen delighted performers and audiences alike around the world with his transformative and
iconographic dance and skate costumes and had been proclaimed ‘the next Bob Mackie’ by designer
Bob Mackie himself.
In addition to designing his award-winning creations for Dancing with the Stars for eleven seasons,
Christensen’s stunning gowns can be seen worn by Jennifer Lopez in the film Shall We Dance (2004) and
Mary Steenburgen in the film Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005). Mr.
Christensen’s work can also be seen in the films Take the Lead starring Antonio Banderas (2006), Dance
with Me (1998) with Vanessa Williams, and on television in 20th Century Fox’s award-winning So You
Think You Can Dance and TLC Network’s Ballroom Bootcamp.
Christensen’s company, Randall Designs, has been a leader in the competitive dance and skate costume
industry since 1986 and is based in Phoenix, AZ Christensen also created costumes for Crystal Cruises
and Princess Cruises. Much in demand the world over for his ballroom dance costumes, Christensen wa
also the designer of choice for the world’s top competitive ice skaters. Christensen’s exquisite designs
for Olympic champions Charlie White and Meryl Davies during the 2014 XXII Olympic Winter Games in
Sochi received global notice and praise when White and Davis became the first Americans to win the
Olympic gold medal for ice dancing.
Memorial services will be Saturday, June 29, 2019 at 2:00pm at Brentwood Presbyterian Church, Los
Angeles. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to Best Friends Animal Society
at www.bestfriends.org.

If you want to relive some of the magic of Randall’s greatest DWTS creations, you can check out several of the interviews we conducted with him over the years.

2012 interview, part I
2012 interview, part II
Randall’s costume retrospective, season 4, week 1
Randall’s costume retrospective, season 4, week 2
Randall’s costume retrospective, season 4, week 3

June 21, 2019 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS “Who Wore it Better”? – The Pre-Season 15 All-Star Edition, Part II!

So at long-last, we have EVERYONE’s pictures, since Kirstie & Sabrina’s were released last week.  We can definitely see the chosen color pattern for this season was blue, purple, and various shades of black, white, and silver – and after going through all these pictures with a fine-toothed comb, I can see that the costume department has been extra busy hacking apart, dying, and generally futzing around with pretty much any costume they can get their hands on.  The few costumes that seemed to escape the carnage probably could have stood to be altered a bit…needless to say, I’m becoming progressively less impressed with the costumes as the post-Randall seasons wear on.  Randall, are you out there? If so, can you please come back and slap the clowns in the costume department across the face with a raw trout and tell them to quit acting a fool? 🙁

Anywho, 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 together.  😛

Battle of the black, see-through lace asymmetrical dress with silver bra/season 3 Emmitt & Cheryl vs. season 15 Emmitt & Cheryl: Emmitt & Cheryl’s season 3 promo photo vs. Emmitt & Cheryl’s season 15 promo photo vs. Cheryl’s cha-cha with Chris in season 12

Courtney: This one had me stumped for the longest time – and as I found with a lot of the costumes in this half of the pre-season 15 edition, I just happened to stumble upon the ditto whilst looking for other stuff 😛 Praise the lord for happy accidents! Anywho, I think what throws me in Emmitt & Cheryl’s all-star promo photo is that he seems very laid back and happy-go-lucky – and she’s giving us this smoldering sexpot look.  Needless to say, there is a bit of a disconnect – which is why I like their season 3 promo photo better.  And I actually like her dress in her cha-cha with Chris better than I thought – maybe the pearls make it seem less…salacious.  😛 And the tousled hair with the tinsel was a fun touch.

Heidi: Heh – their promo has cognitive dissonance written all over it. 🙂  I also like the version in the dance with Chris and I can’t quite put my finger on why.  You’re probably right about the pearls – but they are also very odd, considering the underlying style of the dress.  Just all around weirdness. 🙂  I, too, liked Cheryl before her Kardashianification.  Clearly spending too much time with those girls, she is. 🙂

The verdict: Hangin’ out with the Kardashians is baaaad, mmmkay? Read more..

September 15, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

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.  Read more..

August 28, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

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. Read more..

March 9, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS Who Wore it Better? Part XIV – The Pre-Season 13 Edition!

While you guys got to ooh, ahh, and discuss the official season 13 promo photos, I was busy trying to compile everything for WWIB – so you’ll have to forgive me if I’m a bit cranky in these critiques. 🙂 In reality, I actually started compiling pictures for this last week, after the first celebs tweeted pix of themselves at their respective shoots, but it still left a lot to do once they FINALLY released the pix today (3 days late, I might add…ahem, ABC, you listening? ;-)).  Anywho! As I was telling Heidi, there were definitely a few…odd things about this season’s promo photos.  So let’s get right to it, shall we?

Battle of the midnight blue, sparkly one-shoulder rumba dress: Anna’s pre-season 13 photo shoot with Carson vs. Anna’s rumba with Evan in season 10

Courtney: I was joking on Twitter that I bet Carson was the reason the promo photos were released later than usual – he must’ve been picky about he & Anna’s costumes 😉 From the look on Carson’s face, maybe he didn’t get his way – he looks pouty.  Then again, maybe it’s just extraordinarily awkward for him to be touching Anna “that way”…look at how awkwardly his hands are placed.  I worry that these 2 could struggle with really romantic dances like the rumba, if that’s what’s really going here.  Then again, Carson could take to the drama of the dances like a fish to water…but anyway! Love Anna, love this dress & the color of it, but I have to go with rumba Anna for this one, for reasons of hair alone – WTF were they trying to do with it in the photoshoot? Seems like they were torn between some Snooki-like bump in the back and loose waves in the front.  Ooh wee.  And can I just say, this dress is far too similar to the rumba dress she wore with Kurt in season 11 – when you’re dealing with various lighting conditions in photos, it’s hard to tell the 2 apart!

Heidi: Yep, I have to go with Rumba Anna too – and it was also about the hair for me too. 🙂  I think we’re, like, mind-melding or something.  Poor Carson. His lack of experience with women may end up costing him.  I believe he did say that himself, did he not?

The winner: Rumba Anna!! It’s all in the hair.

Battle of the flowy, white, jeweled ballgown: Elisabetta’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Val vs. Chelsea’s foxtrot with Mark in season 12

Heidi: Do NOT understand the need to chop off the length on these gorgeous ballroom dresses. WHY?? This dress on Chelsea was so gorgeous, long and flowy – and it loses all it’s impact once it’s chopped off.  Gotta go with Chelsea for style….not to mention that I don’t find Val attractive so that kinda hurts Elisabetta’s chances with me. 🙂

Courtney: I may have “hated” on Chelsea & Mark all last season (according to some readers…) but I have to say – this was my favorite dress Chelsea wore.  Thought it was simple, elegant, and age-appropriate.  And while I think Elisabetta looks STUNNING in it, I have to go with Chelsea here – the overall styling & very old Hollywood feel they gave her seems to suit the dress better. One funny note: did they catch Val trying to sniff Elisabetta’s hair? Because his face is half-covered by it, and he looks…guilty. 😉

The winner:  Chelsea by a length.

Battle of the cranberry silk embroidered ballgown: Hope’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Maks vs. Jennifer’s tango with Derek in season 11

Courtney: Can’t remember who it was that called this the “red velvet cake” dress, but you’re totally on the money…and making me crave baked goods.  😛 Or maybe cranberry juice.  Anywho! We don’t see too many cranberry-hued costumes on the show – maybe because it feels like a very formal shade? Idk.  I love the embroidery on the sleeves & waist, and I always love open-backed dresses, but I have to say I think a bit of the magic of the original was lost when they shortened the dress – by shortening it, I think they were trying to make it feel more “Latin” than ballroom, but the color & styling of the bodice still scream “ballroom!” to me…so for that reason, I’m gonna go with Jennifer.  I prefer the dress long, and the pulled-back hair & matching lipstick complete the look.

Heidi: Again, the chopping up of a perfectly beautiful dress. Gotta go with Courtney and choose Jennifer.  Frankly, the dress just doesn’t look right shorter and Court pretty much summed up why. I do like Maks’ matching shirt though – that’s a nice touch.

Courtney: I think I figured out why exactly I don’t love the shortened version: it looks too much like a figure skating costume.  Slap some skates on Hope and she’s ready for Skating with the Stars. Why couldn’t they have put her in a different cranberry-colored Latin costume? Like maybe Audrina’s Argentine tango costume?

The winner: Red velvet cake is always a winner…but we prefer our pieces with some length to them.

Battle of the silver-fringed, jeweled Latin dress: Karina’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with JR vs. Chelsie’s pre-season 12 photoshoot vs. Chelsie’s cha-cha with Jake in season 10

Heidi: I love Karina’s bangs!  She looks very pretty.  But I think I’ll go with the middle Chelsie…I deduct points for the long black gloves as an accessory choice with this dress. I do not like the above-the-elbow gloves with the short latin dresses. Just don’t get that fashion choice at all. So, while middle Chelsie wins for me, Karina takes second and right Chelsie gets third place. 🙂

Courtney: This was one of the many oddities I noticed with this season’s photo shoot pictures – why did Karina decide to reuse a dress that had already been worn for a promo pic? Let alone one that was just used LAST SEASON.  It may not seem like a big deal, but to my knowledge, no costume has ever gotten used in a promo shoot more than once, and since the promo photos are often the ones that linger the longest of any of the photos taken during a particular season, you’d think they’d try harder to make them more…unique.  It’s not like they don’t have a ton of costumes to choose from 🙂 But I digress once more.  Gotta stick with Chelsie on this one, because this doesn’t look like something Karina would design for herself – all the more reason I am befuddled as to why it was picked for her.

The winner: Chelsie still owns the battle of the silver fringe.

Battle of the cranberry corset-top, tulle-overlayed dress: Lacey’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Chaz vs. Lacey in the “Toxic” showdown with Val in season 11

Heidi: Gotta say, I think this one is a draw for me. I think it’s a rather silly dress to begin with, and while I like the red streaks in Lacey’s hair on the right, I despise those little chopped up gloves that she’s wearing. So….a tie. 🙂  I will say though, that that lighting on the left-hand picture compliments the dress more – you can see all the detail work on it much better.

Courtney: Tee hee…my screen-capping skillz make me giggle sometimes 😉 If you’re wondering exactly what Lacey is doing in the photo on the right – I think she’s attempting to make some sort of come-hither gesture to Val and is failing.  😛 I can’t say I’m wild about this dress, but it does look very “Lacey-ish”.  I guess I prefer it in the “Toxic” number – the streaks in the hair & the edgy makeup seem to suit it better than the more plain makeup & hair they gave her in the pre-season photoshoot. Another observation: I know some people are saying “Oh, Chaz must not be that short after all – Lacey’s standing next to him wearing heels.” Well, he may actually be a bit taller than her, but I think they’re already employing a few tricks to help as well – Lacey’s standing further back than he is, which could alter the perspective; and it looks like Chaz’s hair is gelled straight up, and he may have a bit of a heel on his shoes.  Now let’s see if they have tricks to minimize the height difference between Peta & Ron, too…

The winner: Lacey…and no one else. 😛

Battle of the pearl-encrusted, cut-out tango dress: Kym’s Argentine tango with Hines in season 12 vs. Kym’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with David

Courtney: My favorite dress of season 12, PERIOD.  Love the racy cut-out sides, love the nude color, and ADORE the fact that Kym eschewed the cliched rhinestone coating and had it encrusted with pearls instead.  Love the dress in both pix, but I gotta go with photoshoot Kym – the loose, romantic waves they put in her hair seem to really sexify the dress.

Heidi: Ditto – I also like her partner on the right (cute!) and just her posture is better and works with the dress better.  Totally agree about the hair.  Doesn’t Kym choose this color for her photoshoots a lot?? It’s a color that really works on her.

The winner: Photoshoot Kym proves that pearls can be sexy. 

Battle of the black mesh, fringed & jeweled dress: Ricki’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Derek vs. Marissa’s 2nd rumba with Tony in season 6

Heidi: Mmmmm….Derek. 🙂  I’ve got to send his trainer cookies or something for the work he’s done on Derek. He looks…bigger. Or in the words of his trainer…”jacked up”. All growed up. Oh. Dresses. Well, since I don’t like Marissa’s stockings, and I don’t like her hair…and, well, I don’t much like HER, I have to go with Ricki for better hair and a hunkier than ever partner. 🙂

Courtney: Love that they’ve got 2 former Tracy Turnblad portrayers in the same dress 🙂 Seems like kind of a cool homage.  I don’t exactly love this dress, so it makes it hard for me to pick a winner.  Seems to look better with Ricki’s coloring, but that could just be a spray tan and some photoshoot lighting giving her a nice glow.  But wait – is Derek wearing a black shirt with brown pants? WTF???

Heidi: Derek’s wearing pants??  Oh…yes, it appears they are a different color. 😉 Seems to be an odd choice for him. Very out of the ordinary. Wonder why?

The winner: In the tale of two Tracy Turnblads, Ricki emerges victorious 🙂

Battle of the brown fringed & jeweled Latin dress: Nancy’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Tristan vs. Kirstie’s 1st samba with Maks in season 12

Courtney: Nancy actually looks quite nice in this dress, methinks.  Perhaps even better than Kirstie.  She’s certainly got her tatas ready for battle! Gotta say – Nancy is pleasantly surprising me so far.  She seems like she’s actually excited to be doing this, and has set aside her courtroom aggression for the meantime.  And Tristan, good on ya – you look happy 😀

Heidi: Ah, we finally disagree on one. I have to go with Kirstie. I think she works this dress better just by nature of her hairstyle which is long and flowing rather than…helmut-y.  Yes, I am making up words as we go.

The winner: It serves both Nancy & Kirstie pretty well…so what can brown do for YOU? 😉

Battle of the silver silk jeweled ballgown: Pam’s foxtrot with Damian in season 10 vs. Chynna’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Tony

Heidi: Chynna isn’t wearing this dress, the dress is wearing her.  Pam embodies what that dress was designed for – she owns it.  Even the elbow length gloves work with this dress and her hair…and her makeup.  Just gorgeous! And am I mis-remembering or is this another dress that was nearly full length and they’ve chopped it again??  Step AWAY from the scissors!

Courtney: Chynna has aged incredibly well, but the overall effect of this silver gown on her seems…bland.  She’s very pretty, yes, but there’s nothing about the picture that really jumps out at me – and I’m afraid that may be the theme for me with regards to Chynna & Tony this season 🙁 Whenever I’m rattling off the names of the couples, they always seem to be the ones I forget, maybe because there’s been relatively little media coverage of them.  Idk – maybe they’re deliberately flying under the radar so they can surprise everyone in week one.  Time will tell! But Pam, my little blonde bombshell of season 10 – she’s a total Marilyn in this one, down to the sex kitten hair, elbow-length gloves, and red lips.  *sigh* I miss Pam & Damian…

The winner: You don’t mess with Pam Anderson.

Battle of the black, lacey, fringey dress: Cheryl in the season 12 finale opening dance with Chris vs. Cheryl’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Rob

Courtney: This must be one of those generic dresses they always seem to have on-hand in order to fit a particular color scheme, because nothing about it was really triggering a “Eureka!” moment for me until someone mentioned that it could be Karina’s dress from the season 11 finale – of course it wasn’t, but it at least got me thinking along the lines of finale performances and that’s where I finally found this one.  It’s pretty, but unremarkable for me – Cheryl herself doesn’t even seem to be uber-excited to be wearing it in either picture.  I guess I’ll go with photoshoot Cheryl, because she’s at least smiling…although Rob still looks like kind of a putz to me.

Heidi: Blah. Boring. Both times. 🙁  I think Rob IS a putz. It’s actually painful to have him in my DWTS List on twitter.

The winner: Zzzzz….oh, we were supposed to pick a winner? I guess photoshoot Cheryl…now let me sleep…zzzzzz

Battle of the gold lame/gold sequin romper: Kristin’s pre-season 13 photoshoot with Mark vs. Julianne’s freestyle with Helio in season 5 vs. Karina’s pro dance to Selena Gomez with Derek in season 9

Courtney: WARNING: this is NOT the same costume.  Well, Kristin’s is not – I’m convinced they bought that nonsense on the clearance rack at Wet Seal…or bought it at a costume auction after Take Me Home Tonight wrapped (BTW, good movie for a few laughs – well worth the $1.08 the bf & I paid for it at the Redbox ;-)).  In other words – I hate that gold thing and I have no idea why they decided to put such a pretty girl in such a tacky costume when they clearly have a bajillion suitable leftover costumes at their disposal.  *stamps foot* Seriously…whyyyy? Even the the very similar gold sequin romper that Julianne & Karina both wore would be an improvement over this…thing. And don’t even get me started on Mark’s shoes…although, if they were going for the 80’s theme with their photoshoot, he does look vaguely like Duckie from Pretty In Pink…except Duckie is wicked awesome and Mark is just kinda bogus, dude. </80’sslang>

Heidi: Pretty sure they give the dancers a selection to choose from. Just sayin’.  This is one gawdawful dress that made me think trailer park Saturday night when I first saw it. Maybe that’s harsh…but didn’t gold lame dresses go out in the 90’s. Or the 70’s?  Or both?? I mean, really, at least that gawdawful romper (and you all know how I feel about that cut around the legs) IS a romper.  Kristen’s is a dress that is cut up to THERE.  Seriously? You’re going there on day 1? Also, you do realize that Mark got those damn shoes bedazzled don’t you? Because we couldn’t see them well enough as it is – because it is much more important that we see Mark’s feet than his partner’s.  Or…the dude is just tacky.  Are we picking a winner here? I go with Karina because she’s suffocating Derek with her hair. 🙂  Helio is cool too though.

The winner: Helio & Karina. And perhaps Jon Cryer.

And a special note on Peta’s dress…

We tried, kids, we really tried…but we (and the many PureDWTS readers I solicited both here and on Twitter) were clueless about this feathered thing Peta is wearing.  I (Court) swear I’ve seen her wear it somewhere OUTSIDE the dance floor (either in the audience of DWTS or another premiere or something), but for the life of me, I cannot recall specifics.  I even asked Peta on Twitter – no response. If you have seen this dress before and can tell us where exactly, we’ll update this post and give you credit 🙂 But until then, here is some commentary from Heidi & I…

Heidi: What in the hell was Peta thinking?  From the psuedo dress to the pose it’s just all the way wrong.  I think it might actually be the pose that really caps it off.  It kinda looks like Ron is carrying his child in her swimsuit on his hip.  Or you could go slightly porno if you want, but I’m trying not to think about that.  This is actually a horrendous picture for me – such a gorgeous woman but how did she get to this pose in this outfit??

Courtney: I’m sorry, but this seriously seems like the worst of this batch of promo photos to me.  The pose is just totally weird – can you believe that Peta’s leg is actually hidden behind Ron’s back? Believe it – Peta confirmed it.  And this dress just feels odd to me – like they just took a tank top and slapped some feathers on the bottom.  And speaking of bottoms…I hate that Peta’s is just kinda hanging out in this pic.  Add to that the strange pouffy hair, and I’m just left thinking, “WTF???”

September 7, 2011 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS Who Wore it Better? Part XIII – The Chelsie Appreciation Edition

Well she may not be on the show this season, but “out of sight” is certainly not “out of mind” for us here at PureDWTS! What better time to show Chelsie she’s loved than now? 🙂

I must confess, due to my own pessimistic tendencies, this was originally supposed to be the Anna Apprecation Edition, because I was so certain she wouldn’t be back this season.  But thankfully, she is, and now I have inspiration to create subsequent editions of WWIB featuring all of the female pros – eventually. 😉 Finding costume dittos is hard sometimes, even for someone with a freakishly near-photographic memory like mine…

Battle of the peach jeweled ballgown: Brooke’s Viennese waltz with Derek in season 7 vs. Chelsie’s pro dance with Dmitry to Jewel in season 8

Heidi: I think the look worked on Brooke simply so that the dress didn’t detract from the emotion of the dance, which was a Viennese Waltz to Daughters, by John Mayer.  It’s kind of plain on her, otherwise. I prefer it on Chelsie, and I like her softer hairstyle with this dress. Of course, it could just be the lighting. 🙂

Courtney: I noticed several patterns with Chelsie’s costume choices while compiling this post.  The first is that she has an affinity for doing very lifty, contemporary choreo while wearing shortened ballgowns.  You can’t see in this picture, but this dress has actually been shortened substantially – check it out on the Randall website. May not be of any consequence to you guys, but I do find it kind of interesting how the costume department, when pressed for time & unable to create new costumes, just takes what they have on hand & changes it to work for them – very resourceful.  Anywho! I always thought the dress was very pretty on Brooke, but I’m not sure it’s a color she would pick for herself – seems too demure, and better suited to someone more wholesome and youthful, like Chelsie. And I’m not wild about Brooke’s hair – looks too…plastered down? Idk.

The winner: Chelsie, for better coloring…or maybe lighting.

Battle of the black, fringed, jewel-trimmed Latin dress: Chelsie in the season 11 finale opening dance vs. Anna’s opening credits shoot with Sugar Ray in season 12

Courtney: Another pattern I noticed with Chelsie: she is so freaking hard to get a decent screen cap of!!!!! Seriously – she never stops moving, and her technique is so good that she moves with such a range of motion that she’s seldom in a position where she’s facing the camera, in a neutral position.  I got so many bad screenshots of her moving her body in crazy ways that made it impossible to see her costume well.  She also seems fond of black-fringed costumes – this one is pretty similar to the one she wore for her cha-cha with Romeo, and she wore gloves for both.  In truth – I’m not wild about this version of the black-fringed costume.  Since there’s very little sparkle, it just seems to look a little blah on both ladies for me.  At least with the Romeo version, there was quite a bit of sparkle to give the costume some depth.  I prefer colored versions of this particular style, such as the hot pink & multicolored versions featured in WWIB Part XI.

Heidi: I don’t care for the long black gloves with the short, fringed latin dresses – I don’t get that wardrobe choice at all. Other than that, there isn’t much to say about it really – it’s hard to see but I really prefer the dress on Anna – and again, it could just be the background and the lighting influencing me. I’m so easy. 🙂

The winner: Anna by a hair…with an assist from the background & lighting 🙂

Battle of the sheer, white, feather-trimmed ballgown: Cheryl’s Viennese waltz with Chad in season 10 vs. Chelsie’s dance with Mark in the “America’s Favorite Dancers” show

Heidi: They all have their “tics” don’t they?? 🙂 Mark’s is high water pants and polka dots, Cheryl’s is the sheer ballgown skirt.  I much prefer Cheryl’s tic in this case, although I do find it a rather strange choice. As for who wore it better?? Well, I think Chelsie is wearing it like it’s a dress made for CHERYL, if that makes sense. It doesn’t really seem like it belongs on her, and I also prefer Cheryl’s hairstyle, as it is fancy, fancy, fancy…just like the dress.

Courtney: Ahhh yes – another representative of Cheryl’s ongoing infatuation with sheer-skirted ballgowns 🙂 This one is odd for me: I think the bodice is gorgeous, with all of the beading & delicate details, but the skirt…looks totally silly to me. Like they let a class of preschoolers decorate it with a bunch of feathers & pom-poms.  All that’s missing is the uncooked macaroni and you’ve got yourself a craft project! I don’t know…they both look good from the waist up, and bizarre from the waist down.  I’m apathetic.

The winner: Cheryl loves her some sheer skirts…and rocks them well.

Battle of the red, jeweled midriff Latin costume: Chelsie in the pro dance with the Mwano family in season 11 vs. Edyta’s salsa relay with Ashley in season 9

Courtney: Chelsie costuming pattern #3: she will never show her stomach completely.  Seriously…find me an example of her midriff being completely exposed and I will gladly admit I’m wrong.  She’ll wear cut-out dresses, or ones that show a teeny-tiny bit of belly, but then you’ve got 2-piece costumes like this where they slap a piece of mesh down the front.  This costume definitely had to go through some un-Edytafication before Chelsie would wear it…the mesh, the extra layer of fabric on the skirt to cover the sides, the increased chest coverage.  Normally I would give this one to Edyta, no contest, but the open sides of the skirt look weird to me.  Gotta go with Chelsie this time.

Heidi: Edyta, by a mile.  It was originally designed for her and by adding back material it just makes an already unfortunate dress worse. 🙂  When you add the mesh on the front it make the whole dress look heavy, what with the double patterned belts around the hips and under the bra line.  I think Edyta is just playing the part here better than Chelsie is – and damn that woman has a body.  🙂

The winner: Edyta, for playing the part.

Battle of the lavender, jewel-trimmed, one-shoulder ballgown: Kym’s Viennese waltz with Donny in season 9 vs. Chelsie’s Viennese waltz with Jake in the season 10 finale

Heidi: I think Chelsie is a bit too short for this dress – maybe if it was straight to the floor instead of layered it would work better for me. Both women look very pretty, but I’m gonna have to go with Kym, I believe.

Courtney: This is another thing I hate about screen-capping – it always makes colors look too warm.  The dress is closer to the color on the left than the color on the right – but it’s a pretty color, regardless.  I think it’s a good example of the “less is more” concept of costuming – very simple silhouette, flattering color, minimal trim.  Lovely 🙂 Looks great on both ladies, but I have to give this one to Kym – love her romantic wavy hair.  Looks like Chelsie may have been the victim of the dreaded quick-change, which usually necessitates un-fussy, generically-styled hair to fit multiple costumes.

The winner: She of the Awesome Boobage dominates once again.

Battle of the gold, fringed, halter-top Latin dress: Chelsie in the season 8 intros vs. Ashly in the 150th episode pro dance to “Hard to Handle” in season 6

Heidi: Hmmm….tough call. Both ladies wear this dress well. It compliments both Chelsie’s sunny, California girl look, and Ashly’s darker hair and complexion.  This one is a tough call!!  I think I’m leaning toward Chelsie, but I have to idea why. 🙂

Courtney: Maybe because we have a hard time believing a wholesome Mormon mommy like Ashly would pick out an outfit like this for herself? 😉 I dunno, at least that’s what I think – both ladies are on the wholesome side, but Chelsie is able to pull off sexier, flashier outfits a bit better, IMO.  The impression I get from Ashly in this dress is that “I had to wear a gold dress to match the other dancers, so I bit the bullet and picked out the most conservative one I could.” Plus I love the way a gold outfit looks paired with blonde hair 🙂

The winner: Chelsie, for looking more comfortable being sexy.

Battle of the pale blue, jeweled high-neck ballgown: Nicole’s waltz with Derek in season 10 vs. Chelsie’s pro dance with Dmitry to Goo Goo Dolls in season 11

Courtney: I had completely forgotten about this one – and now that I’m looking at it, I’m realizing that it is really a beautiful dress. Simple silhouette with delicate details.  Again, looks great on both ladies, but I’m gonna go with Nicole on this one – I think this dress is better balanced as a long dress, and the high neck looks a bit odd on Chelsie.

Heidi: I think the high collar on this dress rather begs for an upswept, formal hairstyle. It draws the eye to a nice neck and you don’t want your hair ruining the effect. So, I have to go with Nicole also. The bodice of the dress with the shorter length (and lack of shoes) on Chelsie just doesn’t look quite right.

The winner:  Nicole, by a length…of dress.

August 29, 2011 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS Who Wore it Better? Part XII – More from Season 12

So the addition of the troupe this past season did have one unexpected positive effect: even more costume dittos! Which makes my job a bit easier 😉 And I’m noticing the costume department has a special affinity for red – lots & lots of sparkly, red, fringy, feathery stuff… Read more..

August 5, 2011 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS Who Wore it Better? Part XI – Season 12 Thus Far Edition

With a mere 4 weeks of competition complete, we’ve already seen a slew of costume dittos from the pros and also the troupe this season.  Let’s have a look, shall we? It’ll give Heidi & I some time to come up with this week’s cheesecake…and I’m sure it will be a doozy, after suffering through “American Night”-mare. 🙂

Battle of the lime green, jeweled & feathered Latin costume: Peta in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season vs. Kym’s pro dance with Tony to Santana in season 11

Courtney: Hmmm.  Tough one for me.  I like Petra’s hair better, but I think the color looks better with Kym’s skin.  Although I’m not wild about that thing they’ve got going across the midriff on Kym…glad they omitted it for Peta.

Heidi: Peta is certainly beautiful, and looks good in the dress, but I don’t think the Awesome Boobage of Kym can’t be beaten – by anyone. 🙂 Add in that her darker tan compliments the dress and there you go. I do see something resembling a crotch doilie though and it’s giving me flashbacks. 🙂

Courtney: I was thinking more “feather loincloth”, but crotch doily works too 🙂

The winner: The Awesome Boobage prevails once more 😀

Battle of the beaded black mesh Latin dress with plunging neckline, redux: Karina’s pro dance with Louis to Jennifer Hudson this season vs. Anna’s pre-season photo shoot with Sugar Ray this season vs. Kym’s cha-cha with the Hoff in season 11

Heidi: Again, I have to go with Kym for reasons previously stated. 🙂 Plus, I think Anna is too pale in her photo and with the red hair it just washes her out. Karina looks amazing, but I would go with Kym.

Courtney: The problem with this dress is that it’s not a typical “Anna” dress – she seems to tend more towards the conservative, less va-va-va-voom Latin costumes these days, so she’s out.  I loved the way the dress looked on Karina while she was moving – quite quickly, I might add, which is why it was hard for Heidi to get a clear screen cap – but alas, Kym reigns supreme once more with her sex kitten hair, smoky eye makeup, and perpetual Awesome Boobage 🙂

The winner: You don’t mess with the Awesome Boobage.

Battle of the hot pink fringed Latin dress, redux: Chelsea’s pre-season photo shoot with Mark this season vs. Lacey’s Team Kristi cha-cha with Kyle in season 11 vs. Anna in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season

Courtney: Poor Anna always seems to get stuck with the 3 & 4-peat costumes 😛 God love her…she’s cute, but I’m not wild about the hot pink paired with her red hair.  Sticking with cute-as-a-button Chelsea on this one… 

Heidi: Ummm….not Lacey? 🙂 I think I lean toward Chelsea, as I think her hair style compliments the “cute” of the dress.

The winner: Chelsea’s still pretty in pink.

Battle of the red & gold paso doble dress: Karina’s paso doble with Mario in season 6 vs. Oksana’s paso doble demo with Kiki this season

Heidi: I’m going to go with Karina based on skin tone and, even though it’s not a fair comparison since we’re looking at stills, the movement she achieved with this dress. Although that could also be due to what appears to be a different cut to the bottom portion – did they remove a slit and the gold trim for Oksana?

Courtney: Oksana keeps reminding us of how she’s a “powerhouse in a small package”, so I’m guessing they probably had to hem this dress for her – hence, the disappearance of the gold trim at the bottom of the dress.  Looks like they also omitted the gold belt (likely to make her torso appear longer) and may have sewn up a few of the slits & jeweled the bodice to balance the look.  A good example of how some minor tweaking can really change the look of a costume 🙂 But I agree – I like the look better on Karina.  Just works better with her skin tone and her build.

The winner: Oksana the powerhouse-in-a-small-package is no match for powerhouse-in-any-package Karina!

Battle of the pink & red ruffled Latin dress: Oksana in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season vs. Cheryl’s samba with Gilles in season 8

Courtney: I feel like a lot of Cheryl’s costumes in season 8 were similar to this – ruffly, midriff-y, and brightly-colored.  I guess she was maybe celebrating her weight loss (and departure from the frumpy costumes she wore in season 7 to cover up her weight gain) with all of these loud dresses…but it just doesn’t feel like something that really fits her personality well.  For that reason, I’m gonna go with Oksana…seems like something she’d actually pick out for herself.

Heidi: Hmmmm….I think I have to go with Oksana and I’m not really sure why I like it better on her. Overall, I don’t much care for the dress at all, but Oksana wears it well.

The winner: Everyone’s favorite pint-sized mail-order bride – Oksana 🙂

Battle of the red & orange fringed Latin dress: Melissa’s would-be jive with Tony in season 8 vs. Lacey in the “On the Floor” pro/troupe dance this season

Heidi: Again, a dress that I don’t care for much – but believe it or not I’m going to go with Lacey. Again, not a fair comparison because Lacey is benefiting from movement whereas Melissa is stationary. That said, Lacey’s hair is gawdawful.  But then, Melissa looks like a school marm posing as a hot Latin momma and failing miserably. 🙂  So, it’s really a double fail, but less on Lacey. This time. 🙂

Courtney: Poor Melissa – she didn’t even have a chance to show us this dress in motion (this was the week that she injured herself and was unable to do her jive, so they showed us the footage of the camera blocking instead).  She just wore it on the results show for the sake of consistency.  Not that I’m too disappointed – this dress reminds me of a Muppet.  Or rather, the leftover trimmings of a Muppet on the cutting room floor of Jim Henson studios 🙂 But weird & Muppet-y fits right in Lacey’s wheelhouse, so I’m gonna go with her as well.

The winner: Lacey rocks the “leftover Muppet” look well.

Battle of the pink ruffled mesh rumba dress & the jeweled & ruffled black mesh samba dress: Lacey’s rumba & samba with Kyle in season 11 vs. 2 wardrobe assistants futzing around backstage this season 🙂

Courtney: Two of Lacey’s weirder costumes from last season, fo sho…but these boys are fearlessly rocking them.  The Asian guy dominates in this one – he’s even got the artsy Latin hand gesture down cold! Other guy gets points for trying, but the socks, dude? As for Lacey…she never stood a chance against either of these fashion plates 🙂

Heidi: The Asian guy, definitely. The other guy would be doing well if not for the white ankle socks. 😉

The winner: Lacey never stood a chance against the fabulosity of these two 🙂

April 20, 2011 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS Who Wore it Better? Part X – The Pre-Season 12 Edition!

So the official cast pictures were released on Thursday, and we could be like every other site and just post them for you to see…or we could have fun and do a new (long-awaited!) edition of Who Wore it Better? 🙂 Enjoy!

Battle of the hot pink, fringed cut-out Latin dress: Petra’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Dmitry vs. Denise’s cha-cha with Maks in season 8

Courtney: It’s almost not fair to pit ANYONE against someone as gorgeous as Petra 🙂 And while I always thought Denise looked pretty awkward in every costume they put her in, Petra wears this one well – I think the color looks much more flattering on her that it does on Denise, and I love the loose, wavy hair and understated makeup.

Heidi: Well, Denise’s makeup is too over done when she’s wearing the dress – that was distracting to me. You can tell Petra is a model – she knows how to wear clothes. Conversely, Denise is an actress, NOT a model (or a dancer) and isn’t as comfortable in her skin in this sort of outfit. It shows.

The winner: Petra by a pose.

Battle of the white & black embroidered, ruffled “crotch doily” dress: Lacey’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Mike vs. Lacey’s jive with Kyle in season 11

Heidi: You know this dress might be cute on someone else – but not many people. Julianne could probably wear it. But this is just not a flattering cut on Lacey and I don’t get why she insists on wearing it!! But forget about the dress…what the HELL is wrong with her damn hair!?!?! Good lord, you have hair and makeup people at your disposal and this is what you do? This is not “rebel”, this is…I hate to say trailer park is the first thing that came to mind!! Limp and lifeless. You look at pictures of Lacey with the very dark hair (which makes her eyes pop) and she looks gorgeous. I don’t get why a beautiful girl sabotages herself.

Courtney: *sigh* I have to wonder sometimes what the pros’ (or the costume department’s) motivations are for picking certain costumes for these shoots.  This is one of those times.  I always thought this costume was silly – I think someone mentioned the comically placed “crotch doilies” on it, and it just kinda reminded me of something a circus performer would wear.  As for the hair and makeup – oy.  If I hated Lacey’s bleach blonde hair last season, then I downright LOATHE this dark roots, light ends ‘do she’s rocking now.  Her makeup also seems a little drab in this photo shoot – I kinda liked the “pop” that the bright red lipstick gave her face when she wore this costume the first time.

The winner: Ain’t no winners here, move along.

 

Battle of the white-fringed, asymmetrical Latin dress: Kendra’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Louis vs. Edyta’s cha-cha with Aiden in season 10

Courtney: It’s hard for anyone to hold a candle to Edyta in pretty much any costume, but Kendra gives her a good run for her money here! Both ladies look very pretty, but I think the white is a bit more striking against Edyta’s darker hair & skin.  I kinda wish they had given Kendra a more textured ‘do…maybe some loose waves or something to frame her face better than this straight hair.  And what’s with this pose they’ve got her doing? Does she have to pee? Or did she forget to put on undies before leaving the house this morning?

Heidi: That’s the Playboy pose. You can take the Bunny out of the mansion but you can’t take the….wait. You can take the Bunny out of Playboy but you can’t take the playboy out of the bunny. Happy Hour wuz gud. Anyway, Edyta wins on skin tone.

Courtney: I guess we should also point out that Julianne actually wore this dress recently for she & Derek’s exhibition performance in Hong Kong.  Special thanks to Lori for pointing it out 🙂

The winner: Edyta by a spray tan.

 

Battle of the black lace, off-the-shoulder asymmetrical hem tango dress: Wendy’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Tony vs. Niecy’s Argentine tango with Louis in season 10

Courtney: Eh…this seemed like a bit of a cop-out on the part of the costume folks.  “Gee, we’ve got a curvy, outspoken black gal this season.  Let’s put her in a costume that another equally curvy, outspoken black gal wore 2 seasons ago!” Kinda seemed like they were typecasting a bit with this one.  I didn’t love the dress on Niecy, and I don’t love the dress on Wendy.  I think I would have rather seen her in something with a little more impact – they’ve got the other gals wearing hot pink and bright white, why not Wendy?  I guess if I had to chose, I would have to give this one to Niecy – her overall look seems a bit more put-together.

Heidi: I dunno, I think the cut of the dress works better on someone taller, like Wendy. Either way, I don’t like that cut high at the hip and then long in front.

The winner: A rough tie – Wendy wins for fit, Niecy wins for ensemble.  But neither is perfect.

Battle of the sparkly, silver-ruffled rumba dress: Karina’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Ralph vs. Karina’s rumba with Aaron in season 9

Courtney: This dress came from the season where Karina seemed to be having a love affair with ruffles – almost every costume she wore seemed to have them! Some of you may also recall this dress as the one she was wearing when Aaron had his post-rumba meltdown in the confessional 🙂 Anywho…I guess it’s kind of a pretty dress.  Not necessarily my favorite rumba dress (there have been some gorgeous ones over the years), but it looks nice on her. Funny how it almost looks like it’s pale blue when she wore it in the rumba, and it clearly looks silvery-white here.  Gotta love the magic of photo shoot lighting. I gotta give this one to photo shoot Karina for the oh-so-dramatic poses 🙂

Heidi: I think this dress is very pretty – but she wore it for a Rumba?? Seems very strange for a Rumba dress – of course, it was a Rumba with Aaron, so that could explain it. 🙂

The winner: Photo shoot Karina…because the only drama comes from her pose, rather than her unstable partner 🙂

 

Battle of the hot pink-fringed Latin dress: Chelsea’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Mark vs. Lacey’s Team Kristi cha-cha with Kyle in season 11

Heidi: Chelsea is darling. And too tall for Mark – I wish she was dancing with Derek. 🙂 I smell future showmance. And exploding Bristol/Mark shipper brains. 🙂 She looks great in this dress and is confident enough to wear it well. I predict top 3 with these two – either that or a shocking elimination. I still don’t like Lacey’s blonde hair, so I have to go with Chelsea.

Courtney: Ok, Chelsea may be the cutest thing EVER 🙂 Out of all the celeb ladies, I think she looks the best in the costume they chose for her.  Love the flirty pink color, the fringe, and her adorable blonde bob.  Just darling. Lacey looks alright – definitely not the worst costume she wore last season, but the hot pink with the bleach blonde hair just looks kinda…Barbie-ish.

The winner: Mark, no question. *drum riff* 🙂

 

Battle of the black tuxedo-inspired dress w/ruffled neckline: Kym’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Hines vs. Kym’s freestyle with Donny in season 9

Courtney: At first blush, this may not even look like the same costume – but if you look at it a bit more closely, you’ll see that they just removed a lot of the tuxedo details, slapped on some ruffles, and turned it into a simple black Latin outfit.  I think she also wore it for the opening pro dance for the season 11 finale. I kinda like the simplicity of it now, without all the cheesy tuxedo stuff – although the bowtie in the back is a bit odd.  Whichever way you look at it, it makes her legs look miles long!

Heidi:I dunno, I have to go with the cheesy tuxedo version mainly because I don’t like the black ruffles at the neckline or the way it’s cut around her legs in the other version. Plus she’s really rockin’ out the hair in the tuxedo version – she makes the best, fierce dance faces ever, too – as we’ve mentioned before. 🙂 So, I have to go with the in action shot versus the posed one.

The winner: Cheesy tuxedo Kym, for all-around fierceness!

 

Battle of the white-fringed, sparkly-neckline Latin dress: Chelsie’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Romeo vs. Chelsie’s cha-cha with Jake in season 10

Courtney: I actually really like this dress on Chelsie, even if I never did quite understand how it fit in with the “Risky Business” theme of she & Jake’s cha-cha.  And I dig the fiercer, more mature look she seems to be sporting this season – I like the straight hair better than the crimpy ‘do they gave her the first time around, and I’m glad they 86’ed the long black gloves.  Only one complaint: don’t she & Kendra kinda look like the Bobsy Twins? White, tiered-fringe Latin costumes with rhinestone trim & long, straight blonde hair.  Wish they had put one or the other in a colored costume, just to set them apart…both are gorgeous.

Heidi: For it to fit the Risky Business theme wouldn’t she also have to be wearing a man’s dress shirt?? Or am I remembering that movie wrong?? And doesn’t it always seem to come back to hair with us when we’re talking dresses?? 🙂 And yes, her dress is too close to Kendra’s – but I don’t think it’s wardrobe’s fault. There is video of Derek picking what he wants to wear and I see no reason to think that the celebs don’t go through the rack and pick what they want. The only thing is, I think they went with a color tone last season so they may have only brought clothes that went well together. Anyway, I’m with you on this one.

Courtney: You’re remembering the right movie – although Rebecca DeMornay never wore a men’s shirt in Risky Business.  She did, however, wear a pretty sexy black trenchcoat & matching fedora…kinda wish they had went with that to maintain the movie theme, but unfortunately I think the men’s-shirt-over-tightie-whities look is so iconic that no one would have remembered the trenchcoat/fedora ensemble. FAIL.

The winner: Photo shoot Chelsie, for not having Fake Jake as an accessory.

 

Battle of the beaded black-mesh Latin dress with the plunging neckline: Anna’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Sugar Ray vs. Kym’s cha-cha with the Hoff in season 11

Courtney: I seriously think this might be my favorite Latin dress on the show, EVER.  Kym was a total bombshell in this getup – the long legs, the smokey eyes, the sexy bedhead hair, the great boobs – I wanted to be Kym in that outfit.  Minus the whole having to dance with the Hoff part, of course – that was painful to watch. Anna looks great in it, but as I always say, it’s hard to out-fox Kym & her awesome boobage.

Heidi:HEY!! I was gonna use “awesome boobage”. 🙂 I think we’ve been blogging together a long time. 🙂 Gotta agree with you. Not only awesome boobage, but better skin tone and hair for that particular dress.

Courtney: Indeed we have, dearie 🙂 “Awesome boobage” is also a memorable line from an episode of South Park where Kenny hallucinates about boobs.  But on a slightly off-topic note, I think (don’t quote me on this, because I haven’t done the research) this is the first time that a female pro has worn a costume for a pre-season shoot that was originally worn by another female pro.  For the promo shoots, the pros seem to just pick out costumes they themselves have worn in the past and really liked…or that a celeb has worn in the past.  Wonder how/why Anna ended up with Kym’s costume from last season…did she just not have any black costumes of her own to wear?

The winner:Kym’s awesome boobage.

 

Battle of the short purple Latin dress with black lace overlay: Cheryl’s pre-season 12 photo shoot with Chris vs. Cheryl’s “Toy Story” paso doble to Gipsy Kings with Tony in season 10

NOTE: We searched high and low for a decent quality photo of Cheryl in the Gipsy Kings performance – to no avail.  Screen-capping was equally unsuccessful. So while a side-by-side comparison is impossible, you can check the dress out in action on YouTube. And here’s a special shoutout to our reader Ryan, who pointed this one out to us when we were stumped on where we had seen this dress before 🙂

Heidi: I like it, it’s cute – I think Cheryl really likes the lace overlay deal though.

Courtney: It’s a cute dress – but I’m not wild about it.  Kinda seems similar to a lot of other dresses Cheryl has worn.  I do think it’s funny that Cheryl’s pose for this season’s promo photo is identical to last season’s.  I guess it’s become her signature pose,  now that she’s gotten extensions 🙂

The winner: Ummm…Cheryl.

 

And a special note on Kirstie’s dress…

As far as we (and our readers, who’s help we solicited) can tell, the dress Kirstie is wearing has never been worn before on the show – or was worn so long ago that no one can remember when.  If you think otherwise, and can provide the specific instance of when this dress was worn (i.e. “Cheryl wore this for her paso doble with Maurice in season 7”) or, better yet, a picture of when this dress was worn, we will post it in a future edition of “Who Wore it Better?” and give you credit 🙂 But until then, enjoy some commentary from Heidi & I…

Courtney: This dress looks comfortable.  Kinda like a nightgown.  I’d wear it!

Heidi: Definitely straight out of the boudoir – and that’s where I’d wear it too. 🙂

Alright, folks – thus ends another edition of “Who Wore it Better?”.  Hope you enjoyed Heidi & I’s warm-up round of snark before we resume the Cheesecake Awards 🙂 So who do you guys think will be this season’s fashion plate? And who will be this season’s fashion victim?

March 6, 2011 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

Dancing with the Stars – Who Wore it Better? Part IX

With all of the hubbub surrounding the closely-approaching (and much-anticipated!) premiere of season 11, we here at Pure DWTS have gotten a little burnt out from all the coverage…maybe some of you have, too.  So what better way to let off some steam and relax than to take a look at some more costume dittoes from previous seasons? Just a little something to pass the time while we wait with baited breath for the new season to start…and for more costumes to get reused 😉 Enjoy! Read more..

September 19, 2010 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.