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.
Courtney…check out the top ten bollywood routine from her season of SYTYCD…her midriff is not covered…hehe
Thanks for the ode to Chelsie. If in fact the rumors are true, I’ll miss Chelsie this season.
Very lovely “Ode to Chelsie”. She’s such a pretty girl and enjoyable to watch as a dancer. I also love her TV personality. That being said, for some reason, I always thought of her as “Julianne Hough light”. Almost, but not quite as good, so that when I watched Chelsie dance, it made me miss Julianne all the more.
It seems like she wore an outfit with a denim jacket and sparkly bra and a bare midriff. I’m not sure which season. It could have been Jake or possibly Louie.
Chelsie definately had a different “style” the season she was with Louie Vito and I haven’t seen her go back to it yet.
Wonderful Girls and the perfect time for a tribute to Chelsie. I totally agree with you about who wore each dress the best. She looked best in the gold fringed latin number! It’s funny because last season, there were times I thought she looked the most beautiful I have ever seen her look. Here is one of those times (you need a facebook account to see this). I can’t imagine anyone out doing her with this dress and look if they ever try;
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/207852_218905084789749_113578108655781_942185_8056965_n.jpg
@Amanda – Ok, you are right – although I was referring more to her time on DWTS than on SYTYCD, since I don’t think the dancers really get much say in what they wear on the latter. I think they’re pretty told what they’ll be wearing, rather than picking it out themselves. At least on DWTS, the pros have quite a bit of input in the design of their costumes, and I do find it funny that Chelsie has never had a midriff-bearing costume since joining the show.
@Jaci – Chelsie’s style has gone through a very interesting transformation since her start on DWTS – almost as if she was trying to figure out how to balance being modest with still being sexy. I find most of her costumes from her first season on DWTS to be almost too modest – her cha-cha costume comes to mind. It just covered so much! Then, in season 9, she seemed to go to the opposite end of the spectrum – she got quite a bit more provocative with her costuming, and I think the culmination was her dress for her rumba with Louie. HOT! And still one of my faves. Then she seemed to strike a balance between the 2 from season 2 onward – sexy, but still quite classy.
And Vogue, you and I are on the same page – Chelsie’s Ginger Rogers-inspired foxtrot gown was my favorite this season as well! Just gorgeous. 🙂
I could be wrong, but I think there’s one more possible costume ditto that seems to be missing from here. Isn’t the dress that Chelsie wore for the acoustic Paso with Derek the same that Cheryl wore for the one she did with Giles in Season 8?
Chelsie: http://www.dance-videos.biz/media_thumbs/288.jpg
Cheryl: http://l.yimg.com/l/im_siggZ08vnufLip.llc7_zrJMfA—x400/tv/us/img/site/61/63/0000056163_20090407114613.jpg
@Christine – It is the same costume, we featured it in the very first edition of “Who Wore it Better?”. And there are literally TONS of costume dittos – so many that we’ve made this an ongoing series. If you click on the “Who Wore it Better” graphic on the right, you can check out all of the ones we’ve featured 😉
I’m going to miss Chelsie so much. 🙁 Thank you for doing a special edition for her. I agree, that foxtrot gown was stunning on her. One of my favorite ballgowns even on this show.
It seems like Chelsie loves wearing jazz shoes – she wore them with Mark and Dmitry (both above) as well as with Mark at a Capital Fourth. Interesting. 🙂 I hope we’ll see her in a lot of pro dances this season at the very least…
Thanks for the Who Wore it Better retrospective. I hope to see Chelsie in pro dances this season as well and hope the projects she has coming up are all successful and fun.
Great post Courtney! I always wondered how you were able to recall costumes worn by the pros and celebs. Now I know it’s your freakish near-photographic memory. 😉
I miss my little Chelsie!!!(starts crying hysterically) I guess the break is good for her, she wouldve been paired with Chaz, and I would feel bad about not voting for Chelsie. I will support my fav pro no matter what. You rock Chelsie!!!!!
[…] of her in one of the pro dances this season. Still suffering from Chelsie withdrawal? Check out our ode to her in the most recent edition of Who Wore it Better? Dirty pictureOf what? This is a rather broad term Or, are you looking for the Taio Cruz song […]