Strictly Come Dancing - all about the dresses

Today is the day my piece on Strictly hits the stands in LOOK magazine (issue 50). Woop!

Of all the fashion-flavoured stuff I've done in my day job this year, meeting the young team at Chrisanne was probably my fave.

Chrisanne design loads of the dresses for Strictly - and, it turns out, it is just down the road from me in South London. Who knew?

Not me, that's for sure. But a mere stone's throw away, the world's leading designer, creator and supplier of ballroom dresses is beavering away, conjuring up the stunning, sparkly dresses we've all drooled over on this year's Strictly (even Widdy's pant suits).

To read my 'behind the scenes' interviews with the incredible (and infuriatingly young) Chrisanne design team (plus some Strictly goss, obv) you'll have to buy the mag (like, now!)

Here on the blog, let me give y'all an exclusive peek at my own little journey into Strictly world...

I quickly discovered that if I worked at Chrisanne, I would dress up constantly. I wouldn't be able to resist the bling. I couldn't even last an afternoon without forcing my bod into some of the costumes - it would have been rude not to though, right?

Here I am in the electric blue dress that Katya wore when she quickstepped (quickstup?) with Gavin.




















This next dress was made for the Japanese market - they are big on ballroom dancing. The colour is intense and the Japanese dancers love to have lots of embellishment up top, showing off the neck and collar bone.



















As you can see from the pics, it has a crazy low back, with a feather train, but it feels light and comfortable and dead flexible and you don't feel exposed at all. All the dresses are designed around a basic leotard shape, with a built-in bra, so you step into knickers to get them on (if that makes sense) and then adjust your boobs accordingly. You feel totally secure, no matter how revealing the dress is. Genius.

The overall impact of the dresses is massive, but the beauty is in the detail. All the stones are glued on by hand and they really make the dresses sing (not to mention flattering your figure).
















I love the shoulder detail on this chocolate brown Latin dress too - and the tassels were truly swish-tastic.



















But of all the dresses I tried on, my absolute fave has to be this daring purple number, as worn by Flavia on 2009's Christmas special, when she danced the American Smooth (?!) to Baby It's Cold Outside with Gethin. It was pants at the bottom originally, but has been adapted as most ladies prefer a skirt. What a buzz to a) try this on, and b) get it fastened. It made my Christmas.


















With thanks to Jo, Elle, Natalie, Monika, Fiona and all at Chrisanne, and to Jo at LOOK.