From the ballrooms of BBC Television Centre
In dance, music and theatre what you wear is sometimes just as important as how good you are. I mean can you really imagine Elvis Presley without the jumpsuits or Lady Gaga in jeans and a t-shirt. Would Marie Taglioni really have been as celebrated if she hadn't shortened her skirts to display her en pointe? For as Marilyn Monroe, famous for her white cocktail dress, said: ‘Give a girl the right shoes , and she can conquer the world’.
This year, there has been a renewed enthusiasm for the history of fashion, from the sell-out exhibition of David Bowie’s costumes to the ‘Fashion Rules’ collection at Kensington Palace, which features dresses worn by the Queen, Princess Margaret and Princess Diana. Last Saturday a new exhibit opened at Woburn Abbey displaying twelve of the Strictly Come Dancing dresses from Series 10.
This is the ‘largest and most comprehensive public show of dress from Strictly Come Dancing’ and runs until Sunday 29th September 2013. The creation of the show’s current costume designer Vicky Gill will be displayed in Woburn Abbey’s state apartments, amongst the Duke of Bedford’s private art collection. Actress Denise Van Outen’s blue foxtrot and full-length, scarlet Paso dress, gold Olympic medallist Victoria Pendleton’s Union Flag dress, Flavia Cacace’s red flapper dress and the dress Kimberley Walsh wore in the waltz will be exhibited alongside painting by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Van Dyck and Cuyp and visitors will also have access to the house and gardens.
The General Manager of Woburn, Jonathan Irby promised that ‘the combination of stunning Strictly Come Dancing dresses with Woburn Abbey’s classic art and architecture will score the exhibition a perfect ten’. Over the last 10 series, however, Strictly Come Dancing’s design team have produced hundreds of spectacular frocks as well as sparkly shirts and tight trousers for the male dancers. Dancewear Central have been thinking about what other outfits we would like to see- how about Ali Bastian’s beautiful ball gown or some of Russell Grant's outfits?