Strictly Skimpy

Now that our Saturday night fashion fix is coming to a close – there’s only one more chance this year to gawp at what can loosely be described as ‘dresses’ on tomorrow’s final of Strictly Come Dancing.

You don’t have to be a 70-year old traditionalist waltz fan to balk at what some of the professional and celebrity female dancers have been wearing for the latin numbers, given that some of the ‘outfits’, especially those worn by finalist Chris Hollins’ partner Ola Jordan, would be considered risque on most family beaches.

Showing off a bit of leg in thigh grazing skirts and some toned shoulders and arms together with a tasteful amount of cleavage is de rigeur for a celebrity prime time dance show, and a benefit of all those hours spent in training, and even though we’ve come to expect the odd flash of a taut midriff or an open-backed dance number, the ribbons of fabric worn in lieu of a bikini, never mind a swimsuit…let alone a dress, worn by Ola, are little short of shocking, to the point where actress Ali Bastian’s crystal encrusted halter leotard ‘showgirl’ outfit featuring teeny fringes and a matching peach coloured feather boa ‘tail’ seemed positively demure by comparison.

Finalist Ricky Whittle and his partner Natalie Lowe are also not above flaunting their great bodies in rippling shirts cut to the naval for him and a black lace crop top and tight red mini or a teeny open-backed crotch level dress tailing into a V-shaped point at the back covered in gold discs, for her.

When she’s not wearing three or four glittery thin black straps around her back and hips, Ola’s typical outfit consists of a gold beaded bra attached to matching bottoms with a strip of material running down her abdomen and another couple of strips hanging between her legs although she has strayed from this formula to sport an eye catching red lace catsuit, which yet again was only held together with a slither of material linking the top to the bottoms -  all of which leads viewers to suspect that perhaps the programme’s costume team are experiencing a shortage of fabric, sequins and crystals this year?

When the dancers do emerge in a full length romantic dress for the ballroom routines you do get a surprise at seeing all that much material on one person. Su Judd, Strictly’s costume designer, told the Daily Mail: “We have to push the dancers to accept that rolls of flesh don’t always look glam, even though they have fabulous figures. I had a hard job to persuade Ola to wear a peachy dress with pleats covering her all the way to her neck for a ballroom number.”

“As the series has progressed, the dresses have got shorter as the celebrity dancers have gained confidence and lost any pockets of flab,”  acknowledges Su. “Everyone is saying that the dresses have been sexier this series. If we let her, Natalie would become more daring each week and she and Ricky could easily be half-naked all the time because they have great bodies.”

“Ola loves a revealing dress or an impossibly tight catsuit. When she came out in her sexy black rumba dress in the first show, Chris danced so well because he hadn’t seen her before she emerged and he was overwhelmed, ” said Su, who believes a contestant’s success has a lot to do with how they look and feel. “When there is a connection between a couple, you really see it played out on the dance floor and a lot of this stems from the chemistry of looking and feeling fantastic.”

Never mind their dancing prowess tomorrow night – we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled to see if the girls can notch it up another level and reveal even more in their final effort to win this year’s coveted Strictly title…