This January saw the prestigious UK Open take place at the Bournemouth International Centre and it was inspiring to watch so many wonderful dancers looking exquisite in all of their dazzling couture. Getting the opportunity to watch the dancing myself I witnessed the Professional Ballroom and Amateur Latin competition rounds ablaze in feathers, bead droppers and crystals.
Feathers were a massive trend in the Professional Ballroom and featured all over the skirts and shading in exquisite tones of colours. Used for floats and bodices feather created unique textures and appliqués perfectly recognised in the Professional Ballroom finale, where the majority of couture were covered in feathers.
Bead droppers and sparkle fabrics lit up the Ballroom with pale blues and lilacs gracing the floor, in contrast to the reds and blacks dominating the Amateur Latin rounds.
With so much inspiration I have a chat with our Couture designers Kushy, Joseph and Phoebe about the trends gracing the floor at the UK Open …
What colours did you feel trended on the dancefloor at the UK Open?
The classics, white, red & black were very prominent, however we also saw many dresses in light, bright and pastel tones such as buttercream and ice blue. These colours looked very refreshing and clean on the dancefloor.
Did you come across any unusual fashion features that we can see trending on the dance floor for 2020?
We noticed lots of 3D and hanging features- stoned roulous, 3d feathers, and a huge trend that dominated the floor was bead droppers and beaded fringe.
Feathers were everywhere!! There was a lot on the sleeves, neckline and other new and exciting appliqués. Paulina’s dress 045pp and Monica’s final dress 048pp are perfect examples of what we were seeing on the floor.
Sparkle and Shine fabrics seemed to be a huge trend… What are your thoughts on these fabrics continuing to dominate as a trend at Blackpool?
We saw quite a few dresses in unique sparkle and shine fabrics and they looked amazing on the floor! The shimmer fabrics looked like liquid metal and flowed beautifully when dancing. We’re excited to see more of these fabrics at Blackpool. They are highly effective.
Were there any interesting ways of crystallization and strong use of colours that we can expect to see more of?
We saw a strong trend of pearls on the dancefloor featured in a variety of shapes and colours which gave the dresses a very classic and chic feel.
We also saw a lot of contrast stoning- what seemed to be Shimmer and DeLite stones, mixed in with 3d features to create a dramatic effect and look.
What were your thoughts on the Ballroom skirt lengths and float effects?
Interestingly, we saw almost the opposite trends in floats for the Professionals vs the Amateurs. For the Professional Ballroom there was a strong trend of more spiral, dangly and small floats. A perfect example of this is Monica’s dress 049pp which didn’t have any floats, using the many bead droppers on the body for movement. In contrast large theatrical floats were more prominent with the Amateur dances. Draping sleeve floats, such as Joanne’s dress 053pp, were much more common across all events, both Professional & Amateur, which we loved seeing as this style is very dramatic and exciting.
The skirt trend allows for faster movement and a more streamlined look. They were flatter than usual which gave a very light and airy feel to the skirts.
BE INSPIRED WITH PRINT ...
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A personal favourite for me was to see our Dream collection Print beautifully placed on our Amateur Ballroom Champion Izabela Skierska, teamed perfectly against Sugar Pink. Love this fabric? Shop the collection HERE > |