The Best Dress List: Strictly Come Dancing's Most Dazzling Dresses of All Time

This article was originally published on October 27th 2018 on The National Student. I don't have permission to publish the images here but the copy remains!

Every year Strictly Come Dancing returns to our screens just in time for those chillier winter nights which need nothing more than a cup of tea, a selection of biscuits, and a couple of hours spent watching celebrities attempt to master the art of ballroom and latin dancing in a matter of weeks.  

For the last fifteen years, millions of us have tuned in every Saturday to find out how each routine scores, but now the tables have turned; we're going to take a moment to appreciate some of the backstage artistic talents and give a rundown of our top ten Strictly outfits to grace the small screen...

Competition Begins!: 2018

These royal blue ballroom gowns are just as elegant and elaborate as you'd expect a Strictly costume to be and the long matching gloves only add to the glamour.  The brightness of the blue is striking and stands out against the greys and whites of the London streets, and the slightly different bodices for each dancer make them a little less uniform whilst still being perfectly coordinated.

Frankie's Tango: 2014

Not that we needed any more evidence that a black cat might be the most boring Halloween costume of all time, Frankie's Elphaba-inspired gown really cements this long-known truth.  Somehow, this gown means a green witch has made a best-dressed list; maybe it's the glittering bodice or the stormy skirt, or the accompanying bedazzled broomstick...whatever it is, it works.

Caroline's Argentine Tango: 2014

This knee-length fringed number may occupy a grey area between the skimpy Latin dresses and the long ballroom gowns, but it certainly doesn't blend in; the high neck and long sleeves are sleek and sophisticated, whilst the fringed skirt adds the provocative element necessary to any Tango and lets us viewers see that all-important intricate footwork.  Bonus points for shunning the traditional red and black so often associated with the Tango.

Aliona's Red Jumpsuit: 2014

In the last couple of years, 50s-esque knotted headbands have really made a comeback so Aliona was pretty ahead of the fash pack with her coordinating scarlet one back in 2014.  The dazzling red jumpsuit is cinched in at the waistline with a contrasting thin black belt making it an ensemble which would look just as great on the street as it does the screen.

Helen's Charleston: 2015

We already knew that Helen George knows her way around period dress (Trixie is a style icon in her own right after all), and this 20s flapper outfit proves just that.  The turquoise ruffles, beaded leotard, and a slick of bright red lipstick capture the upbeat glamour of the dance so well we don't even mind that her shoes are about as beige as beige can be.

Louise's Tango: 2016

If someone told me they'd found a dress that looked like an art deco painting transferred onto a stretchy fabric, I'd wonder who on earth thought that was an aesthetically-pleasing combination.  However, Louise's Tango dress is exactly that and, for some reason, it really does work; the stark lines and contrasting colours of the bodice accentuate the sharpness in the choreography, whilst the single red sleeve reminds us of the dance's sultry roots.

Katya's Paso Doble: 2018

The sleek ponytail that blends seamlessly into the dress, the high neck, the mesh sleeves, the wrap skirt that opens at the front to reveal pleather tights, the stiletto boots...in any other situation I might call such an outfit "too much" but in this case it's got me seriously considering a Matrix costume for Halloween.

Havana: 2018

It's like the costume designer over at Elstree stumbled across the "Festival" section of the Missguided website and Strictly-fied it with shed loads of fringing, coordinating headbands, row upon row of sequins, and a few scantily-clad men just for good measure.  Now I don't want to speak for Craig Revel-Horwood, but I'm pretty sure he'd agree that this look is fab-u-lous.

Helen's Viennese Waltz: 2015

At first glance this dress just looks like the classic white and gold ballroom dresses we've seen 100 times before, but as Helen starts to dance it reveals multiple layers of seafoam ruffles that lie beneath its surface and make for a stunningly unique combination of warm gold and cool, icy blues.  Reminiscent of a beautifully iced cake garnished with gold leaf, it takes the assumption that a dance costume looks best in motion to another level.  

Burberry has proven time and time again that you really can't go wrong with a trench coat, and that definitely holds true when it's paired with a navy sequined mini dress and black mesh stiletto boots.  These low-cut, backless, thigh-grazing numbers ignore the "boobs or legs, not both" rule, and the addition of the ankle boots don't just create a dazzling dance costume, but also an ensemble you could easily recreate for a night out.

So there you go- here's my Best Dress List.  If you have any favourite outfits of your own feel free to leave a comment below and, as always, keeeeep dancing!