Okay, so there are many posts in many threads about how awful Ali's AT dress was - however, no-one seems to have taken time to say why?

I think it was truly an atrocious choice, Ali is a gorgeous woman with a cracking set of pins but IMO, the dress was cut way too long and made her look dowdy - positively dinnerlady-ish! (No offence to any sexy dinnerladies out there.)

The hair being big on her petite face, with outsize flower stuck to it didn't help either.

It really was awful , the lenght made her calfs look wide, which they are not , the colour made her look frumpy , the see through "nude insert " was simply dreadfull ,.
The shoes were too low and she looked awkward .
I am a fan of Alis and honestly feel that many thing contributed to her downfall ,and one of them may very wel have been the dress .

I actually loved her dress, but it didn't seem quite "right"

The cut out back was very sexy, but the skirt was too long.

I think she needed higher heels to balance the dress- her heels were quite low. The shoes were very mumsy.
Not sure if the lower heels are because of her injury or to suit the dance.

Tiny adjustments and it could have been stunning.

Obviously the heels were because of the injury .. in all of her earlier dances she wore high heels .. I think black tights would have helped and I think the dress should've been entirely Black with perhaps a glimpse of Red .. rather than lacy.

The wardrobe department got this one wrong, but her AS dress was perfect.

I know it didn't suit her at all - a black dress, with a side split would have been better

And I know she gets a few comments regarding her minimal outfits but Ola's was perfect - just suited the AT mood

I hated Ola's even more than Ali's .... it seemed to be made up of several pieces of left-over material

Ffrom a number of comments from a few of the wardrobe people on ITT, it would seem that the dancer does have some input into how the dress looks when they wear it - they have been able to get aspexts of the styling altered. Maybe Ali was happy with it (as far as she could be)?

The AS dress was horrid too.
She's pale and they put her in a drab colour. She looked so washed-out.

Nasty dress, cut too long, and the 'drunk woman's tucked her skirt into her knickers after visiting the loo' effect at the back was

She's a beautiful girl, how difficult can it be to get it right for her

I really liked the dress apart from the hideous back split. Also didn't like it on one of Erin's earlier dresses.
Black goes very well with blonde hair, in my opinion, and the dress length is my favourite part of the Argentine tango!

I had a bigger problem with her shoes to be honest. I know why see wore them but I thought she looked clumpy in them.

Or lack thereof

Think of Rachel's dress last year, quite similar to Ali's in ways but Rachel's was stretchy, so went right up to her upper thighs *fans self* when she moved

Poor Ali

She's been one of the better dressed celebs this year although sometimes to Disney princess (eg. Samba outfit could've been better)
The dress design looked good on Friday's ITT I think it was the shoes really, looked very big and clumpy and the hair wasn't too great. I think the dress was okay until she turned around and revealed the awkward split.

Rachel also wore a more subtle flower in her hair, much prettier. Perhaps they could have styled Ali's hair like Natalie Lowe's when she was doing the Rumba, would add a little more drama.

It was a disaster......too long too frumpy made her legs look big (which is a real feat) combined with flat shoes that every girl didnt want to wear to school in the 60s and you have the complete effect....add to that a completely out of place pink bracelet and you have a complete mess.

I am convinced that although it shouldnt sometimes peoples minds are so distracted by a dress that it really effects how they think about the dance. Jade was in the dance off when she wore that dress with all the holes.....some people loved it some people hated it (including me) I was too busy trying to pick my jaw up off the floor to notice how well they danced.

Dont get me started on Erin's frindged monstrosity the week they went out.

It was the lack of back to it for me, the hideous split up the back, as someone else said, resembling the 'tucked into the knickers' syndrome. I also didn't like Ola's much either because of that, although hers wasn't quite as obvious.

The totally see-through aspect was also cringe-making, and it was too long at the front making her legs look clumpy with those shoes.

I know I'm projecting, but I would have felt awkward and embarrassed in that dress, and that's exactly what I got from Ali's dance. No passion, just awkward and embarrassed.

The split up to the arse was very odd indeed, almost like it was a rip that they tried to pass of as a slit. Move it to the side and the dress would have looked much better, showcasing those gams to full effect.

The shoes were horrid. I know she wore them because of the injury, but surely there would be a lower shoe with a narrower heel they could have found? They were just the 'sensible' clumpy ones that your mum makes you wear and did have the effect of drawing your eye to them - which meant that as far as the footwork went there was nowhere to hide.

Agree with the views that it was the length and shoe combination that did it.

I loved both Ola & Natalie's dresses.

I was quite glad she didn't dig this one out of the wardrobe (I know I've posted before but in case you haven't seen it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-hdg2QWXrM

Although I'm sure there are some who may have been disappointed or who wished she'd leant it to Ola.

That's not a dancing dress, that's beachwear.

My goodness, does that actually class as a dress

I agree, the dress does affect how you view the dance. First thing that comes to mind is Alesha's VW dress - princess.

I agree, abba. It was such a shame. Natalie's dress was far more my idea of an AT dress - gorgeous colour and style. How could they make Ali look so frumpy when she's so lovely? Clumpy shoes and bird's nest hair too.

Think it takes the prize for the worst Strictly outfit ever.

Carol Vorderman Rumba still gives me nightmares.

That was more the face than the dress though