I've been watching back the top 20 show, the hair, make-up and wardrobe is ok and then in the first two live shows the standard of hair, make-up and wardrobe is dreadful.

It's not just their over made-up considering that the auditioning for the part of a farm girl but they seem to take pretty girls and make them look dreadful.

For example:

Last week I thought Stephanie's hair was too long, it looked straggly, yet in All That Jazz it's glossy and full of life. And don't get me started on the dress for Mama Do, it was way too old for her, I would dismiss it as being too old and I'm double her age.

Jenny's hair for Songbird, did someone just learn how to back comb and want to try it out. Her dress was also too old.

Jessica hasn't had a decent dress yet, neither has Sophie. Dani dresses just make uncomfortable, they're doing to her what they did to Sam Barks - over-sexualising a teenager and it's just wrong.

I think their trying to dress Danielle down so she looks more Dorothy, it's not working it's making her look plain.

Seriously four series in and they're still dreadful.

I don't mean to sound cruel, but what I've seen Danielle in in the shows so far make her look really frumpy. One example of this is the revolting dress they put her in for 'You can't stop the beat' group performance, and also the skinny jeans and pumps for 'Just a little girl' made her legs look short and stumpy.

I think some of the lipstick (Stephanie, anybody???) and the eye make-up (Amy ) has been shocking.

The girls are barely recognisable when we see them behind the scenes. Less is more, people!

I also think most of the dresses are way too short!

I agree on the Hairspray dress. It was definitely not flattering and made her look heavy, when she obviously isn't. With the jeans outfit, I think the problem was with the top. Danielle appears to be short, short-waisted and bigger on top, so the tops she wears need to longer or better cut so they don't hang off in the front and make her look chubby. I think they did a great job with her dress on the first live show, though. I think that might be the best outfit any of them have had so far.

The worst ones I've seen are Lauren's dress the first live show and Jessica's the second. Both of these girls are longer and leaner, but that's no reason to dress them in a colored flour sack with holes cut out for the arms and head. Also, several of the girls (especially Stephanie and Jenny as had already been noted) are made to look much older than they are. The makeup needs to be seriously toned down, and how about a lighter shade of lipstick for Stephanie that doesn't make her face look white as a sheet in comparison with her lips?

They really need to take in mind each girl's shape, height and skin tone so they make the outfits and makeup more flattering. So far, I think it's been the worst costuming of any of these shows, and that's saying something because there were some pretty bad outfits on Maria as well.

I don't know there's some stiff competition from IDA in Jodie's dresses alone.

Steohanie's lipstick makes her look very harsh and un-Dorothy like. I'd like to see her with a much softer look.

Totally agree. She could easily look the part if they got rid of the vampishness . Not v dorothy.

I lov the heels they wear which are so high they cannot cross the stage without doing the reality song show stomp, not very elegant!

Stephanie's hair looked really bad last week - I think it's the being swept over to one side which makes it look awful. I don't think that suits anyone

Poor Bronte definitely got the worst of the outfits so far

I couldn't agree more with the OP. TV is such a visual medium and they really should be doing a lot better to get the look right. The Dorothy dresses are just terrible and few have prospered when it comes to other costumes. Ditto hair and make-up.

To be fair, I do think Stephanie is surgically attached to her red lippy, as she wore it throughout the audition rounds, so we can't blame BBC make-up for that. I rather like it, but it doesn't exactly scream 'Dorothy'. Danielle looks like a young girl trying on her older sister's make-up to disastrous effect.

I hope two things get them to tone it down this week - the first is ALW's public comments last week about the over-sophisticated look that is being imposed on the girls. He has some clout, surely? The second is the topical issue of over-sexualisation of young girls, with the flak that Primark got for selling padded bikinis for 7-year-olds. I know the Dorothys are over the age of consent, but I hope the message is being heard that it is unnecessary and counter-productive to vamp up young women. The pubic doesn't like it.

they also have used the same clothes in numbers Sophie wore a top in hairspray that Bronte wore on the 1st live show.

Hear, hear. It doesn't help us envisage what they'd really be like as a Dorothy; I'd much rather see them all wear outfits similar to what Danielle wore last week. I don't suppose their fathers, brothers or boyfriends would be too happy with them having to look so grown up and 'sexy', especially not when I think about 4 of them are under 18 anyway!

Love from,

Prudish 20yr old...haha

It baffles me that they seem to have such difficulty in getting the hair/make-up/wardrobe right. It's as if they've let the work experience people loose!

A lot of the outfits seem to fit badly and many look old-fashioned. It's really odd.

Make up need to understand the differnce between "enhance" and "totally overwhelm".

Quite a few of the girls have beautiful eyes as seen on informal VT.
But while sophie and jennys eyes look lovely with the makeup, they totally overwhlem Jesscia and Lauren who both have stunning coloured eyes.

Certainly (as ALW himself pointed out last week) the hair and makeup is over sophisticated or just plain tarty for a group of teenagers.

That curious clamping down of the top section of Amy's hair in week 1 was unflattering (and she could hardly open her eyes with the false lashes they gave her). Stephanie's hair and makeup are way too old for a 17 yr old and I know the red lippy is her rather than the make up department as she wore it from her first audition - but the so called experts should tell her that it isn't flattering. Sophies outfits have been awful as were Laurens in week 1 and Jessica's last week and Bronte's was dreadful last week.

I hate the Dorothy dresses too those chiffony bits over their boobs do nothing for them - why not just garry on the gingham rather than put the coloured stuff in?

Mind you I think all of them need to sit down and watch their own performances back several times. Stephanie and Jessica in particular need to stop giving us such exaggerated mouth movements (they look like demented guppies at times), and all of them need to stop looking for the active camera and stop looking at the panel to check their reactions when they are singing.

I liked Jessica's hair much better before it was dyed such a dark colour. Too heavy for her face now imo.

I was watching All That Jazz earlier and she looks much younger and much more like Dorothy in that.

I agree Sophie's clothes haven't been great, usually too short and she looks even more nervous because of it however..
I liked Stephanie's hair =] shiny and thin and curly. Perhaps just cus my hair is thick, I'd like to be able to style it like that to the side so flat, with wispy curls.
Secondly I really don't see how her dress was too old for her. Maybe in the past only old people wore it but tons of people of my age wear it and I'm 21, I don't get how you could be double her age and it look old on you :S
I think it was nice and the fact is that type of dress would be very flattering on me so if I see one I might buy it, and I'm somebody who wouldn't wear anything extreme, including age-wise. Unless we are getting dresses mixed up then I am very confused :S

Generally outfits have been bad but I think Stephanie's done maybe the best out of all of them.

Stephani's dress looked like someone had thrown up on something and sown it together

I know =[
I didn't like John's comments about not being able to walk in heels because I said "why should it be a requirement? and just for women. what if they're awesome at everything else! he shouldn't crit unless HE can do it!!"
But then in todays show in the VT he was walking in heels so.. shows me!
But still, men can get by on stage without it. I'm sure he didn't HAVE to unless for a specific role, which is his choice. I find it unfair its a requirement on the show (even if it is realistic within the industry since the show isn't always realistic) and with stairs too.

Yeah some of the clothes have been awful.

I actually like Stephanie's lipstick though, and by the looks of one of the VTs, she wears it day to day, not just for the live shows!

Some of the hair was so bad- Jenny's bouffant and half-fringe last week was bad. This week I think I may have seen a bit of Jenny's bum when she got down from the bench thing due to the short skirt and camera angle.

I reckon they're just all in these glamorous outfits cos its Saturday night tv and people want to see something glam. They do verge on tarty and just plain wrong sometimes though!

And why is it that Danielle always looks like she missed the make up part? She always is made to look so "ordinary" compared to the others. Especially tonight, her un-made up face didn't match her dress.

I think it kinda is a requirement cos Dorothy wears the ruby slippers which have heels. I agree though, they wear some ridiculously high ones! I always hold my breath walking down the stairs. If I was one of the dorothy's I'd ask for normal high heels not those ridiculous platforms they get put in!

The make up in particular is terrible.

Almost everyone of them looks better in the filmed interviews with little or no make up compared to how they look in the performances.

Danielle always looks like some innocent child, made up to look like a slapper or a fashion victom. She does not suite the make up they put on her.

And Stephanie, the less said about the way they dress her the better.

It doesn't look classy that's all I'm saying.

Jessica always looks like a blind Elephant has dressed her.

Danielle and Stephanie had the worst outfits tonight, IMO, and I usually like Danielle's hair but they did something strange with it tonight. I really wish the would get a new costumer who actually knows how to dress women of different heights, shapes and skin tones. The choices seem to be so arbitrary.

I did think Sophie got a good outfit tonight, but she was one of the only ones.