What is it about the BBC's dress designers when it comes to big girls ? Last year poor Lisa was given some horrendous dresses and here we go again with Alison. She had no bosom support tonight, so yet again there was no suitable corsetry built into her dress and again a garish coloured top. What big girls need is proper structure in the bodice ( I'm a big girl too so I know you need Isambard Kingdom Brunel type engineering) and then she needs darker, subtle colours shaded even darker to the hem and not cut in half at the waist.

W-A-I-S-T ???

Actually, I thought she looked great

I completely agree. They just don't know what to do with the bigger women. They style them all as if they are middle aged. Also, Alison's shoes were so ugly. I know she may not be able to dance in heels, which is understandable, but surely they could give her some prettier footwear

She looked MUCH better last week. Tonight she wore a shapeless black skirt that started right under her bust! A disarster darling.

I wonder if she has low heels because she's as tall as her partner, so if they put her in high heels she'd be too tall.

When I saw Allison in the background (missed the start) I thought the dress was going to be nice - red top & black skirt could have been sophisticated but sadly the skirt ruined it.

It must be hard to dress Alison, she's about a size 30.

I think she's looked nice both weeks though.

Ballroom footwear is pretty much standard across the brands. Mostly tan coloured court shoes with or without a strap. Differing heights and styles of heels, and that's about it. You can buy white shoes and have them dyed to match a dress. So not really "pretty" as such.

She did need more bust support but I think she really suits bright colours

Trouble is, we Junoesque types have a job finding corsetry which is up to the job, so to speak !!

Corsetry issues aside, and I do agree, I thought she looked absolutely beautiful tonight. Her face is just so pretty and I thought the red on her top half really suited her. She also has really shapely legs. It would appear the majority of her weight is sat between her shoulders and knees.

Scrap that, they can't seem to dress anybody at the moment!

I make ballroom and Latin dresses and have made them for several larger ladies, and the corsetry needed is custom made for the individual person. Mostly if they are "top heavy" a well made conventional bra sewn into the corset or leotard base of the dress not only makes the wearer feel more secure and comfortable, but gives better support and shape. It really isn't difficult to disguise back fastenings and shoulder straps.

Unfortunately the big companies that make dance outfits are used to making for much slighter figures, where the minimum of support works fine; they can't seem to grasp that real women need more!

Caroline's dress was much worse than Alisons. Wtf was that. And they couldn't be anymore different body wise if you tried, so have to agree with you.

Come on!

Her makeup was great and she looked fine.

As far as the dress goes what can you do with such a huge woman. She has no waist, she is barrel shaped. She wears flats because there is no way a 25 stone or so woman is going to be wearing high heals and to be able to move properly across a dance floor.

Next people will be complaining that Aljaz is not giving her a fair chance by not including lifts in the routines!

There are obvious problems and restrictions when you are that weight and shape.




Maggie

I wont say she was dressed horrifically as the dress wasn't actually that bad and she did suit the colours and the style wasn't too bad. However the lack of bust support does irritate me and again as a bigger girl I know this is essential especially for something like dancing.

I'm not as top heavy as Allison and I know I would seriously struggle if I had the same lack of support as the dresses seem to have.

Surely even if they didn't want to put actual corsetry or support into the dresses something could me made for her to wear and the dresses altered accordingly to suit.

Personally I don't think the shoes helped her tonight as IMO it made her footwork seem a bit clumpy and I think if she could go up a little bit in heel heights it would help. I know its a struggle when your bigger and you just want something comfy on your feet (UGGs and the equivalent are great for post dancing purposes) and not to be in agony but even just maybe going up an inch in heel height would perhaps make a bit of a difference. I think Allison is in 1 inch heels and I think going up to 2 inch or at a push 1.75 would look better and would actually help her as well.

Alison is actually really pretty. I hope they give her a chance to show that and don't make her look like a dog's dinner. She looked really nice last week.

[quote=Tiggergirl;75069261.

Personally I don't think the shoes helped her tonight as IMO it made her footwork seem a bit clumpy and I think if she could go up a little bit in heel heights it would help. I know its a struggle when your bigger and you just want something comfy on your feet (UGGs and the equivalent are great for post dancing purposes) and not to be in agony but even just maybe going up an inch in heel height would perhaps make a bit of a difference. I think Allison is in 1 inch heels and I think going up to 2 inch or at a push 1.75 would look better and would actually help her as well.[/QUOTE]

Her feet look clumpy ( at the moment) as she doesn't know how to use them properly. If you can dance you can have beautiful feet whatever size heel you wear. If she wore 2" heels or higher, I personally don't feel it would make too much of a difference to her "look" but it may well affect her balance during the dance.

Perhaps, although Aliona was in flats this weeks which kind of proves that Alison is a bit clumpy either because she can't dance or is so massive it can't be helped,

I don't think she will be able to wear heels , already you have a great upside down pyramid effect putting tremendous strain on her feet I suspect she has fallen arches.

She also has knock knees from the weight. If you try and put a classical high heel on her the forces will be too great on her feet and ankles, mechanics will mean a disaster coming. I think a disaster is not that far away already. It is not so much about size as the mechanics of the distribution of weight.

I thought her bosom was under control tonight, but the dress with the bright colour on top just emphasised the upside down pyramid effect. If they are going to have a large lady every year employ someone who knows how to dress large ladies .

Mind you poor Caroline shows they can't dress anyone no matter what shape

Yes as said in a previous post, a trained dancer can wear flats or any size heel, you will always have beautiful feet as you will have been trained in how to use them,
Unfortunately due to Alisons size, the "clumpiness" seems more obvious to the eye. None of the ladies have very good feet and some are "clumpy" but do not appear as obvious. As they are beginners though, this is to be expected.

Thought Alison looked lovely. But please enough of this 'big girls can't dance in heels' nonsense! They can and do. What happens though is big girls who are less active than others often don't have the core muscle strength to support themelves on high heels for anything other than walking. But there are lots of very big women who are active and have very good core muscle strength and can dance fine in very high heels.

Think about it, if you move about with a body that size your muscle groups strengthen pretty damn fast, as it needs to support itself. I've seen some big women with epic muscles doing all kinds of movement, it's just about how active you are. If she wore heels just a few hours a day in training, her muscles would catch up, as of right now she may feel she can't dance in them just cause it aches. She just needs to build up stamina. I hate to compare her to Lisa just cause they are both big, but I think Lisa was physically much fitter than Alison.

As for her dress, I thought it was nice, but I feel she would benefit from support for her boobs, right now they sadly just seem to be strapping them down which makes her look like she has no waist... and yes, she does have a waist.

Yes, I agree. After all men wear flat ballroom shoes and dance similar steps (and my dance teacher doesn't have to put on high heels to beautifully demo the steps to me! ).

I'd rather see someone in a heel they think they can dance in than tottering around in a really high one because they think it looks glam.

Those were ugly shoes though. Some brands such as Werner Kern do some nicer looking comfort style flatties.

I think the two main points are clear, bust support and footwear. The BBC must have access to the best options available, so it is ridiculous that Alison should miss out this way. I don't have a problem with the style of her costumes, just the fit. Lisa lost out on style too.

Love Allison, how tall is she?? I was amazed to see she is just around the same height as her partner!! I always thought she was around five foot two!!!!! I heard she had a gastric band fitted around the same time as Fern Britton!!! It is such a shame she is so huge as she is a very attractive woman and this enormous weight must be murder on her bones, knee joints etc.