Author Archive

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Galore Couture (Germany)

Charming standard gowns using Chrisanne and Edda Hsu fabrics and trimmings.

Nancy’s Dance Fashion (The Netherlands)

One of Holland’s leading dressmakers. Beautiful, elaborate gowns using Chrisanne and Edda Hsu fabrics.

VESA (UK)

A very talented designer from Finland, Vesa Hietala’s spectacular designs make jaws drop and heads turn every time a top dancer appears in them. Sponsored couples include Michael Malitowski-Joanna Leunis, Riccardo Cocchi-Yulia Zagoryuchenko to mention only a few.

Rainbow Shiu (China)

Two opinions from dance-forums:

’Rainbow Shiu is allright. The only problem with her costumes is that you can always identify a smooth gown made by her. You glance around the competition floor and immediately spot them. They’re all cut the same, they all hang lifelessly, and most of them have ill-placed embellishments. So, if you purchase from Rainbow Shiu, just know that people will take one look at you and know immediately, you bought that dress off e-bay.’

’I agree with sayings like “you get what you paid”. But given the cheap labor rate in China (and the fact that they directly copy nice designs without paying), you surely can get a lot more with less money than here in the US. I’d even say Rainbow’s dress are a bit over-priced given the quality.’

Zdenka Arko (UK)

Very feminine, stylish, tasteful ballgowns using smart ideas. All the smooth gowns bring some pep, while maintaining an overall elegance with shapes and lining. The accessories offered are also amazing, two thumbs up for Ms Arko.

Zhanna Kens

Latin/rhythm dresses look a lot like Designs to Shine creations.

Ms Zanna: „I was fortunate to work for the company that was enlisted to design and make dresses for the number one hit show Dancing with the Stars on ABC television in 2005 and I was one of the lead designers at the time.”

Very exciting designs, great color combinations and a terrific use of rhinestones.

Chrisanne (UK)

Produces luxurious international standard and latin dresses of the most modern fabrics (which are available for purchase at the company in meters), very generously stoned with Swarovski crystals, you can really feel expensive wearing them. If I had to describe their gowns with one word, ’elegant’ jumps to mind.

Dance Allure (USA)

Very eye-catching designs combining artificial flowers with stripes and animalprint, brave and exciting creations.

Dancesport International

Nice ball gowns, but I cannot really make a pattern of their product line. They include clean lined, simple and elegant standard gowns as well as daring designs combining pink grapefruit with violet, purple with orange.

Designs to Shine (USA)

Maria McGill’s company produces extraordinary designs – in the good way. Overlapping stripes stoned in a twirl, flowerprint fabrics cleverly compounded with plain, beads and Swarovski crystals mixed in beautiful ways, flesh stretch net backs stoned in flowers like an beautifully finished glass-painting, semi-sheer and non-sheer fabrics married all make their creatings exciting and a shear pleasure to look at. Along with Dance Allure and the Luxxus Fashion, they are the most creative designers in my opinion.

Edda Hsu (Germany-UK)

Edda Hsu and Crystal Clover who are business partners offer a large collection of high quality fabrics for sale, and also make professionally finished standard and latin ball gowns.

Farale (UK)

Located in the United Kingdom, Farale specializes in shaded fabrics in the largest color scale I’ve yet seen. Shading is available for all the fabrics commonly used in dance sport – georgette, satin chiffon (’pearl chiffon’ at Farale), stretch satin, dance crepe (which is different from Chrisanne’s dance crepe, so Farale might consider changing the product’s name), stretch net, lycra and organza. Shaded fabrics – mainly due to the large variety of colors – are not kept on stock, but produced on order. Having ordered several times from them, I can say that their fabrics are just lovely and the service is excellent.

Luxxus Fashion Department (Germany)

Although mostly engaged in haute couture, dance sport ball gowns are only a small section of their portfolio, but definitely to be mentioned here. Iskander Porodjuk’s radiant creations are a perfect combination of elegance and creativity.

Marabo (Poland)

A long-established Polish dressmaker producing lovely ball gowns. The standard gowns’ style reminds me that of Chrisanne – elegance with a touch of pep.

Memara (Hungary)

The name comes from the name of the three sisters: Melinda, Magdolna and Erika. Magdi, the establisher of the company, having first trained at Pisu (Italy) has more than 15 years of experience in dressmaking – design and finish are both done by her. Crystal decoration is done by a highly experienced staff. Memara is the most important dressmaker of Dreamgown.

Michelini (Italy)

Creative designs made of high quality fabrics. Michelini uses hot-fix Swarovski stones, ensuring their durability. (It’s not even possible to rub those stones down with your nails, plus the dress is machine washable – as long as the fabrics allow it.)

Randall Christensen (USA)

A designer for Dancing with the Stars, Randall Designs produces premium ball gowns (international latin, standard, American smooth).

Sapiel (Italy)

One of the oldest ballroom gown designer companies of Italy. Superb quality gowns with a smart ideas.

Sasha Pust (Slovenia)

Sasha sponsored several successful Slovenian couples over the years, like Janja Lesar and Matej Krajcer, Jagoda Strukelj and Jurij Batagelj. Her designs are rather ’simple and beautiful’ – a crystal AB belt on plain red, a black and white latin dress with a flare skirt. I would say, rather cautious designs which would be definitely accepted by the audience, but will not tear them to two parties, those who fall in love them for the first sight and those who just hate them.

Zodiak (Russia)

A wonderful use of colors and a beautiful finish. Sponsored dancers include Tatyana Demina, Ekaterina Fedotkina and Yulya Saikina. In the UK they sell gowns with the name ’Danscouture’.