A stunning, sparkling competition dress is a motivation for women to start ballroom dancing that should not be underestimated. But once, you’ve made your way up to the C-class, disillusionment arrives: simply going downtown for shopping and grabbing a dress is not possible, unfortunately…

In this post, I will present several possibilities how to master this challenge.

Beforehand, two basic notes: Firstly, you should always ask your trainer for advice primarily, no matter what possibility you decide for. This may help to avoid learning the hard way. Where to find the best tailor in the area, who wants to sell an old dress and how your personal strengths show the best effect – a good trainer can also answer these questions.

Secondly, look after the new outfit early enough. It should not be ready shortly before championships or another import competition. You will do yourself a favor by having them soaked in sweat one time during training. This way, you will be able to see whether it fits very well and if necessary, you will still have enough time to make modifications. There’s nothing worse than concentrating on a nipping outfit rather than on your dancing.

1. SECOND-HAND

Especially, in lower classes like class C, you don’t want to spend a fortune on your first competition dress. You can better invest this money in private lessons. As a quite cheap opportunity, you should consider buying a second-hand dress. The average prices will be about 200-700€ for a Latin-Dress and about 500-1500€ for a Standard-Dress. The gentlemen can calculate with presumably 50-300€ for a shirt

and about almost the same price for pants. For the future, you can get a tailcoat for 300-1000€.

Private purchase in your neighbourhood

At first, you should ask around the couples in your club and your neighbourhood. Often, a female dancer wants to treat herself with a new dress and is looking for someone to buy her old one. In this case, you’ll find many advantages: you can easily and without any costs try on the dress at home or in the club. Moreover, you can ask for opinions of the people who you regard as important (trainer, dancing partner, mother).

Studio-Purchase

A visit in a ballroom dancing studio is worthwhile as well. Most of the tailors and designers also offer second-hand dresses that were self-produced. If you’ll find something suitable, you can have it modified directly on the spot. Furthermore, you get to know the procedures of the studio and you can already better evaluate if the studio would be worth considering when it comes to a new production. You will find a list of studios that specialized on dancing clothes here.

Online

Like everything else nowadays, you can also buy competition clothes online. However, ebay is not the best choice in this case. You’d rather check out online outfit-exchanges like dancedress24.de, second-dance.de or more websites, that specialized on second-hand clothes for ballroom dancing. Of course, the advantage of online stores is a bigger selection than you’ll find in your area. Many of them dispatch the clothes for trial fitting. However, the disadvantage here is the effort that comes with: shipment, return shipment, postal charges, deposit, and so on.

Big competitions

Besides, you can look for clothes at big tournaments like GOC, Blaues Band or DanceComp. There you’ll find exhibitors that attract with second-hand bargains, as well as private sellers who want to get rid of their old treasures. Frequently, you can also check the website of the competition in order to find out which exhibitors will be present. Therefore, think about your future dress while you’re in class D and take a look around at the next big competition.

2. NEW

Receiving your own new competition dress is an incredibly good feeling. However, it comes at a price. But at some point, you want to treat yourself for all the hard training time… go for it and don’t have a guilty conscience! You can sell the beautiful piece later on and invest the money in a new one!

 Dresses that are ready-to-wear (Big competitions or Studio):

As already mentioned in the first part, big competitions are a good spot for hunting for the dress of your dreams. Many exhibitors will be presenting their newest creations and sometimes, they’ll also offer special exhibition prices. You can also stop by the single suppliers “at home”. The advantage is obvious: You can try on the ready-to-wear dresses, immediately, and see if your favourite colour and the cut really suit you well. If everything fits, you can take the dress with you right away. However, you have to reckon that you’ll probably not find the perfect fit straightaway. Small changes like shortening the skirt of the Standard dress or sewing the closures a bit more tightly can be realized very easily. Unfortunately, making the same dress in your size won’t be possible – the dresses should stay unique pieces after all. But most tailors are likely to agree on designing a similar one with only a few variations.

Now, it’s time for the most exciting part: How much does the fun cost? Standard dresses made by famous designers are about 2000 and 3000 Euros. For Latin dresses you should be prepared to spend 1000 – 1500 Euros. Gentlemen will pay about 1500 up to 2000 Euros for a tailcoat with accessories and about 500 – 1500 Euros for a Latin outfit. Vendors in a low-budget-segment often sell the equivalent clothes for half the price.

The most affordable possibility is to order a manufactured dress abroad, for example in China or Korea: prices are unbeatable. You can get a Latin dress for only 100 Euros, a Standard dress for 250 Euros plus customs and shipment. Obviously, you have to bear in mind that you have to lower your sights concerning quality and that the design won’t be unique. For this reason, this way of getting your clothes is rather interesting for beginners. In Germany, this alternative is not very common, but in the US, it’s already quite popular. It works as follows: You choose a design out of available examples and decide on a colour and sometimes even on the quality of the rhinestones. Afterwards, you’ll only have to state your measures and the outfit will be produced for you. After one or two months, you can try on the new dress at home. Unfortunately, I cannot report from my own experience, but if you’ve already ordered abroad, you can tell us about it here.

Custom tailoring

The most pleasant benefit of a custom tailored dress is that it’s a perfect fit. Besides, regarding the design, you can determine everything by yourself. Well, sometimes that’s exactly what causes some problems. Not every one of us has enough imagination to assess his or her ideas realistically. Accordingly, the judgement of an experienced designer is worth a mint.

Just take a look around in the studios mentioned above. Soon, you can read here about what you have to consider concerning the look of a competition dress and the requirements it should meet. Keep in mind that you will have to go to the fitting several times. That’s why it’s convenient to look for a tailor near by! Calculate with a couple of weeks regarding the working hours – a work of art does not emerge over night.

Do it yourself

There’s nothing wrong with tailoring the dress of your dreams by yourself. Of course, you should have some experience with cutting and sewing machines. Furthermore, you need to respect the specific particularities of ballroom dancing and TSO-guidelines. In my opinion, you can definitely try your luck in the lower classes. Especially with Latin dresses, the effort (and the damage, if it goes wrong) keep within limits. Until you’ve reached higher classes, you should either have enough experience to make it look beautiful or you should quit.

These shops offer the right support and soon, you will get to know the best hints for a self-experiment, here.

3. SPONSORING

The best way of getting a new outfit is of course sponsoring: No expenses, but new pieces from time to time – that’s what we’re all dreaming of… But for this, you already have to have achieved a few things. Someone who performs at the semi-final of his or her age group at the German championship and, additionally, has the potential to climb up higher, comes with good prerequisites. If you also take good care of the clothes and promote selling them again, it might work out! Since the idea of sponsoring means: The studio lends professional dancers their outfits. As a result, the clothes gain a recognition value and after