How do you feel?

[mlubandgroupie]

Were the guys wearing dresses, or was the designer attempting to portray costumes associated with certain religions, ethnicities, and/or cultures? I did not take it as males wearing dresses. I guess most of us have a hard time getting past our North American culture of men "wearing the pants."

So thinks some one from Louisiana who has walked the streets of many a MS town.

[saxfreq1128]

why is it "just wrong"?

I'm glad Lance asked before I got the chance to.

Still wondering why guys in dresses is so self-evidently "wrong"...

I wonder: is making female-identifying corps members wear hypermasculine and unflattering corps uniforms also wrong?

Or can we just get over it?

And on a general note, y'all: guard costumes are like ice skaters' costumes. It isn't exactly supposed to be stuff these people would wear walking down the street...

Edited August 2, 2010 by saxfreq1128

[chaos001]

i think thats also an example of a sesigner not thinking ahead , wanting what they want and not considering if the fabric will just be in the way. Ive seen it so many times. a dress as a dress with no meaning. UGHHHHHHHHHH sounds like some fashinista wanna be designer..lol

this is design school 101. you HAVE to know your fabrics, how they're made, how they'll move, and how they can be sewn. you can't spend $300 on polyester and expect to make a fabulous haute couture gown. it's just not happening. designers have to be able to have a few prototypes first to see how things need to be altered or completely changed.

as Tim Gunn says, "Make it work!"

i don't care if a guy wears a skirt/dress in a show if it's part of the design (as long as it's well made). the biggest issue i have with guard costumes is the overuse of lycra and spandex, especially if someone's not wearing a dance belt. then it's a hot mess.

Edited August 2, 2010 by chaos001

[bummer]

Were the guys wearing dresses, or was the designer attempting to portray costumes associated with certain religions, ethnicities, and/or cultures? I did not take it as males wearing dresses. I guess most of us have a hard time getting past our North American culture of men "wearing the pants."

So thinks some one from Louisiana who has walked the streets of many a MS town.

THANK YOU!!!!

[Tyler C.]

As a percussionist, I am in no way qualified to bother with this, but I have an opinion anyway. Hey, I've dated a guard girl for two years, I'm not completely clueless. As active as DCI guards are today (as opposed to early DCI), I believe dresses are all but totally impractical, no matter how you swing it. It will hurt mobility no matter what, and it makes all work THAT much harder. I understand detachable dress skirts that you add for a dance routine, then remove when you go back to equipment (Glassmen '06? ballroom dance sequence), but full-blown dresses just don't seem like a good idea any way you slice it. At some point, fashion has to take a backseat to practicality. After all, the quality of what you're doing is MUCH more important than what you're doing it in.

.02. Feel free to ignore me, because I probably added nothing to this conversation.

EDIT: Slightly more on topic, I don't mind guys in dresses, just like I don't mind women dressed in men's suits, as I've seen with guards before. I respect the theatric element of today's guards, and sometimes an actor must play a character of the opposite gender. There are some convincing cross-dressers out there, but hey, that's just an actor you can applaud with a job well done.

Edited August 2, 2010 by aNiMaL

[TastyWaves]

That's true that's why I'm asking for peoples opnions on the matter. How do you feel about seeing guys in full blown dresses? One guy wearing a dress got his rifle caught in it when he didn't catch it properly. It became a distraction in more ways then one.

But when you ask a question where you surround the subject with criticism and sarcasm, you arent really asking for opinions. You are asking for people to join in on your obvious dislike of the subject at hand.

Which you have done successfully.

[Ghost]

AHHHHHHHHH PROVINCETOWN .....more towns should be like this.....NON - JUDGEMENTAL wouldnt it be nice

So, you want more towns to pass out condoms to grade school children?

[TerriTroop]

Were the guys wearing dresses, or was the designer attempting to portray costumes associated with certain religions, ethnicities, and/or cultures? I did not take it as males wearing dresses. I guess most of us have a hard time getting past our North American culture of men "wearing the pants."

So thinks some one from Louisiana who has walked the streets of many a MS town.

This is where I was going to go. In these cases the male guard members are not in "dresses." I think these examples this summer (Academy and Glassmen) have been fairly tasteful. I presume there was quite a bit of research into the topics and how to portray them through guard costuming.

[bawker]

I basically ignore the guard most of the time, to be honest. . .unless there's major unison work that compliments the drill. Most of the free form dance loses me.

That said, dress 'em however you want . . .just make the work interesting.

[Mephistopheles]

I was at the Oklahoma, Dallas and San Antonio shows. And I have to agree seeing a guy in a dress is just something a person shouldn't have too see!! Especially at a family oriented show! It's just wrong! There were several comments made at all the show's by several peaple sitting around us. And none were positive! JMO

OMG, I know right? And at a family show no less!

I mean if a young man sees another boy in a fanciful costume used to enhance a visual program, all flow-y and colorful, he might just catch the ghey.

The next thing you know, they will have guys in dresses on good old-fashioned network TV, turning all sorts of young men into mincing ladyboys...

Oh, wait, they already did that; Like 40 years ago, when there were only three Networks...

And yet there are still plenty of Hetero guys around, Crazy!