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Wrong Step in Right Direction


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First... let me start off by saying I am continually amazed and how much the activity has progressed over recent years, the technical ability, musicianship athleticism and sheer creativity is amazing.

In spite of all of this, there is one glaring trend that I might suggest is going very much down the wrong path. A break from the past here is certainly needed, but this can't be the right direction.

Uniforms...

Frankly speaking, guys are just trying too hard and can't seem to completely break away from some sort of pseduo-military element of the past that makes it feel even more awkward. The end result is something that seems so out there to the uninitiated, to the point where it seems kind of amateurish.

What is most strange is that all are sort of moving very much in the same sort of waves (something old, something new, something borrowed, something half and half, etc.). Everything is a mashup, rather than a concrete or cohesive idea.

What is wrong with simple? What is wrong with a wide range of possibilities out there? Why does everyone need to follow a trend vs. putting something out there that makes both programatic sense and is appropriate to the type of movement guys out there are doing?

The roots of this trend are in WGI, more specifically winter percussion, where pretty much everyone (with some very recent and breakout exceptions) is wearing Star Trek pajamas. How did this happen? Where did this come from? Most of these things look like those velour jumpsuits my grandpa used to wear back in the day. Nothing about this is remotely connected with this decade and needs to change.

Anyway, we're stuck in this sort of loop (is it the manufacturers driving this and influencing this, having to put out something so attention getting each year?) and there needs to be some fresh horses and new exploration and more diversity.

Rather than designs that are force-fit to be marching bandish.... something completely clean... from zero... re-imagined?

Rather than starting with a traditional military influenced uniform and deconstructing, start from more dance and athletic wear foundations and build up from there?

While we're at it... it is time for these silly ski bib pants to go. There is no body shape out there that this looks good on... also, costuming needs to be considered in the full context of the performance, which is wherever people are hanging out watching you do stuff. Watching guys warm up in bib pants is silly.

On the topic... shoes. With so much revolution going on out there in the athletic shoe world (and drum corps is athletics from the neck down) we're still out there wearing souped up nurses shoes? Really?

Bottom line... guys out there are trying way too hard. Seems like it is the manufacturers driving this... it isn't helping to make things more accessible, not at all. Time to go back to the drawing board... everyone tabula rasa with a build up, rather than tear down approach and hopefully the result will be something that is not only contextually relevant, but movement appropriate and a little less awkward for the general public.

Edited by danielray
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Uniforms.

Ya can't live with 'em, and ya can't live without 'em. :lol:

Seriously... you make some very good points here, Daniel.

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I suspect it's because everyone is using the same 2 or 3 uniform designers.

And when one of those designers is also DCI's "Artistic Director," ostensibly in charge of helping the activity decide what's good and what isn't, well...no one's gonna want to go too far off the ranch and bring in someone whose look might drastically challenge the status quo.

DCI. Banana Republic spoken here - even though we wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. cool.gif

(Big 10-4 on the shoes, btw. They should be designed as athletic wear, first and foremost, not just to be flexier versions of military uniform shoes.)

Edited by Slingerland
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Talking in circles...

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First... let me start off by saying I am continually amazed and how much the activity has progressed over recent years, the technical ability, musicianship athleticism and sheer creativity is amazing.

In spite of all of this, there is one glaring trend that I might suggest is going very much down the wrong path. A break from the past here is certainly needed, but this can't be the right direction.

Uniforms...

Frankly speaking, guys are just trying too hard and can't seem to completely break away from some sort of pseduo-military element of the past that makes it feel even more awkward. The end result is something that seems so out there to the uninitiated, to the point where it seems kind of amateurish.

What is most strange is that all are sort of moving very much in the same sort of waves (something old, something new, something borrowed, something half and half, etc.). Everything is a mashup, rather than a concrete or cohesive idea.

What is wrong with simple? What is wrong with a wide range of possibilities out there? Why does everyone need to follow a trend vs. putting something out there that makes both programatic sense and is appropriate to the type of movement guys out there are doing?

The roots of this trend are in WGI, more specifically winter percussion, where pretty much everyone (with some very recent and breakout exceptions) is wearing Star Trek pajamas. How did this happen? Where did this come from? Most of these things look like those velour jumpsuits my grandpa used to wear back in the day. Nothing about this is remotely connected with this decade and needs to change.

Anyway, we're stuck in this sort of loop (is it the manufacturers driving this and influencing this, having to put out something so attention getting each year?) and there needs to be some fresh horses and new exploration and more diversity.

Rather than designs that are force-fit to be marching bandish.... something completely clean... from zero... re-imagined?

Rather than starting with a traditional military influenced uniform and deconstructing, start from more dance and athletic wear foundations and build up from there?

While we're at it... it is time for these silly ski bib pants to go. There is no body shape out there that this looks good on... also, costuming needs to be considered in the full context of the performance, which is wherever people are hanging out watching you do stuff. Watching guys warm up in bib pants is silly.

On the topic... shoes. With so much revolution going on out there in the athletic shoe world (and drum corps is athletics from the neck down) we're still out there wearing souped up nurses shoes? Really?

Bottom line... guys out there are trying way too hard. Seems like it is the manufacturers driving this... it isn't helping to make things more accessible, not at all. Time to go back to the drawing board... everyone tabula rasa with a build up, rather than tear down approach and hopefully the result will be something that is not only contextually relevant, but movement appropriate and a little less awkward for the general public.

There are some risks that even Hop is too timid to make.

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While we're at it, let's have the guard spin and toss unsheathed sabers and loaded rifles. It's will give them a greater incentive to do it right.

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I thought this thread was going to be about a Cadets step-off...

lol!... that was my reaction when I read the thread title too. :unsure:

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There are some risks that even Hop is too timid to make.

What company did all all the design on the new uniform is their more than one.

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I'm no uniform expert but, on the point of "guys" warming up in the lot in bibbies, I wonder, what would you do in the alternative? Suspenders? Belts? Rope? How do you keep the pants up around the hips on those players whose physique is an inverted triangle from the belly down? Do we really want to be that YouTube of one tuba player whose pants fall down around his ankles?

I don't get the angst. Jackets are worn on the field. The uniform should compliment the show. Nobody is stopping corps from doing different or weird things, yet, they still wear bibs for the practical benefits.

And I think you have to dig pretty hard to make the military connection; I can't think of any corps that reminds me of military except Madison - which I'm fine with. There's not much military on the WGI floor either.

I'm thinking kilts for everyone.

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