2015 Uniforms (All Threads Now Merged HERE)

[skevinp]

Or perhaps you are all over analysing the dang thing... Perhaps it's just a square piece of chrome covered plastic that reflects light better than the eagle that was on there before!

I apologize profusely for having the audacity to discuss a uniform on a uniform discussion board.

Please return to the delightfully highbrow conversation that was taking place before my unforgiveable intrusion.

[GUARDLING]

I love these male dance outfits. Only two out of the 200 photos you told me to look at had skirt like elements. There was one couture runway photo of a Jeoffrey Ballet dancer featuring a skirt like element, and one other one where billowy pants had extra fabric. That's it. Get my point? I love the colors, I love couture, I love the fabrics, the design elements, heck I even like performance art spandex body bags, but only one percent of your sample photos featured a skirt or tunic-like element. My point is why do a preponderance of male color guard uniforms nowadays have skirt like elements? Get what I mean? The pictures you showed me, a representative sample of "Male dance outfits" only showed two percent, but in drum corps it's more like 50 percent. Something's up.

When dealing with an artistic view, style, thought process, etc etc. One could also say,,,WHY NOT If a designer chooses.

Sometimes no explanation is warranted or needed. then again ( especially in any artistic arena ) there's always questions asked often with no answers.

Edited June 17, 2015 by GUARDLING

[Pete Freedman]

I love these male dance outfits. Only two out of the 200 photos you told me to look at had skirt like elements. There was one couture runway photo of a Jeoffrey Ballet dancer featuring a skirt like element, and one other one where billowy pants had extra fabric. That's it. Get my point? I love the colors, I love couture, I love the fabrics, the design elements, heck I even like performance art spandex body bags, but only one percent of your sample photos featured a skirt or tunic-like element. My point is why do a preponderance of male color guard uniforms nowadays have skirt like elements? Get what I mean? The pictures you showed me, a representative sample of "Male dance outfits" only showed two percent, but in drum corps it's more like 50 percent. Something's up.

You're OK with the other outfits on that page? Wow. They would trigger a far greater anti-male-dance reaction. The ones CGs use are far less feminine than those.

You literally object to long shirts on men (which you call skirts). Is that it? I strongly suspect it's because the more typical outfits are not sufficiently masculine according to corps directors.

Keep in mind, I started with a search consisting only of male dance. They are wearing next to nothing but a speedo. Are you saying you would prefer the outfits on either page simply because they don't have long shirt style fashions?

[Flguardman]

Being in the colorguard world for almost 20 yrs and designing uniforms for 13yrs. Looking at all his posts I'm still trying to figure out all of these teams/designs he is referring to that have male like skirts that are so androgynistic in shows nowadays since there are so many he is referring to!!! This is nothing new if a certain design has a skirt quality to the male uniform. That doesn't deem it less masculine, with fashion comes change from decade to decade as we explore different textures, fabrics and styles. The fabrics you see are not all 100% spandex a lot do have a spandex quality to give stretch ability and a lot of new fabrics are becoming more breathable.

He would also have to ask himself what would classify a male uniform with having a skirt, as there are many types from a full skirt to 3/4 of a skirt to 1/2 a skirt to a strip. So in tale if all are classified as being a skirt quality then you would have a hell of a lot of teams that do from guard uniforms to Corps Uniforms. Which would deem it very normal nowadays.

[Pete Freedman]

For my sins I just went back through every page in this thread. I discovered the following facts about the five male guard outfits posted so far:

Only BD's had a tunic. None of the other four male guard outfits has anything that can be considered skirt-like.

Only BlueCoats' pants were like spandex, but they wear a pair of shorts over them. None of the others seem to be made of spandex , but they do generally seem to be fairly snug, kind of like sweatpants. I guess this is what he means?

Who cares, of course.

I will say that, compared to general male dance outfits, guard outfits are rarely loose fitting, like pjs. Whereas, 'regular' dance costumes seem more often to be silk-like and loose. This presumably swirls like a flag (ironically) when swinging the leg.

That invites the interesting question: why don't guards use that more often?

I can think of two reasons: 1: loose uniforms make it harder to judge movement, so they look like your're hiding dirt.. Actually, you are hiding the dirt, but you're also hiding the clean, so to speak. 2. Equipment might catch on it. This is probably the major reason.

[Flguardman]

For my sins I just went back through every page in this thread. I discovered the following facts about the five male guard outfits posted so far:

Only BD's had a tunic. None of the other four male guard outfits has anything that can be considered skirt-like.

Only BlueCoats' pants were like spandex, but they wear a pair of shorts over them. None of the others seem to be made of spandex , but they do generally seem to be fairly snug, kind of like sweatpants. I guess this is what he means?

Who cares, of course.

I will say that, compared to general male dance outfits, guard outfits are rarely loose fitting, like pjs. Whereas, 'regular' dance costumes seem more often to be silk-like and loose. This presumably swirls like a flag (ironically) when swinging the leg.

That invites the interesting question: why don't guards use that more often?

I can think of two reasons: 1: loose uniforms make it harder to judge movement, so they look like your're hiding dirt.. Actually, you are hiding the dirt, but you're also hiding the clean, so to speak. 2. Equipment might catch on it. This is probably the major reason.

Exactly who cares, I don't know why that person keeps bringing up the same thing with out a full explaination or an example of all these so called skirts.

But yes sometimes you can and sometimes you cant hide the dirt. Mostly with long dresses you can hide feet. But in the movement caption with all judges having a background in dance they can catch things you might not expect them too just because a lot of assumption is that this hides this or that hides that doesn't always come into play but sometimes it does.

It depends on what the design is of the uniform whether or not you can get caught in it. Usually its dresses, skirts or things that hang or aren't seamless to the uniform is where most individuals get caught up in equipment.

But all in all it always comes back to design of your show what it is your looking for in the uniform. A lot of the designs you see nowadays with uniforms being form fitting is for a sleeker appearance or a more seamless tailored look, But it doesn't mean we don't do things that aren't because we do. It's all about preference and the style your going for.

[Channel3]

Regarding your criticism of modern dance, which Wikipedia tells me is normally dated to a period of 1880-1960, are you interested in more guards incorporating classical ballet or post-modern work?

Modern has the annoying "fall and recovery", which is the most objectionable element. You know, fall on the ground for no apparent reason, and then get up, usually by reaching toward the sky and pulling something toward your heart? Drum corps can probably turn the volume knob down on over-emotive, repetitive, frenetic dance team type moves like that. Yes, it's the Duncan/Graham modern that's the problem. Contemporary, although a looser term, is best for most corps shows--jazz, musical theater and even hip hop where elements have some visual payoff and narrative element behind them.

[Channel3]

Only BD's had a tunic. None of the other four male guard outfits has anything that can be considered skirt-like.

Last year's Bluecoats men's guard uniform included an orange wrap-around micro-mini skirt tunic.

[Cappybara]

You don't know any examples of men's drum corps uniforms in recent years featuring skirt like elements? Or even outright skirts? Are you high?

Nice job avoiding the question. Trolling at its finest.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Cappybara

[Cappybara]

That's a trick question. The Bluecoats' 2014 show had no thematic depth, so designing a costume is impossible. But if I were designing a guard uniform for the vague show concept "tilt", my mind doesn't immediately jump to head to toe orange spandex and men's orange micro mini skirt wraparound tunics. Be honest, does yours? The point is that skirt-like costume elements on men-- that's year after year of designs with skirt-like elements for men-- suggest a designer's androgyny agenda, and not a balanced, organic approach to costume design for marching music. Adding skirts to men's uniforms is like out of the blue adding bustles to everyone's uniform-- everyone marching around with huge buttock elements from the Victorian era-- it would just make people shrug and say "What's that designer's obsession with the bustle? Is he feeling all right? This is the third year in a row he's done bustles!" Why isn't it the same for these mini-skirt like elements on men?

It's clear to me now that you have literally no idea what you're talking about. You avoid practically every question that asks you to elaborate on anything. You clearly have some deep seated issues with the way you dress that you're projecting to everyone else on here. Either that or you're a brilliant troll.

I'm done trying to have an intelligent discussion with you.