When the stars of Strictly shimmy down the stairs every Saturday night, all eyes are on the sparkling gowns, satin shoes and sequin shirts.
But while the dancefloor action is just about to kick off, for head costume designer Vicky Gill each show is the culmination of a week’s frantic work behind the scenes.
Away from the glitterballs, Vicky and her team of 35 work tirelessly at their distinctly unglamorous Croydon workshop to ensure the series never loses its razzle-dazzle.
And with celebrities often losing inches off their waists as they battle to keep their place in the line-up, dressing the most fab-u-lous show in town is a neverending challenge.
“There’s a lot of frantic paddling just beneath the surface to ensure it all looks perfect,” says Vicky.
“I like to create an atmosphere of calm because we work better that way. But live telly is fast and furious, and you could lose your mind along the way. I think we nearly have at times…”
The amount of work involved in dressing the Strictly stars is enough to send anyone into a spin.
Vicky’s team turns out 25 to 30 dresses every week – with their record standing at 79 for the all-important Blackpool special.
And each star has their individual quirks which require a fast-acting stitcher with a sharp needle.
Vicky recalls: “In week eight, Karim’s pink shirt we’d bought on the high street was bunching up around his shoulders and ruining his top line for the Viennese waltz.
“We kept trying to fix it, right up to the minute he went live.
“He even went down the stairs at the beginning in the pink one, but it wasn’t right – so we switched him to a white dancer’s shirt.”
And even as Michelle Visage was about to dance the salsa, Vicky was adamant her dress needed “more frill and movement”.
So off it came and seamstresses stationed temporarily at Elstree Studios got to work.
Vicky says: “We’re constantly pushing to the wire. Michelle was brilliant and very calm about the last-minute alterations.
“She got another five packets of crystals on her dress the following week for being so good. We reward the dancers in sparkles!”
As well as looking good, the outfits must be functional – which can mean stitching a dancer into their costume to beat wardrobe malfunctions.
But that can be problematic when the nervous stars need to pop to the loo.
Vicky says: “It takes up to 15 minutes to dress them and check they’re ready. If they need the loo, we unpick them and they go, and then we sew them up again.” Vicky spends most of her week at DSI London, which looks like a drab office block but is a hive of activity, preparing outfits for the pro dancers as well as their celebrity partners.
Co-owner Gerald Schwanzer is himself a former competitive ballroom dancer. When we visit, one of Emma Barton’s semi-final dresses is being made on a mannequin – a sparkly gold number for the cha cha cha.
Vicky says: “We’re adding flare to the skirt and we’ll bead the whole dress and add straps to suit her.
“And Karen [Hauer] has decided to go barefoot or wear a ballet shoe instead of a traditional Latin shoe in a rumba. I can make the dress longer because the heel won’t catch on it.” For some contestants, there are personal preferences to allow for too.
“Lady Weymouth wasn’t a fan of purple, and Anneka Rice didn’t want to wear pink,” says Vicky.
“Although she did in the end. Alex Scott was keen to wear red, but she didn’t get a chance until the Argentine tango.”
And that means a problem for Vicky this week. Karim Zeroual’s pro partner Amy Dowden cannot wear traditional red for her Argentine tango – because it is too close to when Alex wore hers.
While colour and fit can be catered for, one ever-changing element Vicky’s team cannot control is the weight each celeb loses as they quickstep their way through the rounds.
But the ever-ready team at DSI have even come up with a novel solution to the problem of shrinking waists.
Vicky said: “Each celebrity has a mannequin in his or her shape, encased in bubble wrap to make it the right size. Then layers are stripped off as they lose weight.
“Mike Bushell’s shape changed most. He started out with a bit of weight around his tummy, but by the end it was gone.”
When it comes to the judges, Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse use their own stylists, but Vicky and her team dress Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli.
“They’re very low-maintenance,” says Vicky. “We buy in a lot of stuff and they choose from that – often it’s a high street suit.”
Most Strictly dresses are hired by the BBC, and then returned to be rented out to shows in Costa Rica, Lebanon, Ireland and elsewhere. The BBC buys some of the outfits to use again.
Tomorrow Vicky’s team will meet with all the 2019 contestants – who will appear at the final in the outfits they wore for the launch.
She is also gearing up to create the show-dance dresses for the final.
“They usually involve a costume ‘reveal’, like a rip-off or a drop down dress,” says Vicky. “That fills me with dread a little bit.”
To tour the Strictly dress factory and find out more information, click here.
