How To Choose Pageant Dresses

Hi, I'm Liz Fuller. I'm the new boss at Miss Great Britain and a previous winner from 1997. And for the last thirteen years, I've been working as a TV presenter and producer on ITV and channel 5.

Today though, I'm going to be giving you advice on the beauty pageant world. How to choose a pageant dress. Okay, you want to get the perfect dress so even if it's a regional heat or a national competition.

At the regional heat, remember the stages are smaller and you don't need to go to town with a dress that looks a thousand pounds or two thousand pounds. In the regional heat you need to keep it quite simple. Judges want to know they're discovering new talent.

We don't want to think that you've been doing all the rounds, you've done all the heats, you've done loads of different competitions. Because if you've done different competitions before, why haven't you won the national title? So what we want to know is that you're quite new and you're fresh. We would like to see you in clothes and colors that suit you.

So even when you come to rehearsal maybe just come in a track suit that's quite colorful and fun. But then when you're on stage, you know what I think is a really nice and unusual tip? Choose your swimsuit that matches your evening dress. I saw this at one of the heats this year, where a girl wore a blue swimsuit and then she wore a blue dress the same color.

It made us judges remember her. So you have to remember, when we're looking at girls on stage, there may be up to twenty, twenty-five of you, and we're looking at the girl that stands out. If you wear black, that's not really a color that's going to grab our attention.

In fact, there is a scientific fact, and this is something I've always taken on board, that the eye can depict more variations of green than any other color. Now, I'm not saying that green is the color that you have to wear, but peppermint green as opposed to olive green, or an emerald green, or a lime green are very different colors. What you need to do is choose a color that suits you.

So if you're dark, maybe automatically you're autumn and winter colors. If you're blond, maybe you're summer colors. I think it's a good little tip for you to go and have your color charts analyzed and there are experts that do that across the UK.

So choose the dress that's the right color, that's going to stand out. Now when you come to the national final yes, choose the same color still, but it's different. You want to up your ball game you want to literally find a dress that has more crystals, more sequins, stands out more and is definitely more of a showgirl piece.

Now, don't, lots of girls did this year at Great Britain Regional heats, and you're naughty for doing it. Lots of girls came and they wore dresses to the pre-interview end that were too booby. So, we were talking to you very close, and we had your cleavage in our face.

Now that's not a good impression. So, when you're doing a pre-interview, keep it quite demure and sophisticated. When you're onstage you can show a little bit more cleavage, not too much please.

And also, one other thing that works well is the flow of the bottom of the dress. Now, either get a lot of chiffon silk that moves with you as you swish, or go for a dress that has a beautiful slit. Don't make it too high, because again we're going back to that a little bit too revealing aspect.

So you want something where we can see your walks and we can still see how glamorous the dress is. So, right color, right shape for you, how do you work that out? Try on a load of dresses, get your friends and family to, of course, tell you what they think. But make sure it's tailored to fit you.

The amount of times I've seen girls where the strap isn't right, they've got it pinned, or the strap falls down when you're on stage. I see girls holding their dresses on stage because it's too long for them with those shoes. And I w