Ok, so I'm not at the point of buying skating dresses or skirts yet, but I do have a question or two:

What style of skating dress/skirt is most appropriate for a curvier (as in pear shaped) woman? What fabrics are best for hiding figure flaws?

I've noticed a lot of the traditional freestyle skirts seem very short and I'm pretty sure it would not provide adequate coverage for the backside. On the other hand, dance dresses seem too long (I'm looking at doing freestyle).

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Fluffy short multi-layered skirts only look good on skinny 10 year olds, definately not those.

There are companies that are realizing that not all skaters are size zero, five feet tall, and 10 years old. Yippeee! (now, if more of them would also realize that some skaters aren't female ... grumble grumble.)

Look for a longer skirt, mid-thigh; lightweight chiffony-flowy type fabrics (stiff velvet can make you look like you're wearing a crinoline !) - sleeves are nice, and there are some with - wait for it - built in bras. Much nicer than having straps showing ... or you can also get ones with straps wide enough to hide a bra strap. Flat panel skirts can also look more "grown-up' too.

You might go for an empire style that falls from below the bustline. This will emphasize the hips less. Or a skirt w a flat front and fuller back would be nice. Stay alway from double and quad circle skirts. They make your hips look very big. A single circle would be okay especially if it comes to a point or dips down at the hem to add length instead of fullness over the hips and buttocks.

Kay

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I would look more at the cut of the skirt than the fabric...an a-line or flat panel skirt looks much better on an older skater, and flatters the pear shape better than a circular skirt, whether it is made out of sheer fabrics or velvet. Flat panel and a-lines are very becoming in velvet, and covers up better then the see-through fabrics, if you are wanting to "make it go away"! Circular skirts can be very full along the hem (here is where you want to stay away from velvet) and tend to emphasize the pearness of the shape. They look much better on a beanpole 10 yo. I agree, empire would be a great choice, also

Skirt lengths can be different from one company to another. Just try different dresses on and find which company has a length you prefer. You could get a dance dress and have someone shorten the hem for you. But, dance dresses will more than likely have a fuller skirt...I have yet to see a flat panel on a dance dress (not to say there isn't).

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I actually wear a lot of street clothing to skate it. I just tested in a wrap around dress that I bought from Macy's. It had a lovely handkerchief hem skirt and worked quite well. I have several of those stretchy dresses you can get cheaply at ross or dress barn, and I often hem them to just above the knee, and they look great for skating. I also order most of my nicer skating wear from riversededgedancewear.com - they happily add a couple of inches or make whatever adjustments you require, if you are looking for a more traditional look. Pretty much everything goes up to an adult XL and many garments even go up to like a 5x.

If you are selfconsious, start out with heavy leggings, like running tights, and add a nice chiffony wrap skirt on top. Once you start skating in a skirt, there's no going back! And before you know it, you'll be a regular short skirt and enjoying that too!

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I agree with the street clothes, if it's stretchy (and many stores sell stretchy stuff nowadays, tricor or lycra actually) it could work for skating, just put hotpants shorts or underpants that don't look like underwear under the skirt over the tights From this point of view it's preferable to get black or dark clothing because it's easier to find underwear that doesn't look like underwear in that, and matching, color.

I have a couple of cheap dance dresses (disco dance, I mean) that I wear over a flesh-coloured lycra leotard, which holds in my bingo wings and helps keep me warm. However, this probably doesn't work if your skin tones are other than Caucasian! But for a really cold rink, I'm apt to wear a dark wrap skirt, with dark "control-top" briefs underneath and a gold or silver (usually gold) sweater on the top - they are ubiquitous this time of year now that "party wear" has come back into the shops, and don't cost much. That's pretty flattering, too, and WARM!

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Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I'm definitely on the curvier side, and I love my flat panel skating skirt. It's definitely more flattering than my full/circle skating skirt (which makes my hips look huge).

I'm not sure how tall you are, but if you're on the shorter side, consider going with a shorter (freestyle-length) skirt rather than a longer (dance-style) skirt. If you're short & curvy and you wear a longer skirt, it ends up making you look rounder and shorter. A shorter skirt will make you look taller and leaner.

Yes, RiversEdgeDancewear.com is wonderful! Just be sure to call them and ask a real person about the sizing, because some of the sizing charts on their website are incorrect (I found out the hard way when I ordered a custom skating dress made with a BalTogs leotard and BalTogs runs a size below the size chart!).

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Yes, I should have mentioned this ... I wear an L or XL in street clothes, but need to order 2XL in skating/dance clothes; sometimes a 3XL to fit the boobs of wrath; so be aware that you'l probably need to size up.

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I am on the shorter side (5ft 2in).

River's Edge Dancewear seems to have a nice selection. Any other stores/websites that make nice adult skating dresses? I also like the idea of street clothes. I've seen a few dresses around that I would not wear for church, but have definitely thought "wow! that would make a great skating dress!"

Thanks for the advice guys!

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I bought a great dress at a teen store (The Deb) on clearance for $10....took it home, stoned it up and wore it for an exhibition dance! I could shorten it a bit if I wanted for freestyle but it is great as it is.

I did see several that would have made very good skating dresses. If you see one you like and it looks great on you, try hitching it up and see how it would look a tad shorter.

Also, some of the asymetrical hemlines work great...as long as they are not too long/short from side to side. We wore a dress cut like that (empire waist as well) for a show and everyone looked great in it.

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Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I haven't purchased any new skating dresses for a while now, but GK Elite used to sell quite a few styles -- long-sleeved and sleeveless, with both flat-panel and circular skirts -- in their signature stretch velvet. Their adult XLs are truly XL (as opposed to, say, Capezio's alleged XLs), and their velvet is very accommodating to a larger bust size (I'm a 38DD and even I can wear them)

Haven't looked at their catalog for some time, though; so I may be giving you outdated information.

Ellen

Flat skirts with an A-line cut (i.e., doesn't rise at the hips) are the best bet. The length doesn't matter as much as long as the hem is kept horizontal. When the hem angles up toward the hips, it exposes much more hip/thigh than I care to show! As for the top, avoid anything with a really high neck. This will just emphasize the bust area. V-necks are a good choice for large busts.

Our asymetrical dresses started just above the knee and went up to where a normal freestyle skirt would go. It was for a show and the dresses were nice-pink tricot knit and lots of bling. They were also one-shouldered with a collared neck. Little difficult in the sewing but very nice in the effect.

I like halter-style tops and using flesh-colored mesh for the arms and upper backs-sort of holds you together like pantyhose does! But you want something that skims the body for the skirt, like patatty suggested-an a-line is perfect for that.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I have to agree that empire line, hanging from below the bust but above the waist, is a good shape for a dress. Being very pear shaped myself, I made one in this style recently, and was very happy with the line of it.

I also agree that flat skirts which don't rise up at the sides exposing too much thigh are a good choice for practise skirts. I don't think fabric choice is as important, as long as it is opaque and stretchy.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Empire line waists, cut incorrectly, can also be very unflattering for the mature female figure. Can very easily give a pregnancy look, skating wear or non-skating wear.

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I like dance dresses for skating as they tend to be longer. I've also purchased a streachy swim cover-up or something at Wal-Mart this season, and it's perfect with a leotard underneath.

My favorite non-skating items are the Circo leggings sold at target in the kids section. They have plain and holiday ones and are $6. I get the XL.

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Yeah that's what they always make me look like.

I just bought a GK yesterday. I wear size 10 jeans and 12-14 or L/XL on top. I can wear the GK XL if I don't mind the belly showing.

So it was you who burst out laughing in the other dressing room last weekend when I was trying on clothes, with the popular empire waist and heard me say " OMG there is no way that I'm having another kid!!!!"

I don't think it matters that much about the flare of the skirt, although it's not good to be too fluffy as we're not six years old, but I find that it's where the skirt hits me on the thighs that makes a difference Too long and then I have stubby legs, too short and there's too much old flab.


I make my own things, I can't buy off the rack. Too much rack

Been there, done that. I make most of my own too. They just fit better, and they don't look like they're supposed to be on a bean pole.

I find that for many curvy women (talking hips here, not chest), that there's 3 factors in the skirt design that are either potential flatterers or potential "killers".... where the skirt is attached to the body of the dress and the curvature of the seam (too low and it can accentuate the belly, too high and it can also accentuate the belly [and too high may even be "waist-high" on some women]), the length of the skirt (too short is not very flattering, too long can be dumpy) and the fullness of the skirt (too flat can be as much of a negative as too fluffy, especially if the flat skirt is split on the side seams and there's a very obvious gap between the 2 pieces of the skirt).

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...