Strictly’s back!

© BBC - Photographer: Guy Levy

Autumn is officially on its way with the return of Strictly Come Dancing on 8th September, and DSI London is absolutely thrilled to be involved once more!

With costume designer Vicky Gill at the helm, we will be creating many of this year’s sparkling creations for the pro dancers and celebrities and sharing a few insider secrets as we go along.

This week, DSI London’s pattern cutter, Theresa Hewlett, talks us through the red-carpet launch. “The red carpet this year had all the pros in underwear-inspired black outfits with corsetry-style lines,” she says. “The celebs all had a colour each that Vicky had determined earlier to be one of their favourites, which would enable them to stand out against a background of the pros in black.

“The common element throughout was Vicky’s new idea of adding chains to each outfit amongst the more usual crystalled strings and ribbons. The celebs had chains to match the colour of their frock and the pros had a contrast in gold and silver.”

Interestingly, this set of red carpet costumes had more hand-sewn elements and embellishments than DSI London has ever had to deliver before. “Some members of the team had a full week of hand sewing,” says Theresa.

The new series will kick off on 8th September with a launch show that reveals which professional dancer will be paired up with each celebrity contestant, with musical guests including Nile Rodgers and Chic, Craig David and Stefflon Don.

As usual, we’ll be live tweeting during Strictly on 8th September so follow @DSILondon and Theresa at @t_hewlett and let us know what you think of the costumes!