Spoiler Alert! Don't Expect Kendra To Show Lots Of Skin For 'DWTS' Debut! EXCLUSIVE
We got to chat with Randall Christensen, Dancing With The Stars costume designer, who spilled on the upcoming season, shared some of his fave looks from the past, and told us how they manage to create the elaborate get-ups in just four days!
The Dancing With The Stars debut is two weeks away, but the cast is already super busy prepping for the big night! Aside from getting their dancing down, they’ve already started thinking about their costumes! Costume Designer Randall Christensen told HollywoodLife.com that while Kendra may be a former Playmate, we shouldn’t expect to see a lot of skin all at once!
“She is going to be a lot of fun, she’s kind of a tomboy, but a sexy tomboy,” Randall said at an intimate luncheon celebrating the launch of the Wilhelminia 40+ model search presented by Miraclesuit. “We’re gonna be peeling way layers, we aren’t going to give it all away. That’s the psychology we’re working with.”
So what could we expect to see her wearing on the big night? “We tried on two different dresses. One was quite revealing, but it didn’t work with the blue screen,” he said when we asked what we could expect to see on the reality star.
Randall said it’s always a rush getting the costumes together, since they only have four days to complete the process. “We design them on Tuesday, shop on Wednesday, cut them on Thursday, fit them on Friday and bead them on Saturday,” he said. “There have been times when I’m on the stairway with pins and a flashlight in my mouth sewing them into their skirt before pushing them down the stairway and finishing alterations on the commercial break. I’ve told celebrities, ‘Don’t sit back on the sofa because the glue will stick!'”
So, after working with so many celebs on so many flashy looks, does he have a favorite get-up? “Still til this day one of my favorites was Mel B, when she wore the dominatrix costume, just because it stepped out of the norm of the dreamworld. It was a little off kilter.”
He also told us all about which costume was the most elaborate. “The sheer magnitude of work that went into Toni Braxton’s full Marie Antoinette costume — it was a nightmare! It looked fantastic but it was a nightmare to get the cake built and then to hand sew all the brocade,” he said. “The end result was great but it was practically impossible to do in four days.”
Randall said he’s very excited to work with the new cast — and even shared who he’s most excited to dress. “From a dancers perspective, Petra [Nemcova] has a dancers body. Wendy Williams is going to be a riot, I can’t wait. She’s just delightful,” he said.
