From the very beginning, FRINGE has been one of my favorite elements both to design with and to wear as a competitive ballroom dancer and teacher. Years later, I still believe using it is one of the easiest ways to look and feel fabulous on the dance floor. Read on for my top three reasons to love FRINGE!
Check out my 3 Reasons to love Fringe Reel on Instagram!
MOVEMENT!
The first reason that we should all love fringe is because of the incredible movement it can create. Whether it’s beaded, nylon, handmade, or stoned, WOW fringe adds major movement and excitement for the cost. This is great because that added movement can accentuate our skills and make our body movements more visible and resonant. On the other hand if there is a skill or body part where you struggle to create adequate magnitude of movement, adding fringe can give it that extra visual oomph and help to disguise the lack of movement. Since our eyes are naturally drawn to things that are moving, fringe can also be used to accentuate/draw attention to a body part that you LOVE to show off. Got AMAZING legs? Hang some fringe around them and just wait for everyone’s eyes to look - especially the judges on the dance floor!
But be careful! Avoid adding fringe to body parts that you’d prefer people didn’t look at - for instance if for some strange reason you really HATE your big toe, don’t go and surround it with a tiny fringe skirt! Trust me, if you do, everyone will look directly at your strange big toe!
VOLUME!
While volume can be annoying in some aspects of life (I’m looking at every-single-person who plays their music, games, or videos aloud on crowded planes, trains and automobiles), on the dance floor or stage, it is chef's kiss. In terms of sound, beaded fringe makes the most delightful melodies as they shake any shimmy - the sound isn’t loud enough to annoy anyone but you’ll enjoy the feeling that you are creating your own music as you move. Fringe of all sorts give you a very loud visual volume making you difficult to not see, which is a good thing in this performative style. Have you ever been to a party or event in a large room and the speakers the DJ brought just weren’t up to the task of creating enough voluminous sound for a space of that size? Similarly I’ve seen dance outfits on huge stages or competitive floors that just got lost, no matter how fabulous the dancers were, because the scale was just too small. In such situations, fringe can be a great way to add volume to fill up the space impressively and not get lost. Additionally, you can use fringe to literally add volume to body parts in order to create an illusion, balance a silhouette, or change proportions. For instance if you’re shaped like a rectangle like me you can use fringe to create the illusion of curvaceousness by placing it strategically on the body.
But be careful! Avoid adding fringe to areas of the body where you do NOT want to volume. For instance, if for some reason you always wanted your ears to appear as slim and minuscule as possible, don’t, for goodness sake, put fringed earmuffs on them! You’ll only make them look bigger! (Although now I DEFINITELY want to create fringy earmuffs for the winter!)
FUN!
Perhaps the best reason of all to use fringe in your upcoming dress design or purchase is that it is just so much FUN to dance in! As soon as you put it on you won’t resist the temptation to go crazy shaking and shimmying with it - whether you’ve had a bad day, week, or year, the fringe will bring that shaky joy right up out of you! Its weight and movement will help you connect more deeply with the movement of your body, and actually help you understand it better intuitively, so you’ll dance with great strength and confidence. And there is nothing more delightful to see than a joyful, strong, confident, FRINGY dancer!
Happy dancing, and wishing you more and more chances to shake your fringes with JOY!
-Lauren
PS - Looking for a great fringe dress? Get our one and only remaining SuzyQ Fringe dress (black dress shown in images above) HERE! Or ask us about creating a customized design just for you <3