Where on can I get Cirque Du Soleil style dance and acrobatics costumes?

November 19, 2013 12:33 PM

I am a member of a small acrobatic group including both men and women, and we are having a hard time finding costumes. There are more options for women, but almost none for men except basic gymnastics outfits and unitards in a handful of colors. We'd love to find a place to get really dramatic costumes, or at least parts we could use to design our own without having to make them completely from scratch. Online is best, as I am in Iceland.
posted by Nothing to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

Those are custom designed by a costumer. I would contract with someone who has a surger sewing machine and access to the fabric that leotards are made from.

Or a custom cosumer, like Encore Costume Couture.

Here is some information about what Cirque Du Soleil uses to make their costumes (Moleskin Lycra!)

There are many people through Etsy who might work with you long distance.

But those are some places to start.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:46 PM on November 19, 2013

Response by poster: Yeah, I know we won't find anything that unique of the shelf, but there has to be something between that and wrestling leotards, right?
posted by Nothing at 1:16 PM on November 19, 2013

Best answer: A lot of companies that cater to competitive dance studios offer off-the-rack/ready-to-wear costumes for Acro/dance that are pretty clear copies of Cirque-style costumes at a price-point that is designed to be palatable (relatively speaking) to dance moms and studio owners. The quality tends towards the middling, and the taste level is perhaps questionable....but they generally look fine from far away. No idea if any of these ship to Iceland, but you might want to take a look at some of these companies. Predictably, the options for men are more limited, but if you dig you can probably find some things:
Art Stone has the most Cirque-esque things, and is probably your best bet.
Curtain Call has no "crique"-specific stuff, but if you dig around you can find things like this and this
Other dance costume companies that probably have things (but that I didn't have time to look through) are Weismans, Discount Dance, and A Wish Come True. (They all categorize things differently...and seemingly randomly.....but generally, you want to be looking in their "Performance" or "Competition" collections, and are probably most likely to find what you're looking for in the lyrical, contemporary, or acro categories)
posted by Dorinda at 2:09 PM on November 19, 2013

I guess you aren't looking for something quite as dramatic as Cirque Du Soleil then?

You can dye cotton unitards. There are many different dye techniques, and you can create elaborate patterns. Men can also wear a leotard underneath heavyweight tights, it will look like a shirt.

Most of the Cirque Du Soleil costumes seem to be basically unitards with a lot of color, maybe some added embellishments, and elaborate hair and makeup.

I looked up wrestling leotards, as I hadn't any clue what they were. Unique ones appear to be available.
posted by yohko at 2:20 PM on November 19, 2013

So, I uh, actually know somebody who does costumery for CdS in Vegas. If you like you could MeMail me, and I could check in and see if she does contract work.
posted by foxfirefey at 1:16 PM on November 22, 2013