Illustrated Fashion of Eurovision 2013

Since I met my husband, Stephen, we have made Eurovision a family occasion. So far, in 2013, we have had the two semi-finals, the finals hitting us with a mix of dance, power ballads and even a little bit of cheese, tomorrow night live. I decided that, for a change, I would do an illustrated commentary of the female dresses and outfits as the Euro-V fashion is almost as important as the music. This year, the men mostly played it safe with shirts, leather jackets (some a little sparkly, and one with gaffer/duct tape for visual excitement), with a little bit of traditional dress thrown in for added spice. However, it was the men from Romania and Montenagro that added some of the 'fun' into Eurovision this year. Montenagro was a trio, two men dressed as spacemen and a woman (whose outfit you can see below) and Romania cannot be described in a better way than Dracula in a dress. This is the only male outfit I have included in my illustrations.

The theme was not absolutely clear this year. The repeatative logo was a butterfly that flew each of the countries flags, these were pretty and very well done, however, I recall seeing only one butterfly on the hand of the Ukraine. In the first semi final, the competition seemed to be ruled largely by female singers in white - representing their innocence and purity obviously! The second semi final brought forth the men, and fewer women in white.

Below are the female contestants (including Cezar from Romania because I could not include all the dresses without his monstrous skirt). The contestants of the top six are not included due to not being absolutely certain of their outfits, I will illustrate their outfits after the final. Neither have I included some of the females that were included in a group. Finally, I missed out Austria because I just plain felt they didn't try hard enough with the outfit. The song, Shine, was neither brilliant or terrible.

So here we go.

The first white dress goes to Estonia

Birgit sang Et Uus Saaks Alguse for Estonia. A ballad sang sweetly, and a little Disneyesque (the first of several). Her dress completely white, representative of bedsheets. I'd like to give her a break as she is five months pregnant but I still think the dress was wrong. Had the dress have had a underbust line and allowed to flow from that point rather than from her armpits, it would have had a better reception.

Leather Feathered Birds Should be put on the Endangered Creature List

Hannah sang Straight into Love for Slovenia. Now, I've seen this song sung with either auto-tune or something because on the night I wanted to put earplugs in, in fear of blood dripping from my ears. Don't get me wrong, Hannah could sing the lower notes but those top ones, alas, she fell off key a few too many times. Her outfit consisted of a leather fitted top and leather or leather - look leggings. The first leather outfit of the semi's but certainly not the last. Unfortunately the leaf shaped leather detail made her look like a leather clad bird. Remove those and it would have been a good outfit. I'm not sure it was a good Eurovision outfit, but it wouldn't be the first time bird have featured in the Eurovision.

Peasant Girl Invades Eurovision

It is said that Emmelie de Forest's Only Teardrops is a favourite to win. Her peasant style dress in an off white, egg shell perhaps, was simple and suited her voice. The song felt to be simple and a little Celtic. It was those penny whistles. A conversation developed between Stephen and I, after a drink, as to what the song would sound like if you took out the whistle and replaced it with another instrument, such as a trumpet.

A bit Prom for Russia, where were the Russian Grannies?

Dina Garipova sang What If and my response would be What if you chose a different colour for your dress. This dress felt a bit prom dress for a 16 year old in a colour a bride would choose for her bridesmaids so they didn't show her up. Her lace shawl was pretty and suited Dina, but the pale peach/salmon dress was a bit sickly. The song was a step down from the Grannies from last years Eurovision, some may say stepping up their game as it was a serious ballad sang with conviction. Again, nothing spectacular, though she certainly belted out the last note.

Beauty and the Beast crossed with Jack and the Beanstalk

Zlata Ognevich certainly shocked us all with her entrance with a seven foot giant for her song Gravity. Sadly for the wonderful giant, it has caused a few trolls to attack him which I'm sure he was not expecting, and therefore I am announcing my support for the joyful giant. Zlata's dress was another white dress, much like a simple wedding dress that, to me, looked like it had been made for another model as it seemed a bit roomy on the bust and a bit tight on the hips. Otherwise, this dress fitted this pop ballad well. Though I wonder whether something a little more like Cyprus or San Marino would have been better.

Go in my wardrobe and you will find...

Apparently Anouk is somewhat a big star in The Netherlands, and I'm sure her song Birds is a hit over there, but like Austria, I nearly didn't include this outfit. This is the kind of attire I have in my wardrobe and leave the house in on a daily basis. She obviously thought she was too big to try. This is supposedly another favourite, for me, it reminds me of the feeding the birds song from Mary Poppins. Maybe Anouk will try harder for the finals -Nah!

Spacemen and a Borg Chick! What more could you ask for?

Who See brought us back to the 90s with Igranka. Oh was I disappointed that this didn't make it to the final. This was fun and energetic just like the outfit. Two spacemen and a borg chick in leather with translucent wings of some kind. Need I say more? After multiple pop and power ballads this was refreshing and brought the party back to the Eurovision.

The 60s have returned!

Shake those tassels, baby! Alyona Lanskaya entertained us by coming out of a giant sci-fi egg in a 60s tassel dress for her song Solayoh - a song that wouldn't feel out of place on holiday in the Spanish isles or another European sun spot. The silver dress was playful like the song.

Lava Lamp Science Fiction Convention here we come

I never envisaged a projection of galaxies and lightening ever to be projected onto a growing skirt/dress. What are they suggesting, that Aliona Moon (apt name) has a universe between her legs? What a fantastic dress - white again, though I say she can be forgiven for that since they projected a range of images on to her and let her grow at least three foot right in front of your eyes. Did the outfit fit O Mie? Not particularly, though it wasn't sang in English, so perhaps the lyrics has significance, but the feel of the song was more power ballad than sci-fi techno which is what was needed to pull off this spectacle.

Classy and Elegant - Black Floral Lace

In terms of serious dress Despina Olympiou's elegant black floral lace dress was my favourite. An Me Thimasai, however, was less impressive, something of a 90s pop ballad - have the 90s come back around as the Top 40 charts have been taken over by 90s samples, revivals, and down right pastiche? The song is elegantly sung so is fitting to the dress, it wasn't terrible.

Lesbians meet Cupcake meet Alice in Wonderland

If you hadn't laughed at any of the acts up to this point, Moje 3 had it all. If it wasn't for the presenters pointing out that the song was in fact about a boy I'd have guessed it was about a lesbian love triangle. Only does the former make sense if you see a previous performance where two of the girls are dressed up as a devil and an angel. Instead, it comes across as a lesbian trio that have fallen down the rabbit hole and landed in a cupcake wonderland. Now that's surrealism. Another pop Euro song that leads us down the wrong rabbit hole with the wrong outfits,  but at least they brought the cheese back to the Eurovision this year.

Red over red, minus one red, equals red

The return of the Facebook / Social Network girl who suddenly looks ten years older. Valentina Monetta doesn't look older or younger than her years, but from last years entry she has dyed her hair and is wearing clothing that suits a woman in her 30s. This caused me some confusion as last year she looked more like she was in her 20s. How very strange. Crisalide (Vola) was equally mature. This dress and translucent long shawl began as a deep red (perhaps burgundy) which was stripped off to reveal a more letter box red with abstract beaded detail. All a bit to mature for my liking. Classic though.

Jolly Gypsy in Red

Now this was a sight to be seen. Esma and Lozano were a male / female duet but may as well have been just Esma as she stole the show. Lozano a pleasant singer wearing a suit, taped together from the look of it, was blown straight off the stage as Esma almost glided on in a larger than life, over the top, red dress and shawl. The dress having gold floral detail. The song, like the pair, was calm and cool when Lozano sang and over the top and magnificent when Esma sang. Traditional beauty.

I don't think I'd want to marry her either

For me this felt like Kay Perry's I Kissed a Girl and Hot n Cold all wrapped into one and the official video backs this up. Krista Siegfrids most certainly performed one hell of a fun song with Marry Me, with fun props, and an 80s style retro white wedding dress and florescent pink accessories. Her song, catchy and querky, and fitting to her outfit. I think that Eurovision producers should have perhaps mixed up the fun a little bit more as the second semi's seem to get most of the fun. 

Super Nanny Librarian with a bulging cleavage

Moran Mazor made everyone's head turn as she stood on stage and performed Rak Bishvilo. I have no idea what it means or what it even sounded like as I was distracted by Moran's voluptuous body, bulging cleavage, and librarian look with those huge black framed glasses. I wonder what kind of books she keeps? Someone on the night tweeted that she looked like Super Nanny and that was it, there was no justification left.

Return to Space - Another white dress with Bling

The beautiful Margaret Berger delivered a compelling performance of I Feed you My Love. Dance, Techno, Sci-Fi awesomeness. The outfit screamed the same lyrics. She even moved. Most women in the tight, figure hugging dresses, didn't move but a few steps across the stage. Margaret gives us some tremendous wiggles, which I believe are the cause of the split up the front (in one of her performances the split is in the back). Hehe!

Anyone for another Wedding?

Another white wedding dress! Sophie Gelovani, one half of another Disneyesque performance, Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani, wore this elegant, dress that was beautiful, a touch Roman, and fanciful, perhaps suiting the sickeningly romantic song, Waterfall. This dress, however, just added to the feeling of being at some kind of wedding show.

And finally, without further-a-do, the only male dress of the evening, Romania.

Dracula in a growing dress of bling

The second semi finals ended in gothic theatrical heaven. Why hasn't anyone made Dracula the Musical yet? Should it occur to someone to make this I think Cezar should play Dracula. His black jacket with huge collars was blinging all over the place, and similarly to Moldova he grew and grew and grew. He was operatic, entertaining, theatrical, and perfect for closing Eurovision 2013 and I will be voting for him to win with his song It's my Life. For me it was like returning to the 90 dance scene that had been taken over by an opera singer.

So, although, slightly out of line from my usual blog posts, I hope you enjoyed this illustrated commentary of the semi final of Eurovision 2013. To close I am sharing Eurovision's video of Cezar performing It's my Life.