These are the Pro level suits I have in my current rotation. I am already thinking about another one!

I have to admit that I suffer from competition suit addiction. Since 2009 I have purchased nineteen suits for the purpose of wearing them onstage, and of those nineteen I ended up wearing thirteen of them over the span of 22 contests. Granted, my body has changed, as have popular competition suit styles. However, I can’t help but fantasize about getting a new suit in a color or cut I haven’t worn before. I imagine such an addiction must be rather similar to what women go through when they want to shop for new clothing. Personally, I HATE shopping, so looking for new clothing is not something that appeals to me at all. Competition suits are a different matter altogether, because they are usually custom made to the competitor’s specifications and body measurements.

Part of my quest for the perfect suit stems from the fact that certain colors may look very different onstage. Case in point is a red suit I had made which I thought would look fantastic onstage. Once the lights hit it, though, the red appeared flat and almost orange, which wasn’t bad, just not what I wanted. Color and suit cut are very important, so choose wisely when selecting a suit. Pick a color that resonates with you and one that you know will look good on you onstage. If your coach or someone who has an eye for this sort of thing tells you to go with a certain color, take their advice. I have seen competitors choose suit colors on their own, only to look washed out onstage because they did not heed the advice of more knowledgeable people.

While some competitors have a signature color (Amanda Latona is known for her red suits, and Ashley Kaltwasser is known for her emerald green suits), others will switch constantly. If you have the money to keep switching suits, that is fine, but it is better to stick with one or two color which you know will work well for your coloring. I have worn several shades of green, several shades of blue, white, black, lavender, zebra print, red, and apricot onstage over the last five years, and I can definitely say that certain colors were not the best choice for me. Of course that just gave me an excuse to have new suits made!

However, if a suit works for you, keep wearing it. I wore a royal blue suit at my third national contest in 2010 and broke into the top ten, so I kept wearing that suit for the entire year. I landed a first place national finish as well as two more top ten finishes in that suit. Then in 2011 I made a custom suit with crystallized peacock feathers which I wore throughout that year and which brought me three first place national finishes. I began my 2012 competition season with the red suit I mentioned before, but it just never looked right, so I switched over to a new green suit. I landed another first place finish in the green suit. Finally, this year I wore a light blue suit for my warmup contest but it was too big for me and did not sit right on my body, so I switched it up again, wearing an apricot suit which got me a Pro Card win.

Though I truly had valid reasons for changing my suits over the years, I find myself daydreaming, thinking about what color or cut might look good on my body now. It’s pretty silly since I am broke and should not even entertain buying a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, but I guess I am pretty locked into my obsession with blingy competition suits!