So many teams debuted new leos this week, and there were so many good ones to boot! We already know it’s going to be difficult to choose our favorite. The criteria is the same as always: up to three points for design; two points for fabric and sparkle; two points for school spirit; and three points for overall appearance. This week’s guest judges are senior editor of all the things, Rebecca, and DIII editor Rachel.
William & Mary: 9.500
Check out our fabulous new competition Leo’s!! Thanks for the shout out @rebeccakscally pic.twitter.com/sNkLEN658u
— Tribe Gymnastics (@WMTribeWGYM) January 27, 2019
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 3.0/3 | 2.0/2 | 1.7/2 | 3.0/3 | 9.7/10 |
| Rebecca | 2.7/3 | 2.0/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.9/3 | 9.3/10 |
| Rachel | 2.9/3 | 2.0/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.9/3 | 9.5/10 |
Elizabeth: I’m absolutely obsessed. The emerald green, the ombre, the sweetheart/V, the sparkles—everything is perfect. This is one of my favorite leos ever, I think, and from William & Mary! Wow!
Rebecca: This one’s a beauty. I love the colors, I love that the shades of green actually match up—surprisingly a novelty as sometimes mesh and solid colors aren’t the same— and I love the simple design. My only complaint is that the design looks like it cuts off under the arms, but that’s pretty standard with leotards unfortunately.
Rachel: Love this! The front is gorgeous, and the cut-out back is really fun! There’s not much to critique, really…
Arkansas: 9.000
Debuting a brand new leotard tonight for the Meteoplex Challenge!!! #woopig #LeoWatch pic.twitter.com/ln98aBe2Ax
— Razorback Gymnastics (@RazorbackGym) January 27, 2019
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 2.6/3 | 1.7/2 | 1.8/2 | 2.8/3 | 8.9/10 |
| Rebecca | 2.3/3 | 1.3/2 | 2.0/2 | 2.5/3 | 8.1/10 |
| Rachel | 3.0/3 | 2.0/2 | 2.0/2 | 3.0/3 | 10/10 |
Elizabeth: The front is similar to the Michigan State all-black leo. I think I prefer it in all red like here. I also love the back. Actually, I’m obsessed with the back. Plus, the clever incorporation of the A on the sleeves around the wrists is super neat as well.
Rebecca: I like it! The A on the sleeves is one of my favorite things. It flows with the rest of the leotard, but it’s good school spirit too. I love the back; I find it super flattering. I might have liked a bit of white somewhere for contrast, but it’s overall great.
Rachel: FAVORITE LEO OF THE WEEK! This is so so gorgeous, and I can find no fault. I love how simple the front is and then they turn around and it’s like, BAM! Also, the A on the sleeve is a really nice touch. Honestly, words can’t express how much I love this one.
Southern Connecticut: 8.800
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtJaj3JHAGF/
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 2.4/3 | 1.7/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.5/3 | 8.3/10 |
| Rebecca | 2.7/3 | 2.0/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.9/3 | 9.3/10 |
| Rachel | 2.7/3 | 1.7/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.7/3 | 8.8/10 |
Elizabeth: I really love this. The picture doesn’t show it well, but the sleeves are a lovely royal blue color that goes great with the shimmery white to blue ombre body. I also love the sparkle design and the sweetheart neckline, as well as the simple SCSU on the back.
Rebecca: This is an odd case in that the photo the team posted really didn’t do it justice. The back shape is a little odd but the colors are GORGEOUS and it looked great in motion.
Rachel: This is really nice! I love the ombre on the body, and the cuffs on the sleeves are a really nice detail. Everyone really stepped up their leo game this week!
UW-Eau Claire: 8.600
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 2.2/3 | 1.6/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.3/3 | 7.8/10 |
| Rebecca | 2.8/3 | 1.9/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.7/3 | 9.1/10 |
| Rachel | 2.5/3 | 2.0/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.7/3 | 8.9/10 |
Elizabeth: I have to give the Blugolds props for this leo being MILES better than its old leo. Also, I love it. The V front design is simple yet classy, and the small logo on the back adds school spirit without being too in your face. I, of course, love the ombre arms too. A+ job, Eau Claire.
Rebecca: Simple and stunning. I love the ombre, the almost teal-y navy color, the cute little logo on the back, the sleeves—it’s basically perfect. DIII is on the ball with leotards this year!
Rachel: This is lovely! The sleeves are fantastic, and there’s just the right amount of sparkle throughout. Totally different from Eau Claire’s two previous leotards…which is definitely a good thing!
Alabama: 7.467
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 2.4/3 | 1.6/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.5/3 | 8.2/10 |
| Rebecca | 1.5/3 | 1.7/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.0/3 | 6.9/10 |
| Rachel | 1.5/3 | 1.8/2 | 1.9/2 | 2.1/3 | 7.3/10 |
Elizabeth: I really love this leo. I typically like a leo to have some color variation and not just be solid, but the sparkles and the design they’re in almost make it like there are two colors. The shade of crimson is also gorgeous, and the design is very flattering as well.
Rebecca: This one’s OK but not my absolute favorite. There are a lot of design features; I don’t get the fake diamond on the back or the fake cutout on the front, and leotards that have a several inch gap in the pattern drive me nuts. This is athletic wear—it still has to make sense when the person wearing it moves! Alabama crimson is reliably gorgeous though.
Rachel: I really like the back of this! The front, however, isn’t my favorite… I think I’d like it more without the fake cutout.
West Virginia: 7.433
https://twitter.com/WVUGymnastics/status/1089647309204316160
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 1.5/3 | 1.3/2 | 1.4/2 | 1.6/3 | 5.8/10 |
| Rebecca | 2.7/3 | 1.9/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.7/3 | 9.0/10 |
| Rachel | 2.2/3 | 1.6/2 | 1.5/2 | 2.2/3 | 7.5/10 |
Elizabeth: Meh, this is too boring for me. The sparkles are nice and the color fine, but the neckline is not my favorite. It’s a fine leotard as I don’t really not like anything about it, but there’s just nothing super special about it either.
Rebecca: I LOVE the navy, and I love that it’s understated. I have a few questions about the sparkle distribution on the sleeves, but that’s my only problem.
Rachel: This is really pretty and elegant, and I LOVE the all of the sparkles on the sleeves! I think one of the only downfalls is that don’t immediately think of WVU when I see it. Overall, it’s a nice leotard.
Illinois: 7.000
https://twitter.com/IlliniWGym/status/1089326922327314432
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 2.9/3 | 2.0/2 | 1.9/2 | 2.9/3 | 9.7/10 |
| Rebecca | 1.0/3 | 1.0/2 | 1.7/2 | 0.7/3 | 4.4/10 |
| Rachel | 1.5/3 | 1.5/2 | 2.0/2 | 1.9/3 | 6.9/10 |
Elizabeth: This leo is pretty close to perfect. It reminds me of a delicious orange creamsicle, and the orange into white ombre is just stunning. I also love the use of the “delicate” Lycra and mesh, and the school spirit is On. Point. I also love the rhinestone cuffs. My only critique, and I could take or leave this, would be potentially a sweetheart neckline. But honestly, it’s really nice as is.
Rebecca: Not my jam. I don’t like orange, I don’t like the fake deep scoop back and I don’t like the way the body color creeps out over the upper arms. The sparkle distribution is also giving me a headache. Why the random upper arm cluster or the halo around the I? The sleeves are really nice though.
Rachel: Unlike Rebecca, orange is actually my favorite color, and I love how Illinois is using it in its leos this year! However, I think I prefer last week’s over this one. The sparkle situation on this one is a bit confusing… Like, I feel like there need to be more scattered around the front and a whole lot less around the “I” in the back?
California: 6.800
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 2.4/3 | 1.6/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.6/3 | 8.3/10 |
| Rebecca | 1.0/3 | 1.3/2 | 1.7/2 | 1.2/3 | 5.2/10 |
| Rachel | 2.0/3 | 1.4/2 | 1.5/2 | 2.0/3 | 6.9/10 |
Elizabeth: I like this a lot. Cal is really into the navy and white this season, and I’m not complaining. I love the front design; it’s unique and flattering. I don’t love the sides how they’re trying to pull in and further flatter the figure, but I don’t hate it either. Finally, I love the arm sparkles and incorporation of school spirit as well.
Rebecca: This one is WILD. Printed patterns have to be really well done for me to like them, and this is just too crazy for me. The crisscross back and the sparkles don’t make sense with the rest of the leotard and neither do the sleeves. The whole thing is just too out there for my taste. I love the logo on the sleeve though.
Rachel: I have very mixed feelings about this one. My immediate reaction was to love it but the more I looked at it, the weirder it got?! I really like the colors and the matte-like material, but the design in the front and the crisscross back just seems like a bit too much.
Iowa: 6.367
Check out the highlights from the Gymhawks victory over Rutgers #StandOut pic.twitter.com/eaLySQIvUu
— Iowa Gymnastics (@IowaGymnastics) January 27, 2019
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 0.9/3 | 0.9/2 | 1.7/2 | 1.1/3 | 4.6/10 |
| Rebecca | 2.9/3 | 1.8/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.6/3 | 9.0/10 |
| Rachel | 1.0/3 | 1.2/2 | 1.8/2 | 1.5/3 | 5.5/10 |
Elizabeth: I know Rebecca loves this leo, but it’s just meh to me. It looks like every other Iowa leo design except with black mesh over nude and a little white added in. I also am never a fan of the upside down V neck design. I do like the back though; I think it’s like that training leo design so many teams have in black, white and silver?
Rebecca: All I want is BLACK LEOS THAT AREN’T TOO CRAZY, and Iowa is making me happy here. I find the crisscross design super flattering, the Hawkeye on the front is delicate enough to look friendly, the back looks really nice and it’s sparkly without being too much.
Rachel: I actually didn’t realize this was new… It looks like another (or maybe a few other) Iowa leotards. Points for consistency, I guess. There isn’t anything major I would change about this one—I think it’s just a little too plain for my taste.
Arizona: 5.767
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtHcCHDBtdf/
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 2.7/3 | 1.9/2 | 1.9/2 | 2.9/3 | 9.4/10 |
| Rebecca | 0.5/3 | 1.0/2 | 1.7/2 | 0.5/3 | 3.8/10 |
| Rachel | 0.4/3 | 1.5/2 | 1.8/2 | 0.4/3 | 4.1/10 |
Elizabeth: I saw this leo and immediately started drooling. The ombre is STUNNING, and I love it so so much. I also like the nude making a faux off-the-shoulder look. I wish the front was more of a traditional V or sweetheart as it kind of looks like a tank top as is, but that will only take a way a few tenths for me. LOVE.
Rebecca: This is a nooo from me. I’ve never seen a nude mesh leotard I like, and on this one the V neck pops out of the rest of the leotard as the primary design feature. It looks like a vase. The way the nude tracks around the back is also pretty wild, and the sparkle pattern is clunky. I like the colors though.
Rachel: Oh boy, I did not see this one until now! This…isn’t my cup of tea. BUT I do think the ombre is really well done and LOVE all the sparkes.
Arizona State: 5.500
⚪️ NEW LEOS ⚪️
Wear white with us tonight in our home meet against No. 4 Utah! #GymDevils | #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/YMufATbPDw
— Sun Devil Gymnastics (@SunDevilGym) January 26, 2019
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 1.2/3 | 1.2/2 | 0.8/2 | 1.5/3 | 4.7/10 |
| Rebecca | 1.5/3 | 1.4/2 | 1.7/2 | 1.2/3 | 5.8/10 |
| Rachel | 1.7/3 | 1.5/2 | 1.0/2 | 1.8/3 | 6.0/10 |
Elizabeth: When I first saw this leo, I actually thought it was Alabama or Stanford and not Arizona State. It’s definitely in a different direction than the team’s recent leos. I don’t hate it by any stretch, but I don’t love it either. I think I wish there was more old or yellow-sunset-y colors or maybe more school spirit in general. And on further analysis, I do think this is basically that leo stanford has but with different colors, making me deduct some points for lack of originality.
Rebecca: This one’s pretty basic—and I love basic—but I don’t find the cut incredibly flattering. Plus, the V being a different color is distracting. The body color is gorgeous though, and I adore the gold piping—it’s understated and lovely.
Rachel: I really like the simplicity of this and all the sparkles scattered on the sleeves—but I feel like there are quite a few teams that already have leotards like this, so it doesn’t really feel very new or exciting to me.
SEMO: 5.433
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 1.8/3 | 1.4/2 | 1.3/2 | 1.9/3 | 6.4/10 |
| Rebecca | 1.7/3 | 0.7/2 | 1.0/2 | 1.5/3 | 4.9/10 |
| Rachel | 1.5/3 | 1.0/2 | 1.0/2 | 1.5/3 | 5.0/10 |
Elizabeth: I normally don’t love vertical designs, but this isn’t bad. I like the greytone ombre and the introduction of red is nice too. I just wish that red design didn’t look like a vine crawling all over the leo. But it’s a good effort from SEMO.
Rebecca: This reminds me a lot of a Ball State leotard, and that isn’t a compliment. I kinda like the red pattern, but I can’t tell if the variegation in the gray is intentional or if it’s just reflecting unflatteringly. I don’t like it either way.
Rachel: I don’t really have any strong opinions about this one. It’s not bad, it’s not great. It’s just kind of…there. I think if this were a DIII team that wears the same leo every week, I’d get sick of it fairly quickly. But for a leo that’s only worn occasionally, it’s nice they tried to bring something a bit different to the table.
Ohio State: 5.067
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtEXTmgAGoB/
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 1.1/3 | 0.8/2 | 1.6/2 | 1.3/3 | 4.8/10 |
| Rebecca | 0.7/3 | 0.5/2 | 1.7/2 | 0.5/3 | 3.4/10 |
| Rachel | 2.0/3 | 1.3/2 | 1.7/2 | 2.0/3 | 7.0/10 |
Elizabeth: I like the concept of this leo, but it is a Lot. It’s very busy and I feel like the design could have been split into two or three great leos rather than trying to put all these ideas and concepts into one. I do like the arms and the pattern there, as well as the use of actual silver. But overall, it’s just too busy for me.
Rebecca: TOO MUCH. STOP. The firework pattern is… theoretically maybe cool… but the deep slash down the front is too much. The pattern is crazy. Why are there cuffs on the sleeves?
Rachel: Wowza. I agree that this leotard is a lot, but I actually kind of like it! It’s different than any of the others we saw this week, that’s for sure. The back is nice, and I really like the sheer sleeves.
Denver: 4.533
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 1.3/3 | 0.8/2 | 1.5/2 | 1.6/3 | 5.2/10 |
| Rebecca | 0.5/3 | 1.7/2 | 1.0/2 | 0.7/3 | 3.9/10 |
| Rachel | 1.0/3 | 1.0/2 | 1.0/2 | 1.5/3 | 4.5/10 |
Elizabeth: Oh man, Denver. I would like this a lot without the weird faux necklace or the glitter stitches on the sides and arms. The ombre is really nice, as well as the black body and semi-flamey neckline. However, the necklace and stitches just ruin it for me.
Rebecca: Tooooooo much. Black body with ombre sleeves is the ideal leotard for me, but you had to ruin it with… flame boobs? A random necklace? A bunch of Xs in stripes all over the place? I’m so confused in a bad way.
Rachel: Without the glittery necklace thing and “stitches” on the sides and arms, this would actually be one of my favorite leos this week…However, it does have the glittery necklace thing and “stitches” on the sides and arms, so that’s a bummer.
Kentucky: 4.000
| Design | Fabric/
Sparkle |
School
Spirit |
Overall
Appearance |
Total | |
| Elizabeth | 0.6/3 | 1.2/2 | 1.4/2 | 0.8/3 | 4.0/10 |
| Rebecca | 0.5/3 | 1.8/2 | 1.0/2 | 0.5/3 | 3.8/10 |
| Rachel | 0.5/3 | 1.5/2 | 1.5/2 | 0.7/3 | 4.2/10 |
Elizabeth: I’m so torn on this. The first thing I thought when I saw it was that the stomach design made the girls look like they were wearing one of those huge wrestling champion belts. I love the subtle ombre and the back in particular but the design and its placement is a big ole no for me.
Rebecca: Not a fan. I hate the shape of the blue neckline, I find it really unflattering. I also hate the V where the ombre ends—why do you want to draw our eyes to their lower stomach area? And I don’t like the way the opaque white tracks around the open back. The color is nice though, and I like the sparkle pattern.
Rachel: It kind of looks like they are wearing a corset?! This really isn’t my favorite, but I think the colors are nice. It’s very obvious it’s a Kentucky leotard, even without anything super school spirit-y.
READ THIS NEXT: Leotard Rankings: Week Three
Article by Elizabeth Grimsley, Rebecca Scally and Rachel Riesterer
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