The criteria is a little different this season as we tweak some of our point totals to better analyze the designs. There will be up to three points for design, up to one point each for fabric and sparkle, school spirit and uniqueness and up to three points for overall appearance. This week editors Katherine and Mary Emma, and our intern Carolyn, join Elizabeth to help judge.
Illinois State: 8.250
Elizabeth: 7.500
Design 2.2/3, Fabric 0.7/1, Sparkle 0.8/1, School Spirit 0.7/1, Uniqueness 0.7/1, Overall Appearance 2.4/3
If I were Illinois State and I had this great new leo, I wouldn’t have waited all season to debut it. I would have worn it every meet in 2021, especially since with the pandemic, who knows how many meets we would have ended up having. Needless to say, I like the design. The letters are in kind of a weird font on the sleeve—it’s hard to read what it says—but I love the sparkle design, the strappy back and of course the ombre.
Mary Emma: 7.700
Design 2.2/3, Fabric 0.7/1, Sparkle 0.7/1, School Spirit 0.8/1, Uniqueness 0.8/1, Overall Appearance 2.5/3
This is definitely my favorite Illinois State leo. I love the ombre sleeves and the back. I think the front is just a bit too busy for me, but overall this is a really solid leo.
Carolyn: 9.300
Design 3.0/3, Fabric 0.7/1, Sparkle 1/1, School Spirit 0.9/1, Uniqueness 0.8/1, Overall Appearance 2.9/3
By far the best Illinois State leo right here. The sparkle pattern is just a little bit too big, but I LOVE every part of this leo otherwise. The ombre, the “Redbirds” on the arm, the back—I LOVE IT ALL.
Katherine: 8.500
Design 2.4/3, Fabric 1/1, Sparkle 1/1, School Spirit 1/1, Uniqueness 0.6/1, Overall Appearance 2.5/3
This is my favorite design of the week! The design on the front is cool and unique, but the one on the back is also beautiful. And unlike Elizabeth, I love the block lettering on the sleeve—I’d much rather see that then cursive or some other script.
Auburn: 7.925
Elizabeth: 8.400
Design 2.0/3, Fabric 0.8/1, Sparkle 0.5/1, School Spirit 0.7/1, Uniqueness 0.7/1, Overall Appearance 2.7/3
I love this a lot with two exceptions: Rebecca pointed out the sparkle pattern on the chest looks like syringes, and I can’t unsee it, and the ombre on each sleeve is different. Aside from those two small yet annoying things, it’s a fantastic leo. I love the white to orange ombre body, and the shade of blue actually works well.
Mary Emma: 9.000
Design 2.6/3, Fabric 1.0/1, Sparkle 0.8/1, School Spirit 1.0/1, Uniqueness 0.8/1, Overall Appearance 2.8/3
This would pretty much be a perfect leo for me, except I really wish the sleeve ombre was symmetrical. It reminds me a lot of the Illinois orange creamsicle leo that I love so much.
Carolyn: 7.100
Design 2.5/3, Fabric 0.8/1, Sparkle 0.7/1, School Spirit 0.6/1, Uniqueness 0.7/1, Overall Appearance 1.8/3
I feel like this leo has so many lovely individual parts to it, but they just don’t come together as one. The front sparkle design looks like mechanical pencils, there are two colors of ombre, the sleeves are wonderful, but it just doesn’t all come together nicely for me.
Katherine: 7.200
Design 2.1/3, Fabric 0.9/1, Sparkle 0.7/1, School Spirit 0.6/1, Uniqueness 0.7/1, Overall Appearance 2.2/3
I should really like this, but the different sleeves are really throwing me off. I love the orange creamsicle-esque color scheme with the ombre, but the clashing patterns just make it look messy. I’m also not a fan of the high neck.
LSU: 7.725
Elizabeth: 7.300
Design 2.0/3, Fabric 0.8/1, Sparkle 0.7/1, School Spirit 0.7/1, Uniqueness 0.7/1, Overall Appearance 2.4/3
I have mixed feelings about this leo. I think it’s one of those designs that doesn’t look good on everyone. I love the white to purple ombre, and the white mesh, but the thick solid fabric at the collar and neckline can get clunky in some scenarios.
Mary Emma: 8.000
Design 2.5/3, Fabric 0.8/1, Sparkle 0.7/1, School Spirit 0.7/1, Uniqueness 0.8/1, Overall Appearance 2.5/3
I’m torn on how I feel about this one because I like the top half and bottom half separately, but I just don’t think they work right together. If the fabric on the chest wasn’t so thick, I think I would like it more.
Carolyn: 7.600
Design 2.0/3, Fabric 0.8/1, Sparkle 0.9/1, School Spirit 0.6/1, Uniqueness 0.8/1, Overall Appearance 2.5/3
In pictures, this leo looks great, but in motion you can see the color blocks of where they tried to make it ombre. I would also make the V a little less chunky and more sparkly if I was the designer, but that might just be me. On the flipside, however, I will give some love to LSU since they don’t usually wear leos like this, so props for creativity.
Katherine: 8.000
Design 2.5/3, Fabric 1/1, Sparkle 0.6/1, School Spirit 0.6/1, Uniqueness 0.7/1, Overall Appearance 2.6/3
My favorite LSU leos all utilize this light purple, so this one is definitely on the list now. It’s just so pretty. I really like the V design in the front and the keyhole back as well. My one complaint is I wish the sparkles on the upper half of the leo were a little more clustered together.
Ball State: 5.650
Note: This leo isn’t new, but we haven’t judged it yet!
Elizabeth: 6.200
Design 1.8/3, Fabric 0.6/1, Sparkle 0.6/1, School Spirit 0.6/1, Uniqueness 0.6/1, Overall Appearance 2.0/3
This is one of Ball State’s better leos. It should definitely wear it more often. I love a white sleeve, and the back is unique, so of course I’m into that. I wish the front design was hidden letters or something, but I can’t exactly complain about it not being that.
Mary Emma: 7.000
Design 2.0/3, Fabric 0.7/1, Sparkle 0.5/1, School Spirit 0.7/1, Uniqueness 0.8/1, Overall Appearance 2.3/3
I rather like this leo. It’s simple but not boring. I love the shade of red used, and the back is really pretty.
Carolyn: 4.400
Design 1.0/3, Fabric 0.5/1, Sparkle 0.3/1, School Spirit 0.5/1, Uniqueness 0.6/1, Overall Appearance 1.5/3
Hmm. Not quite. I am puzzled at the relevance of the design on the front. What is it supposed to be? Is it supposed to say something? I don’t understand. This leo just doesn’t give me anything special or a wow factor of some sort.
Katherine: 5.000
Design 1.5/3, Fabric 0.3/1, Sparkle 0.4/1, School Spirit 0.7/1, Uniqueness 0.6/1, Overall Appearance 1.5/3
Eh. We all know how I feel about vintage leos at this point, and while it’s not super vintage, it doesn’t feel like a modern design that’s up with the times. It’s not ugly or glaringly bad, though if Florida had this exact design in orange and blue, I’d have begged Jenny Rowland to use that instead of the monstrosity above.
Florida: 3.925
Elizabeth: 2.500
Design 0.1/3, Fabric 0.5/1, Sparkle 0.3/1, School Spirit 0.5/1, Uniqueness 1.0/1, Overall Appearance 0.1/3
I’m honestly speechless. Florida continues to one-up itself with outrageous leotards. I hope it goes without saying I hate this. It looks like they raided Jeremy Miranda’s closet for a blinged-out T-shirt to wear because they forgot their competition leos at home. While this might have worked as the Florida choreographer’s meet-day outfit, it’s atrocious as a leotard. Literally just add sleeves, and it’s not that bad? I still wouldn’t love it, but at least my eyes wouldn’t be bleeding. Was the budget for 2021 cut so much you couldn’t afford 10 more inches of sleeve?
Mary Emma: 5.500
Design 1.0/3, Fabric 0.7/1, Sparkle 0.8/1, School Spirit 0.5/1, Uniqueness 1.0/1, Overall Appearance 1.5/3
My main question is why? Did the sleeve budget go toward buying the millionth new pink leo? I guess Florida heard us complaining that all its leos looked the same and decided that this was the solution. That being said, I like the design of the front, and I actually think I would like this leo quite a lot if it had sleeves.
Carolyn: 3.400
Design 0.4/3, Fabric 0.8/1, Sparkle 0.7/1, School Spirit 0.4/1, Uniqueness 1.0/1, Overall Appearance 0.1/3
Oh dear God. The first time I saw this leo, I physically gasped for at least 10 seconds. I am NOT a fan of the lack of sleeves. However, when I saw this, I came up with the great idea that the bodice looks like a mix of Florida’s 2015 SEC championship leo and Kentucky’s 2020 home opener leo against Missouri, so at least they pulled inspiration from other leos. But overall, I am really not loving this. Might be one of my least favorite leos ever?
Katherine: 4.300
Design 0.6/3, Fabric 0.6/1, Sparkle 0.7/1, School Spirit 0.4/1, Uniqueness 1/1, Overall Appearance 1/3
Ellie Lazzari’s face in that screencap says it all; this looks so unfortunate. What makes matters worse is there were Florida stans justifying this with comments like, “Well you said you wanted something different!” Nope, get out of here. The number one team in the country doesn’t deserve this clownery.
READ THIS NEXT: Leotard Rankings: Week 8
Article by Elizabeth Grimsley, Katherine Weaver, Mary Emma Burton and Carolyn Lien
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