Eurovision isn’t always just about the best song, or best performance but the entire package needs to be appealing to the viewers, and this can include the outfits of the artists on stage. It’s a detail that some may think is unimportant, but in reality it can make or break a performance!
Just like there are awards for the best composer or for the press centre favourite, there’s also an award for the worst dressed Eurovision act. The Barbara Dex Award is an annual fan award that’s named after Barbara Dex, who represented Belgium back in 1993. The award was first given out by House of Eurovision in 1997, and they continued until 2016. From 2017 onwards the award was given out by Songfestival.be.
The Belgian run website holds a voting process, where fans are able to vote for who they think had the worst costume of that year. Now, the voting is open for the 2018 season! Our top picks would have to include Belgium’s own, Sennek, who had fans questioning her fashion choices with the interesting shaped black dress with trousers underneath, or Ari Ólafsson from Iceland, who had an oddly designed suit jacket. Perhaps it will be Eye Cue with their questionable pre-costume reveal outfit, or Montenegro’s Vanja who wore a suit described by the Italian commentator as pyjamas! We also can’t rule out the prosthetic roses embedded in the back Alekseev’s shirt!
Voting is now closed! See the results here!
Let’s also take a look back at some of the previous winners, with some of our favourites being Verka Serduchka, who has probably one of the most iconic performances and costumes of recent Eurovision history! Also up there among our favourites would have to be the candy land inspired Moje 3 from Serbia in 2013 who ended up failing to reach the final – were the costumes to blame?
Last year’s winner is also a deserving winner of the title… it’s of course Slavko! Read more about last year’s Barbara Dex vote here.
Who do you think will win the Barbara Dex Award of 2018? If you want more crazy costumes, check out our Top 5 Crazy Costumes series below: