Seasoned and casual college gymnastics fans alike are accustomed to weekly Leotard Rankings, which have been a recurring segment on College Gym News for years. The metrics that go into scoring are straightforward: design, fabric, sparkle, school spirit, uniqueness, and overall appearance. Rather than editors today, seniors from three MAC teams share their favorite leos—and everything that goes into how they rank what’s in their team’s closet.
New leotards take the top spot for many seniors, as they are often the leotards that they have input on as a class. Whether planned or a surprise, similar criteria come to mind when breaking down leotard opinions across the conference.
Fit, form, and function
The first question that comes up when the whole team needs to match is deceptively simple: Does it fit and flatter everyone? Placement of any design elements need to take into account a variety of torso shapes while still looking uniform. Take the current trend of faux belts on leotards for example; Eastern Michigan tweaks it to flatter all of their athletes by turning it into a slight chevron. Since 2019, four of its seven new designs have this feature.
Next, is the final design still visible in motion? Big blocked areas of color are key to legibility and can either be sharpened or dulled by strategically colored rhinestones. Bowling Green’s recent leotards demonstrate both concepts brilliantly, with white stoning making a clear separation between matte and mesh fabrics on its most recent leotard, while a combination of white and orange stoning contributes to the gradient on its ombre design.
Is the leotard built with gymnasts in mind? With open back (and backless) leotards in fashion, athletes have had to get creative with concealing bra straps. If yes, the fabric needs to be able to stay in place and be sweat-resistant to hold its color.
