I grew up with Balanchine's stipped-down leotard ballets, so I may be prejudiced. But sometimes it seems like the purpose of costume design is to distract from the movement and create shapes and "looks" that no dancer can compete with.

My nomination for Biggest Costume Disaster isn't an original one, but it's very grand:
Kurt Seligman's original designs for the 1946 premiere of Balanchine's The Four Temperaments.

In vintage photos we see Todd Bolender's Phlegmatic looking rather like Marcel Marceau in motley dress, clown makeup, and what looks like a felt top hat that has been through an old-fashioned clothes wringer. There's a photo of Melancholic, I believe, with what I remember as a black ball perched off angle on his head. There's a photo of Maria Tallchief in what I think is the Sanguinic section, with arm and torso wrapped in what look like thin, white bandages. She wears a tulle air-bag on her left arm.

This is based on photos of individuals. I can't imagine a group of these people on stage at the same time.

What are your own favorite costume disasters? You must have seen -- or heard of -- at least a few over the years!