To sparkle or not to sparkle?

I wholeheartedly agree on the horrendous X Factor styling! What was with Cheryl Cole's dress? I could see where her stylist was maybe going - structural look with a bit of embellishment - but seriously it just looked like a black dress with two cheap fans stuck on her boobs. Not a winner.
I feel sorry for the contestants, their stylist obviously has less money to play with compared to Cheryl and Dani's two blind mice. Just looking at some of the tat the girls are supposed to carry off, makes me shed a little tear. The boys have a slightly easier time of it as there's only so many ways to mess up a shirt and trousers or tshirt and jeans.
However, I will not allow you to impune Strictly Come Dancing! On that show is a stylist who knows exactly what the brief is and how to achieve it. Long dress or short dress, the main thing is to dip yourself in glue and roll around in sequins and glitter. The whole point of the show is to achieve that drag queen look and glide ever so gracefully across the floor.
Whereas X Factor doesn't know what it's trying to do! Are the contestants mean to be classic, hip, street, grand?! It changes from week to week and nothing looks worse than cramming a person into a certain "look" whilst ignoring their own personal style. Case in point: Rachel. I loved her Rihanna-esque hair cut and the whole vibe she had going on. It was somewhat original and more importantly she didn't look like she was trying too hard. After changing her hair, she just looked bland and the clothes lived down to that. The first week's outfit, the blue and white striped sequin jumper with giant shoulders, was admittedly foul but at least she was different to the other girls and I applaud the stylist for that. Of course, it all went downhill after that and her hair was made more generic.
All in all, X Factor is a veritable sinkhole of bad styling choices and cut price glamour. Whereas Strictly is a swirling cloud of glitter and fun!
Rx