Collette Mruk

“I’ve been dancing since I was born, basically.” This is not surprising to hear from So You Think You Can Dance alum and Dancing with the Stars pro Lacey Schwimmer. Lacey grew up in a dance family. They own studios, dance professionally, and tour the world performing and choreographing for the stage, TV, and film.

Whether you’ve danced with Lacey yourself at a convention or obsessed over her moves on TV, you know she’s all dance all the time, and she loves to teach. In fact, Lacey started her own ballroom-focused convention. “[It’s] one hundred percent ballroom dancing from real ballroom professionals.” She calls it The Ballroom Project.

As we all know, dance isn’t just what you do. It’s who you are, who you’re with. It’s your schedule. It’s what you wear. That led Lacey to one of her most recent projects. “When I started The Ballroom Project, I had a vision of having a ballroom dancewear line available,” Lacey told us. She didn’t want just any dancewear line. She wanted one like nothing she’d seen before. “One I’d actually wear,” she said, and one that was cost-efficient.

Collette Mruk

This dream line didn’t exist, so Lacey set out to create it herself. Designing costumes for her everything from her own projects to Dancing with the Stars (where she worked with award-winning design teams each week), Lacey knows how to bring a danceable look to life. She teamed up with California-based dancewear brand Chelsea B Dancewear. “I knew about Chelsea B Dancewear from living in California and loved that Chelsea made everything herself and started her company herself,” Lacey shared about finding her perfect home for her dancewear line. “I had so much respect for her.”

From there it only took one Instagram DM to get things going. “Next thing Chelsea was in my house and we were developing our first designs!” Even before that first collaboration, though, Lacey shared that she knew from their first phone call about the project that they were a good match. “She and I clicked on many levels, and I was so excited after meeting her. I just knew this was going to happen!”

The Chelsea X Lacey line has a ballroom flare, of course, but it’s also balanced. Featuring neons and bright colors as often as it does neutral looks. It’s dancewear for the studio as much as it is for the performing dancer or the convention celebrity—or you know icon dancer Lacey Schwimmer. There are samba tops and shorts and lots of fringe (Lacey’s personal favorite). “Of course, my fringe pants are my fave. I literally wear them every weekend [to] convention. The cut, the feel, everything is just perfect thanks to Chelsea.”

Chelsea X Lacey launched at the end of 2021 with the simple stuff, “strong items in different colors.” Lacey shared that they are getting ready for a restock of items that sold out and also planning to add new colors and designs very soon. She also teased some “really cool cross-over pieces you can wear in ballet or ballroom, hip hop or jazz, from studio to a fun night out with friends.” You know, fringe all day every day!

Check out the Chelsea X Lacey Collection on ChelseaBDance.com.

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Veronica Good has been with Showstopper Magazine since 2016. When she isn't keeping you updated on the latest trends, she is at home with her many pets or probably playing The Sims 4. Veronica has a BA in English and an MA in writing from Coastal Carolina University. She is also a writer of fiction and poetry, and her work can be found in Archarios, Tempo, and Scapegoat.