FashionHap: Wrestlemania 34 - In Full Gear, Pt. II: Battle Royal & Best Of List

Wrestlemania 34 featured the first - and hopefully inaugural – Battle Royal for the Lady Superstars and there was a LOT of ring gear flying around the squared circle…and out of it! Consequently, we decided to dedicate an entire post to  :) breaking it down, analyzing it and raving over it. Are you stoked yet?  We are! First, a clarification: although Nia is part of our collage here, she was not part of the Battle Royal; she won the Raw Women’s Championship later in the evening, defeating Alexa Bliss. So why is she here? Basically, we had this awesome snap of her gear to show off, so show it off we did! :)

Kim: The Women's WrestleMania Battle Royal took place this year, and I'm assuming will become a traditional match just like the men's. There is a tooooon of fashion to review here, so we're going to break it down for you all. First up, we have to talk about the woman who outlasted them all, Naomi! We've seen her rock a number of different gear styles over the years, but I believe I can call this one my favourite. Everything from the cut to the colours works so well. I adore the halter straps/zipper detail, and the criss cross design with the neon pink, orange, and yellow colours make it fun and exciting without being too busy. It's a win in my books!
Brie:  Oooh, I hope you're right Kim Fabulous! I'd looove to see this become a yearly tradition! Not only would we have an assured women's match on the card, we'd be guaranteed a ton of ring gear to review every year! Can't top that :).
I do wish Naomi would add a little something extra to her gear to acknowledge that this is a particularly special event - possibly a more daring cut or a dash of dramatic embellishment, maybe a holographic accent fabric, just something a little fancy. This gear still gives the impression that it could have been designed for any regular tv event. Having said that, , I really love this gear. The shoulder-baring halter design works wonderfully on NayNay, the colors are amazing in their own right and even better in combination. I LOVE the lattice-work at the sides, on her armbands and on her knee pads. She gets serious Fierce points for working it in to so many places – it keeps the look very cohesive – but at the same time, not over-using it. It’s impactful, but not busy. The whole gear is simply fantastic! And then…there is that incroyable eyeshadow-it’s so beyond! And also the coup de grace to an absolutely killer look.
Considering how important leopard print is to Carmella’s style, it makes sense that she would reach for it at the most important event of the year.  She accented the animal patterned bodysuit with red and – unexpectedly – forest green. I’m on the fence about the green. I love how unusual it is and I totally adore the Gucci reference, but it feels a tad dull, even with the shimmering leopard spots. This seems like a cool concept that just fell a little flat, putting this piece in a similar category to Naomi’s gear in that it feels a touch short of Wrestlemania-worthy.  There are so many great potential elements on her palette (leather, sheer, mesh, neons, metallics, even the stars we saw her use last year); I would have loved to see just a slightly different iteration of this. I’m still loving the bodysuit silhouette, though! It has the trend-conscious urbanity that’s exactly right for ‘Mella and she looks amazing in it! The dollar sign is a flawless insignia. Equally perfect is the printed reminder that she is FABULOUS. But we knew that :).
We often see Sonya in dark colors, so this white-meets-rainbow gear was a surprise and a very appealing one at that! This fabric, with the color and the electrifying starburst-like pattern is insanely cool. It looks awesome on her (though, no, I’m still not sold on the skirt :)) and I love that she chose an event like Wrestlemania to debut such a different-for-her look. Her dark lips are also a win, helping to make all the color not feel too cutesy. This is an amazing effort! Props, Sonya!
Kim mentioned in her notes that the colors Liv chose felt very New Orleans. I got the same vibe from the Harlequin pattern on her gear. Altogether, the look was super-appropriate for the location :). In addition, the unusual colors (love the lilac!) and their combination is super fun! The classic crop-top+leggings silhouette isn’t ground-breaking, but it fits Liv’s athletic vibe. As with several other of the ladies, I wish she had kicked this up a notch in deference to the event. If this were an ordinary tv event, I'd be calling this out very positively. But it isn't. This is Wrestlemania and I'm looking for a little extra. The biggest event of the year needs something special.

Becky’s in-ring attire reminds me a lot of a Naomi look, just in metallics. I like the clean lines and bold striping; this is a solid effort. Again, I’d like something a little more killer for Wrestlemania and I think I got my hopes built up from that crave-worthy sleeveless duster she wore over it. That piece is aaaaaaaahmMAYzing! I love the burnout velvet fabric, the enchanted vibe of the scrollwork and the awesome gold fastenings that have a very Versace feel to them. It breaks me to think that her gear might have followed that lead – can you imagine the slayage?! Oh well, at least we got the topper to savor and rave over.  Maybe for SummerSlam… :)
Natalya has sailed past Queen with this gear…she’s graduated to Empress! The complexity and scroll-work have a luxury and vaguely exotic  vibe that make that title completely necessary. The color choices and many details – the black latex, the statement collar of crystals, the catsuit silhouette – all make this look very much like her 2017 SummerSlam gear, v. 2.0. I can’t fault that much; that gear was insanely fabulous and certainly one of my all-time favorites. This reprisal was appropriate considering that she was part of the Battle Royal rather than a main event singles match. I also like that she went full-on for the crystals in her jacket, rather than SummerSlam’s sportier affair. While both pieces were effective, I enjoyed the change. I think I might have liked one other small detail switch, such as a different shade of pink (blush, azalea) to make this one just slightly more distance from the SS17 piece. Still, this look is nothing short of magnificent.

I don’t know much about Taynara, but this gear gives me the distinct impression she has a pretty sold sense of style. The gorgeous teal color was the first thing to ctach my eye, followed b the distinctive and trendy open-shoulder silhouette. I also love the bow detail on her shorts – it’s feminine without being  to frilly -, as well as the sprinkling of crystals at her hips. This is a wonderful early effort and immediately lands Taynara on my Ones To Watch list.
Dakota stood out with her brightly patterned gear, which lent freshness and interest to this standard crop top+shorts combo. The black piping grounds the effervescent colors and ties in nicely with her wide black choker, which brings a nice touch of personal style to the attire.
It’s been quite awhile since we’ve seen a such significant metamorphosis in Mickie’s ring style and attire as this! She’s done a number of slight shifts of her gear, but generally, they’ve been based around her trademark Americana, girl-next-door, country-girl persona. This gear marks a dramatic departure from those looks, with a stylized, armor-like quality that feels equally ancient and modern. I love the bold, powerful lines, strong shape and warrior connotations, as well as the statement central detail (partially hidden in this snap). It’s an intriguing new direction and well-timed evolution for Mickie’s look and I hope she keeps working with the concept. In the current iteration, it derives impact from its unexpected arrival; for the future, I’d love to see one more detail added to give the golden pieces of the attire additional depth.
While I like Kairi’s gear very much and appreciate her fun and vibrant captain’s coat and details, this gear doesn’t seem appreciably different from her previous efforts, which is disappointing considering the event. I do love the silver color and the silhouette and I love the super cool holographic fabric even more! :)
This red and black gear is a stunning effort from Dana! The color combination is stellar and looks awesome on her, the bustier top+leggings combination is a fabulous silhouette and one she should stick with for awhile, as it works really well. I’ve noted that she’s borrowed the chevron styling from Charlotte, and while I’d eventually like to see her make that her own in some way, I can see why she went with it – it’s a fab look for her!  The lace-up details, grommets and studs make the bustier complex, but very cohesive and not busy. She intelligently counters all that detail with simpler leggings that maintain the color theme but use primarily just simple stud-work as embellishment. The attire has a dark, tough beauty to it that’s almost McQueen-esque. It’s impactful enough to be Wrestlemania-appropriate, especially with the new legging design. She has really upped her gear game over the past few months. Go girl – I love it!

Just like last year, I’m not sold on the effect of Bayley’s fringed entrance cape. I like the concept in theory, but this execution of still falls just a little short. Below that, however, things improve dramatically. I’m surprised at how simple this gear is, given her well-established preference for color, pattern, fringe and eclectic combinations thereof. The color palette is excellently chosen, though: I love the sky blue-cobalt-gold-navy combination! It’s unusual and looks incredible! I’m also in for the comic-book/folktale-esque mermaid and scrollwork – even though it’s a pattern, it’s simple enough to be readily identified and the gear retains very pulled-together look. The bright lace-work brings a little extra pop, as do her starred silver boots which amplify the attire a little more, something I find crucial in a Wrestlemania piece. This is a really strong showing and an interesting and effective look. I’m curious to see whether it was a one-time episode or the start of a new iteration of her look.
Lana’s metallic gold bodysuit is a glorious, eye-catching piece, packed with all her usual glamour. I love how it combines wide, muscular lines with a delicate central sprinkling of crystals. The contrast is compelling and quite splendid. She carried that theme down to her boots, as well, creating the picture of a well-thought-out, fully-formed concept that was powerful and beautiful in its rendering. The only bobble in this magnificent picture was the scale of the central insignia at the bust. It came off as taking over the gear and was distracting from the rest of the wonderful look. I’m 100% in for her gorgeous bun – it stood out in a sea of flowing hair and ponytails. Her instinct to add a red lip for an extra shot of color was spot on as well. Her fashion sense is truly formidable; when her wrestling catches up to it, the rest of the roster better watch out because she has all the tools to be queen on the division, and look the part.

Once again, I’m for the one pant leg, one short look. While I intellectually understand how punk it is and how avant garde the vibes it creates is, it still just looks like you got drunk with scissors in your closet one night. I wish it didn’t, but there it is. That said, I’m totally digging this look from Ruby. The classic color combo helps here, but it’s this ink-spill print that really got my attention – it looks awesomely cool and very bada$$. The strappy shoulder and touches of studs enhance that vibe, while the digital-looking square print and brushed characters add a wicked modern-meets-medieval interplay that brings depth to this hellacious-grunge attire. Finally, it feelslike it all belongs together and doesn’t have the patchwork quality that some of her other looks have suffered from.  It’s a superb iteration of her gear and my favorite of all I’ve seen. And I love that she chose Wrestlemania to bring it out.
I’m very back-and-forth on Sasha’s look. There’s part of me that wants to love the complex pattern mix that echoes the urban-playful graphic design quality of prints seen at Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci, but there’s also a part of me that feels this may be a little too cartoon-esque. All of this is somewhat hampered by the difficulty of getting a super-close-up shot of the look to fully appreciate the pattern. From a distance, the fabric has a lot of visual play, but the dark piping and borders curtail it, creating a mural-like quality, not unlike a graffiti version of her galaxy-printed gear from last year. At that angle, I really enjoy and love the look. The closer I view the attire, the more the cartoon-like qualities seems to stand out and the less appealing it becomes. I’ll have to wait for a really good snap to make a final determination.  I’m also underwhelmed by the web-like fabric of her jacket. If it was unembellished, it might have worked better. I do love the lavender shade of it, though! With the incredible looks she’s done for us in the past, I can’t help being a little disappointed overall, but I applaud her for continuing to change things up and now allowing her attire to become stale.

Phhheewww.... are you full up on gear yet? No? Oh good...cuz we've still got our Best Of list to talk about :)
And your Top 5 Wrestlemania Ring Gears go to:
5. Dana...for a perfectly balanced, powerful,  and dramatic look that's a climax of her ongoing upgrades
4. Naomi... for a vibrant, joyous attire, punctuated by fantastic make-up for a thrillingly cohesive presentation
3. Natalya…for taking glamorous pink crystals and dangerous latex to a whole new level. Bow to the Empress!
2.Charlotte…for using futuristic beauty to make the seemingly impossible possible
1.Alexa… for slaying dark, punk-tinged glamour in every aspect of her look for an absolutely flawless showing