Dust off your dancing shoes and get out your body glitter, Dancing with the Stars has officially returned to our screens.
Along with eye-catching wigs from Blu Hydrangea and snappy one-liners from co-hosts Jen Zamparelli and Doireann Garrihy, there are endless sparkles and sequins to be admired on this season's show, not least on judge Loraine Barry.
Each week, Barry delivers dazzling looks thanks to the bespoke dresses she creates alongside dance student-turned-designer, Francesca Lazzari.
Last year, Barry brought a sustainable spin to her ensembles, re-vamping and re-imagining dresses she had previously worn on the show.
"We worked together in 2022 and then we deconstructed a lot of those pieces and brought them onto the 2023 show," she told RTÉ Lifestyle last year. "My former designer was a very special person called Sandra who I worked with from 2017 until she very sadly passed away. I still have so many of her pieces."
In 2024, Barry says she feels she is "in credit" and has promised to deliver a brand new batch of dazzling looks.
"Everything is already planned out," she smiles. "It's been a lot of fun creating the dresses, it's something I've done ever since I've been a dancer; I've always been into the creativity of the dress - and of course my shoes, too."
Although she enjoys flipping through magazines and scrolling Instagram, Barry says she finds her real design inspirations while wading through reams of material.
"Francesca and I went to Philadelphia to an area where it's just full of materials. You go in, and you've got the obvious in front of you, but you've got to go around the back, you've got to go into the corners. That's where I found this one piece of material [pictured below] and I thought, 'I want that'. That's what I was looking for, so being unique is something I really want to do."
As well as her own looks, Barry says she enjoys taking in all the fabulous fits that the pro-dancers and celebs bring to the table, noting that Blu Hydrangea's neon pink wig was particularly eye-catching.
"I thought Rosanna Davison was absolutely stunning," she adds, "I mean, so beautiful - a very beautiful waltz she did. Then, of course, Eileen with that gorgeous green. I mean, all the girls - how can you go wrong, really? You've got the hair and the make-up and the fabulous outfits. You put that combination together and the guys look just as great as well."
Outfits aside, Barry is a pro at becoming camera ready each week. And while Dancing with the Stars has a team of expert make-up artists and hair stylists, Barry credits one particular Irish brand with her glowing skin.
"The skincare is the Skin Nerd and Skingredients," she confirms. "I'm very lucky to work with them and they look after me. That's how it works, they want me to take certain things - it's not just the actual serums and creams, it's the vitamins that they recommend to put inside me as well. And lots of water!"
Dancing with the Stars returns to RTÉ One this Sunday at 6:30pm.
