What Your Gymnastics Leotard Says About Your Routine

Posted on - 8th November 2022

Your gymnastic leotard has a big effect on how people view you and your routine. Not only does it betray a possible colour and style preference, but it also helps to create a narrative about your performance to your competitors, your judges, and the audience. Your leotard can also help to present a ‘mood’ to the audience through its colour, elevating your performance and routine to new heights. 

In this article from Olympique, we’ll be going through the ways that your leotard can create a mood. In particular, we’ll be examining the ways that your leotard’s colour can set a mood for your performance with which you can subvert or manage expectations. 

Colour Theory 

Both psychologists and laypeople have known for a long time that colours affect the psyche. These effects can affect our moods and our impressions of a person or event in some truly deep ways. But how does each colour influence your mood? In this next section, we’ll be discussing the ways that each major colour, as well as white and black, influences our moods and opinions. 

Please Note: This advice is based on Western European colour connotations. Other cultures may have different associations. For example, in the west, white is a colour associated with purity and cleanliness; it’s a colour associated with celebration. In China, meanwhile, white is often associated with funerals. 

As such, if you’re competing in a different region, it’s a good idea to consider local cultural connotations.  

White 

White has several connotations. The first of these is purity – it’s why we associate white with the angelic, fresh snow, and baptism dresses. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake makes use of these connotations for its presentation, for example. The second of these connotations is sterility – supreme cleanliness. 

These connotations suggest that white leotards are great options if you want your routine to have connotations of youth and delicateness. And if you’ve taken influence from ballet, a white leotard design would be particularly ideal – as it is a common colour in the ballet world. 

Red

Red has the dualistic meaning of both passionate love and anger. It’s the colour of danger and excitement, of fast race cars and fire. As a result, this colour works well for gymnasts who want to make a bold statement on the mat and who want to put as much attention on themselves as possible. It’s a tough colour for tough gymnasts, one that we recommend for the ultra-confident.

Purple 

Long associated with royalty and wealth, purple is a colour that brings to mind both decadence and confidence. It’s the colour of the wealthy queen and the wild rockstar. Because of these connotations, purple works well for routines which require a lot of confidence and concentration to pull off. 

Black

Stark and elegant, black is a colour often associated with depression and even death. At the same time, black also has overtones of formality associated with it. As a result, black is generally considered a ‘serious’ colour in the west. 

This association with formal subjects makes black a great colour to look at if you’re looking for a leotard to suit an engrossing and daring routine, one that subverts expectations or one where you want to suggest an element of danger. The seriousness also makes black a great colour if you’re considering a long sleeve leotard. 

Yellow

Like red, yellow is a bright colour associated with warmth, and like purple it’s a colour associated with confidence. It’s the colour of the sun and summer, and it suits the brave gymnast whose routine is full of energy and possibly even a little chaotic. 

Green

Green, of course, is the colour of nature. It’s a colour that represents things that grow – things that are alive, like vines, leaves and trees. Like yellow, green is a colour of naturally chaotic things. But there’s an elegance and natural gentleness in yellow, too. As a result, green suits routines with lots of flowing movements which don’t require a lot of stopping and starting.  

Blue

Blue is unique when it comes to our emotional responses and connotations. In terms of connotations, blue brings to mind calmness, stillness, and even depression. But these aren’t the emotions you want to raise from your routine. Instead, you want to use blue to subvert expectations. 

For example, whilst wearing a blue leotard, you could start your gymnastics routine in a guarded manner, slowly gaining speed and edging towards complicated moves. This will subvert emotional expectations associated with blue, whilst also helping to build a rhythm into your routine. 

Pink

In the west, we associated pink with calmness, nurturing and kindness. It’s a colour that makes us feel safe. It’s also often associated with ‘girly’ things. As a result, pink leotards tend to work well with graceful, flowing routines that don’t start and stop – routines which blur the line between sport and art form. 

Gymnastics Wear From Olympique

Based in Manchester, Olympique manufactures and sells a wide variety of gymnastics apparel – from traditional gymnastics leotards to ice skating dresses. 

For more information about our range of gymnastics apparel, please contact Olympique today. Alternatively, feel free to browse our range.