Aerial Silk & Hoop Outfits For Performers

With a growing community of Aerial Silks and Aerial Hoop Lyra artists and performers coming to us for their performance wear catsuits and bodysuits we thought we'd write this blog to answer some of our most commonly asked questions.

Our catsuits and bodysuits are superb for dancing around on hoops and ribbons for aerial performances and practicing alike, especially now we have given you the option to tailor your aerial outfits and stage wear in our Design Lab... but more on that later.

We're going to look at...

• The best fabrics to wear for your aerial performance
• The difference between Aerial Hoop and Aerial Silks when it comes to wear and tear on my outfit
• If you should swap the reflective panels for foil hip panels
• What you can alter in our Design Lab
• Some gorge videos of our lovely aerial performers and their Burnt Soul outfits in action!

Our holographic range is extremely popular with performers - @leileidek wears the Luna Peekaboo Catsuit. Photography by @Levityacadamy

Our printed fabrics are excellent If you're wearing your catsuit or bodysuit for daily aerial practice or for performances.

The prints are hard wearing, non pilling, silky smooth for a great glide and will keep their vibrant colours over time to always look fresh and new.

All the dyes used are non toxic and most of them are printed onto our sustainable stretch fabric bases made from recycled plastic bottles.

Joan Catsuit @studiodunfermline

• high performance
• non-piling
• great shape retaining
• muscle compressing
• squat proof
• UV reactive - look for the ⚡ symbol
• Recycled - look for the ♻️ symbol

It's important to know that not all of our stretch fabrics act exactly the same.

In the video above we have one piece of Life Lycra (1) and one piece of Techno (5). Both fabrics are made from recycled yarn but the top one is very firm and much smooter whilst the bottom one offers more stretch and comfort.

We have created a stretchometer to indicate how much stretch a fabric has - 1 being firm and 5 being streeeeetchy! Keep your eyes peeled for the numbers in brackets and our stretchometer icons to give you more info.

Our Holographic fabric dazzles under stage lights and is a firm favourite for our aerial artists for special shows or big photo shoots.

We do advise against using your holographic aerial outfits for your daily practices though as the friction, from Aerial Silks especially, will inevitably wear at the foil and reflective panels.

Check out our current selection of fabrics on our fabric library for detailed fabric information and you can now order fabric swatches before you invest in your dream stage outfit too.

If you're an Aerial Hoop performer there tends to be less issues. The problem areas would be the backs of the knees if you have a foil catsuit so we suggest to go for a more hardwearing foil.

With Aerial Silks, any point of your body that comes into a lot of friction, and so more care needs to be taken.

Our signature Reflective hip panels are perfect for shining bright wherever you go.

The reflective fabric is made from a very thin coating of tiny glass beads set in a binding glue which reflects the light much like cats eyes in a road.

We have tried several types over the years as the one we use is extremely expensive, but it's also the highest performing reflective stretch we can find which is always our focus.

Despite this, with continued rubbing and friction from performance equipment like Silks, this coating can wear.

Some aerial performers often opt to swap their reflective panel with a more hard wearing foil. You can do this via the Customise page. Simply select the design you want to customise and select from the 'Swap reflective panel' drop down.

Below are some examples of recent Customs our lovely customers have dreamt up!

With the demand for our customised options increasing, we're constantly adding design features and fabrics to the long list of things you can already change.

Every panel can be changed to something different and you can also add things like skirt frills and sleeves to certain designs.

You can also alter the body length, leg length and production times.

Here are some pages and blog posts that will help with all your customisation questions...

• Design Lab
• Fabric Library
• Sizing Guide
• Do I have a long/short body?
• Stretchometer explained

Here are a few examples of our catsuits in action for an Aerial Hoop Lyra performance and Aerial Silk performance. If you have a video you would like featured then email us at joinus@burntsoul.com.

AUTUMN MELODY THOMAS - The Aerial Piano Vocalist - Custom Gold Crackle and Gold Snake Backless Catsuit with sleeves

@TheAmazingFlyingTaco on her Aerial Silks in her custom Phoenix Catsuit