He’s the outlandish Montenegrin singer who wore a four-foot hair extension during his outré and totally original performance at Eurovision 2017.
And on Sunday — nearly two weeks after his semi-final — Slavko Kalezic continued to make waves as he won the infamous Barbara Dex Award, which honours Eurovision’s worst-dressed contestant.
The long-running prize pays homage to Belgium’s 1993 contestant, who famously made the mistake of sewing her own costume and ended up looking like a lampshade. This year, and for the first time, it was handed out by Songfestival.be, who took over from the Dutch founders Rob and Edwin at the House of Eurovision following the 2016 edition.
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If you’re going to do crazy you have to commit. And Montenegro’s Slavko Kalezic did just that during Eurovision 2017, turning his man-braid into the centre of his over-the-top and ultimately uplifting performance.
The X Factor Adria star turned up and turned out, wearing a translucent, skintight black top that showed off his abs of steel. During the song’s introduction he wore his blue-ish Venus skirt from the music video, before stripping it off to reveal black spray-on leggings with turquoise highlights. They clung to each of his gym-honed contours, showing just how hard he works for that body. He added extra intrigue with a series of gold accent necklaces that dangled from his waist over his genitalia. Thoughtful and considered, the look is a masterpiece to some and a train wreck to others. Such is the life of an artist.
The standout accessory, of course, was his hair braid, which he whipped around as he slut-dropped and giddied across the stage. At one point he even swept the floor with it, proving just how versatile fake hair is.
Speaking to wiwibloggs after his first rehearsal, the actor and singer said that the hairpiece conveyed much more than a penchant for weave.
“That is part of my Eurovision character that shows superpower, that shows energy,” he said. “I got this inspiration from Japanese culture, but also Montenegrin.”
During the first semi-final, televoters ranked him 11th out of 18 acts, almost putting him through to the final. Unfortunately the jury wasn’t so keen, putting him down in 16th position.
Songfestival.be has not revealed the full voting results.
However, they did share the top three fashion disasters, as voted by their readers.
Slavko held off stiff competition from runner-up Triana Park from Latvia and bronze medalist Martina Barta from Czech Republic.
Triana Park, fronted by the gorgeous Agnese, seemed to meld skater chic with clown couture, resulting in something wildly colourful and out-there.
Agnese wore thigh-high glitter boots, a black bodice with skeletal detailing, and two acid-blonde pony tails. It was very harajuku girl on an acid trip.
For her part, Martina Barta wore a loose-fitting gold lamé jumpsuit, which at once reminded us of a pest exterminator from the year 2046, and a finely cooked rotisserie chicken.
Eurovision’s Worst Dressed: The wiwibloggs poll
The Top 3 seem like deserving winners, at least if our independent poll is anything to go by.
Separate to the official Barbara Dex Award, we ran a poll to see who our readers thought was was the biggest fashion disaster of the year.
We received more than 11,500 votes and our Top 3 match the Barbara Dex Top 3 perfectly, suggesting Europe is in thorough agreement.
[polldaddy poll=”9747217″]Do you think that Slavko deserved to win the award? Would you have placed Latvia and Czech Republic in the Top 3? Let us know in the comments box below.
Get the Montenegro hairbraid t-shirt
The Barbara Dex award is yet another example of a disgusting “put down” award that should be stopped.
It’s a pity that Wiwibloggs doesn’t see that. Anything for a laugh at other people’s expense, eh?
This means both my winner of Eurovision 2017 and my winner of the Barbara Dex Award 2017 won in the end. #Yay
Just a small correction, Triana’s song is not Trance, it’s Big Room or Trouse, if you wanna call it, that kind of music barely representes Trance music at all.
And please, stop comparing Agnesa to Katy Perry, she has nothing to do with her at all.
Thank god this attrocity won worst dressing this year, and don’t come up with the homophobia excuse, any normal person, gay, bi or straight, would look at him and think: ‘what the hell was that’?, so, no surprises here.
Triana didn’t deserve to be that loathed, i admit Agnesa’s outfit was really daring but it was part of her alternative personality, just like Jamie Lee last year, so i think people were way too harsh on her, to be honest but thankfully, an actual disaster won instead.
Iceland and Bulgaria are deserved to win the Barbara Dex Trophy for their Warrior, Fighter and says “Eurovision”
I thought Iceland was by far the worst, followed by Albania and Azerbaijan. Not much to say about the Barbara Dex award lol
I forgot about Svala from Iceland (Forgettable in every sense really)!
Seriously. At her age, she needs to put them away.
I really think this is pure homophobia or difficulty understanding men can and should also be proud of their bodies and present them the way they want it and not the traditional suit and tie way.
Does anyone know what Barbara Dex herself thinks about this award? I’d be curious to know.
SAME! I feel kinda bad for her. It’s like we’re making fun of her.
IT should have been to Tijana’s or Lindita’s outfit… :/
Yes, it’s a scandal, 😉
Albania and Serbia were robbed!!! Their ridiculous, really unflattering outfits basically killed their whole performance, all one could think was “OMG, that ‘dress’!”
Slavko on the other hand was styled really appropriate … considering his song. Many others were more deserving of the award.
I don’t know why this ”worst dress” award seems to me even more offensive than ”top model” and its ugly comments. Maybe because ”top model” is a positive vote, and Jacques Houdek knows that he doesn’t have Imri’s body, but to tell somebody : ”you have ugly clothes”, is just mean. And I don’t know what was wrong with Barbara Dex dress, looking at 90’s fashion…hmm…BD dress was a masterpiece. Or is she punished only because she sew it herself. I wonder if this award would’ve existed if she remained silent about sewing it herself. It was not a great… Read more »
I actually don’t think it’s too offensive. After all, the artists can choose what they wear. Some outfit decisions are simply a bit stupid (outfits that distract from the song … in a bad way) and therefore deserve to be ridiculed a bit. It’s not really unfair, as it mostly hits singers who tried to stand out with the help of their outfit, in the first place. The “top model” thing has much more offensive potential, IMO, as it judges the singers’ physical appearance, that they didn’t “choose” and only have very limited influence on (especially when they — laudably… Read more »
Should be a uniform *Salvador homeless look* for everybody so nobody will ever dare to be different.
Am I the only one who feels a bit sorry for Slavko? He was so warm and generous and engaging, both in interviews on this site and on live stream appearances elsewhere. First, he is eliminated and now this. He can’t be enjoying the way the contest has worked out for him.
I hate this award.
Maybe actually it should go to the anoouncers who give the points or the EBU head person in his grey suit.
‘Celebrate diversity’… but if anyone dares to wear anything that diverges from the mainstream, lets humiliate them!
Triana park looked like a teletubby
The only one who deserve it was Salvador, but nobody had the courage to say that, because supposedly he has a machine under his shirt. Sure….but nobody knows and he wins again.
Slavko was fine, he had a transparent shirt like Imri. Why was that so much worse than Imri?
I was one of the 328 who voted for him!
Women should give up wearing swimming suits on stage : Iveta2016 (she lost some points because of that, I’m sure), Elina Born – last in Eesti Laul, Lindita…”look at me, I’ve lost a lot of weight”.
Elina Born came last because Stig is a bad songwriter. They tried to distract from the song by showing her ass
She looked great. I didn’t even notice she was singing.
He thought that his outfit is good and instead was an instant laughing stock. Apart for some minority that got beyond ugliness to make it an acquired taste.
i think blanche should’ve won the award instead. slavko’s whole look actually matches his performance.
You know NOTHING about fashion….NOTHING!!!!!
Agreed on shapeless beige bag ??? Still, it’s more publicity for the artist! Besides, these days all my favorite outfits either win the award or come very close. I loved the outfits of Triana Park, Martina Barta, and Slavko this year! That gold suit in particular just screamed “jazz.”
IMO yes & no. Yes his dress was hideously..good but no the worst was Lindita from Albania. The whole Hail Mary gown ruined her chances of qualifying. Didn’t really go with the concept of the song about world unity when she looked like she was re-enacting the Nativity story LOL anyways Slavko had the most ‘buzz’ with his novelty performance so that’s probably why he collected more votes.
I thought the Czech Rep should win this one. Montenegro and Latvia had costumes that matched their song/performance so they were not the “worst dressed”. Czech Rep on the other hand…
Why did you call Barbara Dex a shapeless beige bag. She is special in her own way
She’s is special with a shapeless beige bag. A shapeless beige bag is still a shapeless baize bag no matter what you call it.
Barbara Dex is an attractive and intelligent girl
Triana should go without clothes
Why the hell Svala and Tijana not in the top five I think they are worst dressed make me gross . Iceland and Serbia Should replace Czech and switzerland
Who exactly awards the this title and do they actually take into account the song at all. So montenagros outfit was perfect for the song was it not? What would you have home wear? A suit and tie maybe? And latvia embraced their individuality in their style too.
Celebrate diversity??? Producers fans and trophy award winners are just about as stuck in the mundane as everyone else.
GET OUT AND VOTE FOR SOME AWESOMENESS – God knows someone needs to in the world!
It might fit the song but it was still horrible outfits!
Am I the only one who saw Chucky’s bride from Albania? Why does a fishnet shirt win the Barbara Dex instead?
Agnese was serving Katy Perry circa 2011 realness, her costume was amazing
Albania deserved this award. She looked like the Corpse Bride.
Actually “Oversized suit & jacket” is new trends in Manswear Fall-Winter/2017-2018 LOUIS VUITTON .BALENCIAGA.Dries Van Noten.
BURBERRY.GUCCI.PRADA .VALENTINO…..at Paris. Milan. London fashion week
https://youtu.be/speYFnMC8Mg
Slavko’s costume was indeed horrible, but in a way, it’s perfectly matched with his horrible song. The song is campy – the costume is campy too. I agree, the award should have gone to someone with an unintentionally mismatched costume – like Iceland, Czech Republic or Albania.,
To be fair, I thought Iceland achieved the vibe they were going for. But I agree on the Czech Republic and Albania.
2017 N.K. ESC AWARD: experimental, avant garde and original outfit – SECOND EDITION
Kristian Kostov …………… 3, 3, 3
Triana Park …………..… 3 , 2
Dihaj …………………………. 2
Tamara Gachechiladze …… 2
Martina Barta ……………..… 1
Slavko Kalezic ………………. 1
Jacques Houdek………………1
voters: DSK, James Triggs, Eli, Not the Cat
The N.K. Award is an annual award for the most experimental, avant garde and original outfit in the Eurovision Song Contest. It is named after Nina Kraljic, who represented Croatia in the 2016 contest.
Slavko should have worn nothing… And sung “I have my suit on, no need to worry” 😉
Well, I think the Barbara Dex Award would make more sense if it were awarded to an outfit that looks unintentionally awful (just like Barbara Dex’s dress in 1993).
We all knew that Slavko would play the camp card in Kyiv – and he had every right to do so because that’s what his entry was all about, no matter if you like it or not. So in my opinion it’s a wrong choice just as Verka’s outift was a wrong choice for the Barbara Dex Award in 2007.
Can’t you have one with best dressed instead? It would be more positive.
Barbara Dex is tradition. The artists don’t care either.
Mamarracha
Miruna yellow dress deserved for me , awful choice of dress , which cost her the final
I would have given it to Martina Barta. That gold jumpsuit was awful
I’m czech and she said that her costume will be “wonderfuuul” and that she likes the style of Prince, but it was a mistake. The costume is totally different than the song…
This prize has becoming meaningless and a bitter joke long ago. The voters are totally getting it wrong year after year after year. I mean, not just a little wrong, but REALLY wrong. Slavko’s outfit was risqué, playful and camp, all of it being qualities that should be applauded, qualities the contests needs more of, not less. Martina was the only one of the top three worthy of a BDA, which nevertheless should’ve gone to Timebelle and her tasteless, eye-watering Bibo dress.
I so agree with you !!! We used to have the numbers of voters, the TOP 10 and a real press release !!! Now, we have three sentences in any post !!! Such a shame !!!
For me it’s Fusedmarc all the way…
So according to Wiwibloggs Norma John were the best dressed…at least they got some positive recognition!
Honestly, Slavko should’ve just donned a pair of speedos (or at least gone shirtless) and the outfit would’ve been more respectable. However, his outfit wasn’t as deserving of the Barbara Dex Award as Martina. The Barbara Dex Award should penalise bad execution, not a wacky concept Slavko’s outfit was a hot mess but that was the point, whereas Martina came off as trashy while she tried to be classy.
Fair enough.
I’m glad that wasn’t Martina, I liked her outfit.