Here is my favorite 15 band uniforms this year:
15. Olathe Northwest - These uniforms are unique because the contrast between the stripe/raven wing that goes from the left shoulder to the middle of the uniform and the blue background. The feathers on the gauntlets and uniform are also a distinctive feature of this uniform. But what I like most about this uniform is the cavalier hat that ONW uses. Every other Olathe school uses a plume hat and to me, that is unoriginal unless the hat makes up for it (as it does in the case for O-South's corps-style hat design). That is why ONW has the most original uniform in the Olathe School District. It's too bad that Olathe West used a more traditional-style uniform for this year.
14. Liberal - I don't particularly like traditional-style uniforms, but Liberal is an exception. The band uses tuxedo shirts overlayed by black scrub pants, wears a jacket with a fancy button design that I find appealing, and tops it all off (literally) with a hat. The hat makes the uniform and puts it on this list. The Marching members of the band wear a traditional army-style hat with a short green turkey plume, which is something I am a big fan of. But the Drum major hat is much cooler, one of the best in the state. They use a curved plume (like Free State, Topeka West, and SMW Drum Majors use) and apply it to a normal band army hat. This feature puts Liberal in their spot on this list.
13. Emporia - The Headbands that the Marching Spartan Pride war this year for their show, "Ronin" were one of my favorite pieces of headwear that a band wore as a whole this year. The crooked "S" running down the side of the uniform gives Emporia a distinct uniform and one of the best showers of contrast in the State. The Gauntlets and their simplicity are another feature I like about the uniform, but like Liberal, what puts the uniforms on the list is the Drum Major uniforms. The All-red DM/Samurai uniform provides for a bright but foreboding tone on a show that is exactly that.
12. Washburn Rural - The cape and Beret are the two things that make Washburn Rural's Uniforms unique. Usually, Berets are worn only by the Sousaphone or Contrabass bugle players in the band. However, WR has made it customary for their school to all wear berets. This is a good thing for the attractiveness of the band when looking for visual impact from a low point of view. Berets are cheap, but stylish. Capes are also worn by every member of the band. The black capes WR band members wear make the band look bigger than they already are. When I saw them at KBA a year ago, the capes exaggerated the dark, warlike feel of the show, and this year, they exaggerated the renaissance feel of the show. These two features make WR 12th on my list.
11. Rose Hill - These are some of the best uniforms being worn by a small school's band. The uniform is divided into 3 regions: red on the top, a bold black stripe on the bottom, and a vertical, razor-like white stripe on the right. Like I said for Emporia, the contrast between these three colors makes for a great uniform that performs well and is visually pleasing. The tall shakos the Marching Rockets wear add height and visual pleasure to the band's effectiveness. This is why Rose Hill has placed above Emporia in this category.
10. Blue Valley - This school's uniform is one of the most legendary in Kansas for one of the best Marching band programs in the Midwest. The Black and gold that is worn on this uniform is cool enough on its own, but its effectiveness was taken up to 11 on this year's show: a space-themed show called "Pitch Black". The minimalist contrast between the band's uniforms and their large, pitch black props made for an appealing visual show. BV's drum major uniforms are also unique in the fact that they are themselves, all black, no gold. This was also very effective for this year's show. I really hope BV returns to BOA STL next year so they can show their uniforms off.
9. Olathe South - This is one of the slickest 3 year and younger uniforms in the state. The giant golden "S" that runs down the course of the uniform is very show-offish for a school and the fact that it is contrasted by dark blue on one side and black on the other is a provider of a nice contrast for the uniform. But the thing that makes the uniform special, like ONW, is the hat. Sure, the shako hat and plume is a basic formula for a band uniform, but I particularly like OS's hat because it resembles the uniform and has buttons on it, which makes it more corps-style than any other Olathe School district uniform. OS is definitely my favorite OPS uniform, and that is what puts it at #9.
8. Goddard Eisenhower - One thing that I like about GE is that they use different uniform fronts for preliminary and final competition throughout marching season. The Blue slope and silver bars are a great uniform, but I personally like the silver "tiger claws" uniform better because it gives shape to their uniform that continues on their hat. The tiger claws have always been eye-popping to me, and they just added effectiveness to the show this year, "Balance". The color palette for that show is one that agrees with GE's logo color palette this year.
7. Blue Valley West - It is the beginning of a new era for BVW, at least visually. These new uniform vests are cheaper and can allow for more corps-style shows that BVW produces. I personally liked their last uniforms better, but these uniforms are still amazing. The hats are tall and the plumes add height to the band, but my favorite part of the new uniforms are the rings in the middle of the uniform's metallic luster section. It will be interesting to see how BVW uses these metallic vests in the future.
6. Louisburg - Another one of the most classic uniforms in Kansas Marching band. I got to see a few pictures of them and other bands at the rose parade this last year, and I can say that they were one of the most visually eye-popping uniforms in the parade as a whole. These uniforms have so much history in them - John Cisetti has built a great reputation for band directors in Kansas and an "empire" for 4-5A bands in Louisburg over the past 40 years. When he retires, he will definitely be a KMEA hall of famer, and will always be remembered. These are the third iteration of uniforms to be worn by 150+ students at Louisburg High, and it will be interesting to see how LHS incorporates them into their style of shows as they keep moving forward to becoming a corps-style band.
5. Lawrence - What can I say? These are wonderful, slick uniforms that, as only a few years old, have already developed a great reputation as some of the most corps-style in Kansas. Like Goddard-Eisenhower, the Marching lions use different uniform fronts for both Prelims and Finals, and I think that provides a nice contrast between performances. LHS's "Preliminary" uniform is more traditional, but the "Finals" uniform is one of the most slick, corps-style uniforms in the state, even with the not-so-stylish and corps-style hat that Drum Majors wear. The marchers' hat, like Olathe South's, has buttons, which makes it even more corps-style.
4. Derby - One of the most distinctive features of this uniform is the Green pants and almost all-green outfit. The panther across the middle of the uniform makes it feel corps-like and just adds to the shows that they produce, especially in the "new uniform" era (2017-present). When I was rewatching "Rebel" from my Stansell Studio recording, I noticed something I hadn't when I was watching Derby's earlier performances: During the "follow" scene in their finals performance, the black shoes and socks were showing and provided a contrast between the turf and their uniforms and it felt, at first, like it was an optical illusion- like they were with green shoes. These features put Derby in a rightful place for them to be.
3. Wamego - I personally did not get to see any of Wamego's performances this year, but I did get to see pictures from the Smoke Signal of their uniforms. When I saw them, I felt so glad that Wamego ditched their more traditional uniforms, which had no gauntlets and felt like a copy of Anderson County's and even Liberal's. The uniforms were retired a year early in favor of these new uniforms. The bottom looks like a rocket lifting off, and it has the same slick curve that OS has on their uniforms. And speaking of OS, the uniform has bars and buttons. This feels like a combination of Rose Hill, GE's "slope and bars" and Olathe South's uniforms, squared. This is definitely one of the biggest uniform upgrades of all time for Kansas high school bands, and that is what puts it at #3.
2. Blue Valley Southwest - Ever since BVSW came onto the scene in 2010, their uniforms have been one of the best in the State. The buttons give it a traditional look, its 120 degree opening from a vertical line on the left side of the uniform is a traditional concept taken to a corps-style level, the silver stripe is radiant and noticeable for all those watching a BVSW performance, and the embroidery of the silver "SW" on the emerald part of the jacket is beautifully stitched on. The hat, which has a triforce-shaped metallic shield on it, is also nice. But what my favorite part of this uniform is is that the uniform has a nice contrast to the turf they are playing on. A green-black-green combination is one of the most unique in marching band, and you don't see it much outside of BVSW.
And my #1 uniform of this year is:
1. Shawnee Mission Northwest - The Cougars had a huge upgrade to their uniform wardrobe this year. The orange diamond-era uniform was cool as a traditional uniform, but was lacking in substance just a bit too much to be visually appealing. When I came back for the second block of KBA, I got to see how much of an upgrade SMNW got for their uniforms. The singular orange horizontal diamond with "SMNW" in it, the marching helmet, and the stripe got replaced in 2018 with a much more corps-style uniform, which reminded me of a combination of Marcus (TX) and Platte County (MO). Marcus because of the tall hat and feather to go along with it, and Platte county because of the body's design, which included vertical black and grey diamonds on the right side of the shirt and thigh padding followed by an orange and white stripe and a jet black left side of the uniform. This uniform was so fun to look at during KBA and the Neewollah parade, and that is why it is my #1 this year.
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