Chic Skate

2006 Cup of China: Emily Hughes

2007-01-19T09:56:00.000-08:00

I realize that I'm months behind, but I have a backlog of photos that must be commented on. But I suppose I do need to leave myself some material for Worlds, so I'll be selective. Here's Emily Hughes at the Cup of China looking noticably more sophisticated. It's nice to see Emily leave the perpetual variations on blue dresses behind, with this subtle but elegant black number for her Carmen program. The sheer bodice with the intricate beading makes her the picture of understated glamour, and I like the detail of the scattered sparkle on the layered sheer skirt. It's difficult to avoid looking boring in black, but Emily does well here in an almost Jennifer Robinson-worthy dress.

2006 Skate Canada: Gala

2006-11-24T00:52:00.000-08:00

Yes I realize that Skate Canada was eons ago and I'm way way behind in the Grand Prix Series but quite frankly I just finished watching Cup of China, let alone Trophee Eric Bompard and really I should be sleeping/writing essays right now. But what this really is about, is the fact that I'm absolutely not over Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

I find that a lot of ice dance gala programs are quite ho-hum, mostly because the teams tend to choose sappy ballads of the "Sometimes When We Touch" variety that put me to sleep. But V&M chose "Black Magic Woman" and they actually DANCE with each other, and look at how amazing Tessa looks in that LBD. So simple, so elegant - and look at that pleating by her left knee - subtle, very subtle. And one must admit that Scott looks just dashing. To resist the urge to go full-out spangly and skanky for the gala and wear chic all black - and at 19 and 17...wow. I think their costume designer deserves multitudinous awards. Perhaps I over-gush. They're wearing all black, how boring, you say. Well take a look at basically every other ice dance team and perhaps you may see why V&M are so utterly fabulous to me. PS-their gala program is HOT.

[Photo: Janice Gehman, V&M Official Site] <-- do take a look at their photo gallery for more photos of their loverly costumes from Skate Canada

And sometime maybe soon I might post on CoC and TEB...

2006 Skate Canada: Free Dance -- Canadian Pride

2006-11-06T23:54:00.000-08:00

Aside from being happy that Canada finished 1-2 stop the ice dance podium (with my favourites Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir [could they get any cuter?!] taking silver in their first Grand Prix event!), I'm actually astounded at how nice Tessa's and Marie-France Dubreuil's FD dresses were. These dresses deserve big, detailed photos:

In the few short years I've been watching them, despite their youth, Tessa Virtue and her adorable partner Scott Moir, have managed to take the crown of best-dressed ice dancers out there, and quite possibly the best of all figure skating disciplines. Basically every costume Tessa wears is exquisite, and Scott's simple, dapper ensembles are a welcome respite from the suffocating ruffles, sequins and unrestrained frouff we see from other male dancers. Tessa's periwinkle frock features a tasteful square neck on an elegantly embroidered bodice with sweet cap sleeves. The open (but not too open back) is punctated with a pretty bow in tonal ribbons. If Tessa keeps this up, she's heading towards Shae-Lynn Bourne territory.

The other couple du jour is of course gold-medal winners Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, who will tentatively take the title for most-improved costume-wise (and possibly skating-wise too). These two have made some incredibly dodgy choices in the past, but recently have been spot-on sartiorally speaking. Gone are the days of misguided First Nations homage, dominatrix tango dancer, and shredded kimono sleeves (and subsequent Olympic wardrobe malfunction). Instead we have sumptuous frocks for Marie-France and natty evening ensembles for Patrice. Marie-France's jaw-droppingly gorgeous cream dress was the perfect choice for the music, "At Last". I love the beaded straps and criss-cross back, the mini-ruffles on the sweetheart neckline, the luxurious bodice embroidery, and the drop-waisted sash/bow. Also note the soft, multi-layered skirt. Genius design, I say. All in all, it was a good night for Canadians. And I'm in love with these costumes so much that I'll probably just keep posting photos from every competition these folks enter.

[Photos: Skate Canada - Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images; D&L #1 - Gérard Châtaigneau; D&L #2 - Susan D. Russell; D&L #3 - Margaret Burwell -- All 3 D&L photos found at their official website]

2006 Skate Canada: Ladies' LP -- Hey Fumie, I've seen those dresses before

2006-11-06T23:16:00.000-08:00

So before I commented on Fumie Suguri's Halloween SP dress, but after seeing her LP dress, I think I know what's going on here. Aside from the orange fixation, Fumie's two dresses seem to be the poor man's versions of two of my all-time favourite costumes, worn by Sasha Cohen mainly in the 2002-03 season. See what I mean:

This is more than just a slight resemblance. Especially the LP dress, that's a blatant rip-off of Sasha's Rachmaninoff dress, also known as The Dress. I don't know how Sasha pulls off putting purple, orange and gold together, but she does. Sasha's dress works because the purple is a bluish shade that constrasts quite nicely with the splashy orange skirt, and the gilt-edged plunge neckline is exquisitely designed. Fumie's dress, while not awful, misses the mark because, although it's hard to tell with these pics, the purple of her dress isn't quite as blue as Sasha's, and it looks funny with the pale orange. And the gold-embroirdered neckline isn't nearly as nice. Granted, Fumie's hair looked very cute, and her dress really isn't all that bad, but not up to her usual standards.

The SP dress isn't as obvious a copy of Sasha's Malaguena dress as the LP dress is of the Rachmaninoff dress, and I probably wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the aforementioned similarity. But the all black with a bright underskirt of Fumie's dress certainly seems to take its inspiration from Sasha's dress. Now, my question is, who is responsible for this costume-copping? Was it the work of a lazy costume designer, or was Fumie deliberately paying homage to two of Sasha's classic dresses? If so, it's too bad that Fumie's dresses comes across as deeply discounted versions of Sasha's.

[Photos: Sasha - Jay Adeff; Fumie - Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images]

Meanwhile, for the second straight weekend, one of my favourite costumes has gone tragically unphotographed. This time 'round it was American Alissa Czisny, who wore a cute, chic, black-and-white strapless number to complement her music from the Sabrina soundtrack. Channeling Audrey Hepburn is always a good idea, especially if you have the fresh-scrubbed sweetness to pull it off. Anyway, I'm sure pictures of Alissa in this dress will be far easier to track down this season than photos of Kiira Korpi might be. Still, the moral of the story is, the photographers should take shots of all the skaters, not just the ones they feel like.

2006 Skate Canada: Ladies' SP -- Unusual Choices That are Somehow Working

2006-11-03T00:24:00.000-08:00

I'm so surprised that Susanna Poykio of Finland is pulling off this costume that I had to post it. The mock turtleneck, the deluge of rhinestones on her bodice, the very Avril Lavigne-does-Vegas glittery fishnet armbands and the odd musical choice of a string re-interpretation of Metallica's "One" all would normally spell tacky disaster. However, especially from far away, this costume actually works for me. It somehow suits the music, and if I pretend I don't see the blinding glare of the massive rhinestones, I can't help but commend Susanna for an entirely appropriate costume choice, even if it isn't to my taste.

Meanwhile, Fumie Suguri, who is consistenly one of the best-dressed skaters on the circuit, makes a rare misstep, albeit a minor one. The design itself I quite like. The simplicity of the bodice is offset by the flare of the skirt - a pretty sheer black overlay with a splash of bright colour. Fumie definitely works subtle black lace well, seen here on the sleeves of the dress. I'm neither here nor there with the rhinestone design on the front, but the back has quite a cute diamond design that you can't see here. In fact, the more I look at this picture, the more I actually like the dress. It looked worse on TV. My only real issue here is with the Halloween colour scheme - it looked very jarring and garish, especially when you factor in her purple eyeshadow (which usually looks good, but definitely not with the orange). If only she had picked red instead of orange, or ditched the black in favour of a more tonal colour combo. Anyway, my criticism of this costume is collapsing on itself because I guess it's not that bad after all...demonstrating again how Fumie always manages to look elegant.

[Photos: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images]

2006 Skate America: Pairs LP

2006-10-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that I need to slow down or I'll run out of material by the end of the season, these 3 couples caught my attention for various reasons in the pairs' free skate:

Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay are skating to music from The Notebook soundtrack this season, which is why I'm disappointed in Anabelle's dress. It's cute and sophisticated, but she could have had so much more fun with the film's 50's setting. If only she wore a red polka dot sweetheart neckline halter dress. Maybe she will get a new dress as the season goes on...her hair looks great though (hard to tell with this pic). That being said, boring as it it may be, her black dress is nice and tasteful, which is more than can be said for most of the other skaters. Cody looks perfect all in black. You can't go wrong with that face.

John Baldwin's costume is terrible, don't look at it. But his parter Rena Inoue's periwinkle one-shouldered dress is gorgeous. This might be Rena's best costume to date. These two have been known to make some dicey choices, but Rena at least got it right this time. The silver detailing is exquisite, I wish I had a better shot of this. Best of the evening. Now if only she could transfer her newfound good taste to poor John over there.

I just love the Siudeks. Their lifts are always breathtaking but it's nice to see them continually improve their overall skating. Dorota's dress is alright, basic black again but with a bit more razzle dazzle than Anabelle. I'm not a huge fan of the rhinestones running down the halter front but I do like the crisscross design on the bodice and back, which you really can't see here. Nothing special about this costume, I just wanted to put them on here.

[Photos: US Figure Skating]

By the way, I'm crestfallen that I can't find photos of Kiira Korpi from the weekend. Both her SP and LP dresses were adorable. I'm amazed at how well she pulled off that frothy mint green dress (LOVED the bow detail) she wore in the free skate. It was cute, but dangerously close to 10-year-old territory. But when you look like the lovechild of Katherine Heigl and Charlize Theron I guess it makes any costume look better. My goal this season is to find pictures of this...if Kiira finishes higher than 7th in something, 'twill make my task much easier.

2006 Skate America: Ladies SP

2006-10-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Huzzah, Grand Prix season is upon us again, and a new season means new costumes. As much I want to go ahead and dissect every single costume right away, that would leave no fun for a long season to come, so I'm going to do this bit by bit. I'll start with one good and one bad from this week's ladies' short program.

The Good: Kimmie Meissner, USA

Although perhaps a little too conventional, Kimmie's dress wins out for me because of its refreshing simplicity. White is always a good choice if you want to look fresh and lovely, which is exactly how Kimmie looks here. The blue rhinestone detailing is pretty and the baby cap sleeves give the dress a sweet, youthful silhouette and is entirely age-appropriate. This dress isn't exciting but it suits Kimmie's music and she looks cute, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The Bad: Miki Ando, Japan

Sadly, Miki has once again made an ill-advised costuming choice. This style of dress, with the copious use of illusion netting and random snaking glittery fabric, is so tacky yet is seen all too often in ladies' skating. There's no coherence in the design; too much is going on here and it's distracting. However, I do like to point out the positive, and Miki's hair looks great, especially with that gorgeous clip/bejeweled comb thingamajig she has at the back, which you can kind of see here. On another positive note, that's the most spirited and fun skate I've seen Miki perform in a long time.

2006 Worlds: Ladies' SP

2006-03-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

I said I didn't like the bodice detail on Joannie Rochette's SP dress in my Olympic post, but I changed my mind last night. I like the lower half with the flowers, maybe it's a little bridal, but it looks pretty. It's sparkly and looks great on the ice...definitely one of the nicer dresses of the competition.

2006 Worlds: Free Dance

2006-03-25T12:58:00.000-08:00

The pretty:

L to R:

What a gritty comeback for Marire-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon after that painful fall in Torino. This FD was beautifully skated, and they deserved their silver (so close to gold!). This costume is quite pretty, especially compared to some hideous FD dresses Marie-France has worn in the past. I think there's a bit too much frouffyness going on in this dress, but thankfully Patrice is simple (displaying rule number 1!) to contrast her romantic dress.

Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas (I'm so happy they came back!) had an amazing free dance in Torino (how did they NOT get a medal?! gah). I was hoping they'd pull through with one in Calgary, but depsite a great FD, it wasn't meant to be. However, at least Margarita was dressed tastefully, which is more than can be said for some of the dancers! This simple but elegant Phantom of the Opera dress perfectly suited the music and performance, and I love the corset-style bodice.

The horror:

Top to bottom:

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, the team that brought you the "a copious mass of sequins are sufficient to cover my modesty" dress and the yellow headband, always manage to show up in costumes that should never have seen the light of day. The gold, the quilted red, his horrible top...I can't even begin to analyze this, it's all putrid. Awful taste, just awful. The only cool thing about this costume is the face gloves...but why must they be green and mauve?

Tanith Belbin, what have you done? Just because of the rest of the field consistenly chooses over-the-top, ridiculous costumes, does not mean you have to join those ranks. Your costumes used to be so pretty and well-designed, so what the hell is this? Red and pink, together on one dress? The oversized black tulle ruffle (I never thought I would have to put "tulle" and "ruffle" and "Tanith Belbin" in the same sentence) is dangerously close to joining Charlize Theron's Oscar bows in the massive shoulder accents wall of shame. While this dress doesn't hold a candle to Delobel's monstrosity, this choice is disappointing because Tanith is so much better than this.

2006 Worlds: Mens' LP

2006-03-24T19:39:00.000-08:00

L to R:

Kudos are in order for Stephane Lambiel, not just for becoming the back-to-back World gold medallist, but for being a proponent of diversity. Seems Stephane thought that India and Africa were not fairly represented in the mens' competition in Calgary, so he felt the need to re-imagine Vivaldi's Four Seasons as a wild animal extravaganza. Is it a zebra? Is it a tiger (the back is orange!)? Is it some heretofore undiscovered animal with sparkly blue arms? Stephane gets the prize for biggest gap between musical and costume concept. Stephane, you are a talented skater, an electrifying spinner, and you have a cute Swiss accent. Please stop making me cringe so, use some of your prize money to HIRE A BETTER COSTUME DESIGNER!

I don't get Emmanuel Sandhu (on so many levels, but I'm talking costume here). He's got an exotic look and the perfect dancer's body, he does not need to draw attention to himself with tacky costuming. His SP Tango costume was simple and sexy. Unfortunately, his LP costume, while not as bad as his spandex neon pink/black criss-cross pattern fiasco from last year, is still pretty much a debacle. Was it really necessary to choose the TIGHEST BLUE SPANDEX PANTS KNOWN TO MAN, showing us far more of his ass than we ever wanted to see? And I have no idea what's going on in the top half of the costume.

Brian Joubert gets multitudinous brownie points for successfully demonstrating my men's skating fashion category #2! Very nice athletic Matrix costume. While he does not have the lovely artistic quality of Jeff Buttle, Brian is an exciting skater to watch when he's on...(and cute)...

Companion to the 2006 Worlds: Men's Skating Fashion

2006-03-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to present what I like to call Dressing for Skating Success: Men's Ice Fashion 101. Unfortunately for the boys, there are far more windows of opportunity for them to miss the mark fashion-wise than the ladies. Girls have more options and can get away with more without being made fun of. In view of that, I will propose that there are three categories of acceptable male figure skating costume.

1. "Normal" clothes: Generally ranging from preppy casual (Jeff Buttle - Sing Sing Sing) to formalish (Craig Buntin - Big Spender), this is a safe and smart choice that looks hot no matter what. Go with this option and you cannot fail, as long as you choose colour carefully.

2. Musical theme: This is where things start to get a little hairy. For those times when street clothes-style costumes don't cut it, one must be a little bit more creative and choose a costume that better suits one's musical theme - for example, Latin, film soundtrack, or military, but don't pick that last one or you'll look like Michael Weiss. When executed properly, this strategy is fetching and effective: Alexei Yagudin - The Man in the Iron Mask. On the flip side, when done improperly, you look like a fool: Alexei Yagudin - Gladiator. A variation on this look is the "Evgeni Plushenko man-in-black": generally all-black, with a little theatrical embellishment, highlighting line and graceful movement while still looking athletic. Plushenko has committed his fair share of fashion crimes (and his hairstyle is just one big blond mullet of a faux pas), but recently he's tended towards the simple and tasteful. [Photos © Andrea "Hoo" Chempinski]

3. "Romantic": This is more like a subcategory that overlaps with #2, and is the most difficult to pull off without looking like a tacky, frouffy ballerina (unless you desire that image). Sometimes, your music is soft and romantic, and hard-edged masculine costumes wouldn't have the proper fluidity to compliment the music. Then a guy has to venture into the dangerous world of ruffles, chiffon and sequins. Jeff Buttle demonstrates a nice, simple "romantic" costume [Photo © Andrea "Hoo" Chempinski]. However, this category is a slippery slope, and you don't want to end up looking like (horrors!) Alexei Urmanov. I don't care if your music is Swan Lake, there is no excuse for that. I know he's done worse than that too (as demonstrated by the existence of this), I just can't find pictorial evidence. (On a side note, I think I could do a whole post on awful Swan Lake cotumes.) If you don't want to be laughed at, if you don't want the sheer ridiculousness of your costume to distract from your skating, follow this simple, oft-repeated rule: LESS IS MORE!

My final pointer is, for the most part, don't wear some half-baked "creative" costume thinking you look like an artiste, because you probably just look like Ilia Kulik.

2006 Worlds: Pairs LP

2006-03-23T00:51:00.000-08:00

The good, L to R:

Dorota Zagorska, I love you for wearing this pretty crimson ombre dress. Nice and simple, the way I like it. Definitely my fashion winners of the week in pairs. Her and partner/husband Mariusz Siudek finished up 9th. I heard they're coming back for next season, yay.

I've never been a fan of Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, they tend to bore me in competition, although their exhibitions are usually fun. But, I almost died of cuteness when I saw their fluff piece before the LP, and they skated well tonight. Their last skate as eligibles :( Maria's dress here is pretty cute actually. I'm not so sure about the hooker-style hip cutouts, but other than that, this dress isn't gaudy and overdone like many of her previous costumes. A nice way to go out.

The bad, L to R:

Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov are like a guilty pleasure for me. The design of her dress is cute I guess, although I don't like the colour, or the back design. His costume is pretty ugly and someone needs to tell him that it's not 1995 anymore, so lose the mushroom cut. But really, this team is like a train wreck I can't keep my eyes away from. I watch them to see how they'll screw up their overcomplicated lifts and when they'll both bail out...I know, that's horrible...But it's only because she reminds me of a Russian version of Kate Mosley from a film that's a guilty pleasure of its own, The Cutting Edge. She just seems like a complete diva, and he seems like a pushover that gets stepped on all the time. Maybe I'm crazy. Or maybe it's quotes like this that make me think so: "Sergei understands that he is my key to future medals at championships and he promised to not disappoint me."

Gold medallists Qing Pang and Jian Tong are a mess of black, yellow, and grey in skating what, in my estimation, was not a very gold-worthy performance. In terms of costume, the swirly design is tacky, the colour combination is dowdy, and the overall look is uninspiring. There is a right way to do grey (see Jamie Sale circa Love Story), and this is NOT it. On another note, is it just me or is Qing looking slightly less skeletal lately?...Which really isn't saying much, but is encouraging nonetheless.

The Canadian:

Although her SP dress this year was great, Valerie Marcoux falters in her LP costume for this year with this nude rhinestone bodice dress. Definitely a Britney Spears move there. (I do like the fluttery sleeve things) However, her and Craig Buntin skated really well this week, and it's great to see Canadians starting to move up in pairs again. They were also very gracious in their post-skate interview...The pair finished 5th.

Youngsters Jessia Dube and Bryce Davison were also impressive this week, finishing 7th to secure three spots for Canada at next year's Worlds! That means space for Anabelle and Cody :D Anyway, this costume isn't awful or anything, it looks like Sean Sawyer's LP outfit, but anyway, it's nothing special. Not such a huge fan of mock-turtle necks...

2006 Worlds: Pairs SP

2006-03-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek were absolutely adorable last night. I loved their music (La Vie en Rose and Mack The Knife) and they were really cute kissing for the crowd in the K&C. I think that's the first time I saw their SP all year, for some reason. Dorota's white dress was nicely cut with a tasteful plunging v-neck. The pretty pink flower embroidery showed up nicely on tv and she looked great alongside "Pink Tie" Mariusz. I also liked the back of her dress. It's all in those little details that make a costume work. I also think this hairstyle looks much nicer on Dorota than the shorter one she used to have.
(I got so annoyed that I couldn't find I good front view of Dorota's dress that I used one from the Olys.)

L to R: Maria Mukhortova & Maxim Trankov (x2); Valerie Marcoux & Craig Buntin

Until I saw Dorota's, Maria Mukhortova's dress was going to be my favourite of the night other than Valerie's. Maria's wisp of a dress is simple (the cut could have been a little more flattering) but it has a really cool and creative detail. I think the fabric was double-sided. The outside of her dress (with the nice beading at the bust) is a light bluish colour like her partner's costume, but the underside and the leotard piece is pink, so it made her dress look iridescent and changed colour when she moved. Very creative. Too bad her partner Maxim Trankov wore something Sergei Grinkov rejected in 1988.

I know I already Valerie and Craig's Big Spender costumes, but they look so sharp I had to show it again. They skated really well, they're in 4th after the short!

[Photos: Yahoo News; US Figure Skating; Yahoo Olympic Figure Skating Gallery]

Worlds Flashback: Jamie Salé 2001

2006-03-17T15:21:00.000-08:00

Jamie Salé (pictured here with her very cute partner David Pelletier) wore this burgundy dress for the short program "Come Rain or Shine", en route to the gold medal in Vancouver in 2001 (no, I wasn't there...I wasn't even in Vancouver that week, but I most definitely watched it on TV in a hotel in Nelson). I'm not sure what's going on with the colouring of these pics here, but from my recollection, the dress was closer to the colouring on the right.
This costume is a perfect example piece from Jamie's very simple style. In the past, her dresses were a bit too simple (ie boring), but this one was perfect. The colour is very sophisticated, and I love the plunging ruffle neckline. A v-neck halter is always a flattering style and Jamie wears it well here. Although I'm not a huge fan of the bodice/skirt separation look, here it's not so bad because the sumptuous velvety bodice contrasts well with the chiffon skirt. I think I used that picture on the right for a grade 11 sewing class project on Jamie. Oh, the memories...

(Yes, I cheated, these photos are from Skate Canada, not the Worlds. I couldn't find any good quality shots from Worlds but she did wear this to the Worlds too.)

[These photos copyright Andrea "Hoo" Chempinski]

Worlds Flashback: Michelle Kwan 2003

2006-03-17T01:24:00.000-08:00

Since the World Championships are coming up on Monday, I thought I would do a Worlds-themed post today. I figure that most of the costumes in Calgary will be the same as from the Olympics, so I'll probably focus on ice dance and pairs a bit more, with maybe some men thrown in. As for right now, I decided to do a World Championship flashback, featuring the inimitable Michelle Kwan:

Kwan is a veritable figure skating style maven, I could go on forever about her gorgeous costumes, often designed by Vera Wang (!). I can't remember if this particular blue and gold number is designed by Wang, but it's gorgeous nonetheless. Michelle won gold in Washington three years ago, skating an emotional program to the beautiful piece Aranjuez.
I think the blue of this dress showed up better on TV, it looked more sophisticated and less Emily Hughes. In any case, I love the opulent gold embroidery of the bodice. Since about 2001 (possibly when her partnership with Vera Wang began?), Michelle's dresses have been breathtakingly beautiful. This one isn't even the best of the bunch, but it's definitely a winner and worth a look back.
Hopefully I'll be back with more winning World Championship looks.

Kurt Browning's Gotta Skate V: Yuka Sato

2006-03-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

I just watched Kurt's Gotta Skate V on TV and now I'm all atwitter over Yuka Sato's wisp of a gorgeous dress. Oh, where to begin. The soft baby pink colour looked amazing on the ice, and the dreamy chiffon fabric and simple styling combine for an effortlessly graceful costume. I really like the sheer layer over top of the plunging neckline. The gentle gathering is a pretty detail and is made all the better because it isn't overdone. The silver banding and empire waist detail adds a touch of glamrous sparkle, and the back of the dress...I wish I had a pic of it, that'll be my mission. The back is gilt with ornate silver embroidery. Yuka's dress is one of the most perfect balances between simple elegance and performance sparkle. Fellow Japanese World Champion Shizuka could learn a thing or two!

[This photo copyright Andrea "Hoo" Chempinski]

2006 Olympic Gala

2006-03-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

I really don't have the time to carefully dissect the fashion disaster that was the Olympic exhibition, so I'm going to economize. As for the gala itself, not bad, although I almost fell asleep. Skaters need to come up with more non-Josh Groban/Sarah Brightman/slow operatic ballads. So thank you to Jeff, Sasha, and a few select others for picking more lively music.

Unsurpringly, my pick of the night was worn by Sasha Cohen. This isn't just a favourite-skater bias, I do think she has very good taste in costumes. This is a great shot of Sasha's amazing Russian split from her Don't Rain on My Parade (from Funny Girl!) program. I like this dress because it's simple yet glitzy enough for an exhibition program. That's a beautiful shade of blue that you don't see much, and the keyhole cutouts at the neckline look pretty cool.

While Shizuka Arakawa's dress, which looks suspiciously like she just wrapped a scarf around her chest, certainly wasn't the worst of the night, I'm featuring it because it could've been so much better. Shi-chan also chose a great shade of blue, which looks even better up close because you can see the rich swirls in the fabric. The fabric and colour is right, but the design is tacky. Without that enormous diamond-shaped midriff cutout, this would have been a gorgeous dress. I don't even mind the side cutouts. What could have been a classic dress for Shizuka goes into the all-too-common Vegas showgirl style of figure skating fashion faux pas's, all because she lost the middle of her dress.

2006 Olympics: Ladies LP

2006-02-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Shizuka Arakawa for her gold medal! (Japan's first medal, oof) Although I was disappointed that Sasha bailed, I'm glad Shi-chan won. So without further ado, here are the costume winners and losers of the night:

Another LP bailout notwithstanding, Sasha Cohen can always be counted upon to wear a gorgeous costume that's perfectly appropriate to the music and performance. I thought I liked her gold Romeo & Juliet dress, until I saw this uber-sophisticated and simple maroon number. I don't think she could have possibly done better here to evoke a Juliet character. The cap sleeves are adorable, and I like how the skirt dips in the back. Speaking of the back, I love the deep-V trimmed with more gold embroidery. I'm not a huge fan of the V-formation of the beading in front (I think it worked better on the gold dress), but the overall effect is perfect.

Unfortunately for Shizuka, her costume doesn't earn the same plaudits as her performance. While she has worn far worse than this royal/light turquoise dress, it was still probably the ugliest, and certainly the tackiest, of the night. In general, I don't like these split down the middle colour-blocked dresses. The colour isn't very flattering, there's too much rhinestone embroidery, and the half-belt design doesn't work. I do like the asymmetrical hem though. I understand that she was going for an Oriental-inspired look to go along with her music, Puccini's Turandot, but there are better, more tasteful ways to do this.

I almost gave costume of the night distinction to Fumie Suguri over Sasha, but for one qualm: the fit of the dress. You can't really tell in this photo, but the dress was too big and looked kind of dumpy on petite Fumie. That being said, no one selects airy, elegant costumes like Fumie. The artfully crinkled pastel lilac bodice flows over the wispy chiffon layers of the indigo skirt. I also like how the bodice piece has the sash-like bit, it looked really pretty when she did her spins. If only this dress were cut better for her body, it would have been perfect.

First off, I was thrilled with Joannie Rochette's performance. The music is perfect for her and she really deserved her 5th place finish. This colour is great for Joannie and was suitable for her program. Although the rhinestone bodice is too busy for my taste, it works as a costume piece. My favourite part is the double layered skirt. Nothing looks better during a jump or spin than a pretty contrast colour layer under the overskirt.

Less is more, or in this case, less is a far prettier dress. Susanna Poykio of Finland gets points for choosing chic brown, but gets bogged down by with the "someone puked rhinestones all over my costume" effect. I like the ombre dying on the skirt, and the bigger gems at the bottom of the straps, but there is such thing as too much sparkliness.

I surprised myself by decidng I liked Ukranian vet Elena Liashenko's spaghetti-strap unitard. Maybe it was her music (West Side Story) swaying my opinion, but I think this outfit looks pretty chic. The pattern remind me of a neon-red version of Alexei Yagudin's Winter costume, but again to thought it worked with the music. I even like how she wore one patterned glove, one neon red glove. I'm still not sure why I like this, but I do.

This is a nice tasteful shade of red for Kimmie Meisnner of the USA. This dress has 3 parts, top, middle bottom. Top and bottom are good, middle not so much. Beaded gold straps - I almsot universally love beaded straps, I think they're a great detail. The V-neckline is really flattering, and the sequin trimming on the skirt and neckline are also pretty details. As for the unfortunate midriff section, there is good illusion netting and there is bad, and anytime it makes you're wearing a Halloween costume, I say it's bad. I think it distracts from what would have otherwise been a very nice dress. I guess they were trying to keep it from looking pedestrian, but I still think it looks ugly.

Emily Hughes's dress isn't bad, but there's nothing special about it. The V-neckline is flattering and the beading under the bust is good, but the colour reminds me of aerobics outfits. I guess the designer got lazy because there was no effort whatsoever put into the bottom half of the dress. Looks more like a practice dress than a long program dress, quite frankly.

More bad from Miki Ando. The design isn't bad, but the colour is all wrong. What part of Madame Butterfly says "easter egg colours"? I guess there is always a dilemma when performing that piece: wear a regular dress or a bad kimono-inspired costume and risk a wardrobe malfunction (Marie-France Dubrieul in Salt Lake!). Miki chose the former but ended up with a tacky 10-year-old's costume that has no continuity with the dramatic music.

Poor Carolina Kostner. Two dismal programs and two appearances on the worst-dressed list. While this isn't nearly as bad as baby acid zebra from the SP, there's still something off about this dress. She chose subdued shades of grey which could have looked chic, but then he big sparkly snowflakes splayed all over the dress somehow looks simultaneously tacky and drab. And in another case of bad illusion netting, Carolina looks like she has spiders on her arms. I do like the flutteriness of the skirt though.

[Ladies LP photo credit: Yahoo Sports]

2006 Olympics: Ladies SP/Sasha Cohen/Jeff Buttle

2006-02-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

I'm so pumped about the ladies' SP that I'm going all out. I can't get over Sasha's skate! Wow. Here are my picks for best and worst of the night.

Okay, yes, a little biased here, as a big Sasha fan. And yes, this dress is basically a rip-off of Tanith Belbin's gypsy dress. Not a huge fan of the weird plunging neckline BUT as usual, Sasha pulls off a potentially tacky dress with style. I love the flower shawl wrapped around the skirt and the turquoise and yellow looks great on ice. It perfectly suits the Russian gypsy piece Dark Eyes. I loved the performance, I'm thrilled how well she did, but now I'm nervous about the LP...considering what happened in the past.

Yup, I'd look like that too if I was wearing that. Carolina Kostner should have left this dress in Stephane Lambiel's scrap heap.

I wish I had a better pic of Fumie Suguri's costume. Another elegant dress for her, I can always count on Fumie-chan for simple, pretty dresses. She works the trend of shrugs here, with a lacy black one over a red dress. Worked well with her Jesse Cook flamenco music. I'm really happy that she skated so well.

Ok. I will have more to say about ladies in pants another time. Irina Slutskaya's unitard is not even close to the worst I've seen, but it's not my favourite look. At least this one is tasteful with some nice rhinestone sunbursts.

Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

Coleridge is talking about the silver thing around Shizuka Arakawa's neck. It's choking her, it's dragging her down...She should fire her costume designer. So many misses for poor Shi-chan (memories of Swan Lake dresses...feathers...shudder). I loved her skate though.

Miki Ando, are you cold? At first I thought I liked this, but the more I looked at it, the less I did. Bottom down, it's cute, I'd even wear that skirt with the black tights. I don't think it's appropriate for a skating costume though. As for the top, I don't like it. Too busy. But Miki gets points for wearing something totally different.

I have to say, I'm not a fan of Mira Leung's skating. Yet. She's young. But I have to put her in because she came to Olys with a non-hideous costume. I don't love it, but it doesn't make me cringe too much...a welcome improvement. I just wish she would do something about those bangs...Oh well. Vancouver 2010!

Gotta get my Canadian content in here. Too bad about Joannie's touchdown on that jump. Her dress is okay, it goes well with the music. White always looks nice on the ice but I don't really like the detail on the bodice.

Who is Kiira Korpi and how did she morph into Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy? Seriously, that's creepy. The resemblance is shocking:

[Ladies SP photo credits: Yahoo Sports]

I think this is a great program, David Wilson is a genius. Even though Sasha skated to Romeo and Juliet (albeit a different cut) for her exhibition for oh, three years? It still looks fresh because of the great choreography. This is a gorgeous dress, the subtle gold hue glows on Sasha. To quibble a bit, I don't really like the style of the front of the skirt, but I'll just look at the exquisite beading on the bodice. Hopefully Sasha's Olympic medal matches the colour of this dress!

I have to admit, I don't like this latest reincarnation of the Samson and Delila costume. While by no means hideous, it's a tad dowdy by my estimation...a little too much military Michael Weiss for my taste. Beautiful shot of his ina bauer though. That being said...I can't ever remember being so pumped up about a bronze medal. Not to sound cheesy, but I knew he could win a medal in Torino since I first saw him at the 2002 Worlds. Yay for Jeff!

I lurve this costume! Preppy Jeff. I love how Jeff always shows up with simple, effective costumes, especially for his SPs. (Recall his perfect pinstripe vest/slacks combo for Take Five a few years back). Stephane Lambiel aka zebra on acid (among others...AHEMjohnnyweir) could learn a thing or two from Jeff's simplicity. This is up there with my favourite SPs ever. It's really too bad he fell on the triple axel, especially considering how well he skated it during the Grand Prix season. Nevertheless, congrats on the medal Jeff!

[Photo credits: Yahoo Sports]

2006 Olympics: La Polizia da Moda

2006-02-20T23:10:00.000-08:00

So, with my online translator attempt at Italian, I embark upon my pilot project to blog about a fusion of two of my favourite things: figure skating and fashion. Yes, I realize that figure skating is often ridiculed as a non-sport, a frivolous spectacle, and writing a fashion critique blog is merely perpetuating the stereotype. But that's ok, because I'm still a big figure skating fan, and so are a lot of other people, so it doesn't really matter what public opinion says now does it? And with that, I bring you the best and worst of the figure skating fashion world, with perhaps some random skating commentary thrown in for free.
So, since we are in the throes of the Torinto Olympics (which have been thoroughly captivating so far, by the way), why not start there? Let's begin with the good...

[Photo credit: http://www.spiritofskating.com/marcoux-buntin/]

Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin of Canada are bang-on here with this classic and glamourous ensemble. (I cheated a bit here, this pic is from Nationals, but they wore the same in Torino) This costume perfectly fits their short program music, "Big Spender". I love the use of illusion netting on Valerie's dress to create a strapless look, and the thick rhinestone choker along with the brooch-style detail are the suitable glam touches. And Craig looks super sauve in his white vest and matching red tie. You know you're on the right track when you could step out to a fancy function in your costume and not look out of place. It's unfortunate they weren't able to put together better performances in Torino. Now on to the bad...

[Photo credit: http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/OlympicGames/photogallery/gallery_143_17.html]

While almost all of the ice dance competitors have been particularly offensive these Olympics, I feel the need to particularly dissect this monstrosity, brought to you by Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of host Italy. Really, they should've stayed in retirement (especially after witnessing that OD tumble/death glare incident...). Now, about this shiny peach debacle, they both really need to cover more skin. Barbara's dress is just plain lewd, I am not a fan of the strips of satin barely concealing her. That's also some excessive chest coming from Maurizio. And the overdone gold accents, the epitome of hideous.