Men's Figure Skating: Only for the Bold or Glittered

With the arrival of the Winter Olympics comes all the hype, television commercials (all the athletes eat chicken McNuggets, really?) and of course the rhinestones and glitter of men's figure skating.

To be quite honest, this was not a world I knew much of, until recently. Very recently, as in a couple days ago. I managed to catch the tail end of the men's short program the other night and was awestruck by the costumes. I happened to mention this in passing to my pattern-cohort and she got so excited, we spent almost an hour critiquing and dissecting the outfits. Who knew there was so much *ahem* fashion in figure skating? Where else in the sporting world is so much glitz and glamour allowed, or even encouraged? American skater, Evan Lysacek, had the costume below made by no other than Vera Wang. Wang, apparently a former skater, created five looks for the Olympic medal winner, the charcoal gray one with feathers was made out a breathable wrapped silk. Crazy.

I remember watching the Olympics when I was little, and I remember the men having just a splash of sequins on their costumes, but now they are well over the top. Am I complaining? Not at all, it is just so over the top that it leans towards something you would see on Broadway production or some crazy sci-fi movie. Or in the case of Switzerland's skater, Stephane Lambiel, some production of a Disney movie, on ice of course. Not to say that these costumes diminish their athletic capabilities, if anyone saw the way the Swiss Prince Charming spins, then you know that the huge glittered collar, puffed sleeves and knee-high boots only added to the drama.

The most interesting thing about these costumes, is that there seems to be no boundries. No guidelines, except that it must contain at least one strand of sequins, or glitter, or feathers in the case of Lysacek. I do recall on one season of Project Runway that they had a figure skating challenge, but that was for women skaters. They should absolutely do a men's challenge. Can you imagine Tim trying to critique on so much ... sequins. And I, personally, would love to see Nina Garcia's reaction to any of these creations.

 

Wow. Are those "denim" pants and belt bedazzled? You just gotta love it.