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- Jun 27, 2003
I love watching Kevin, and I don't think his costumes are out there at all (any more than any other guys he skates against)... he's so cute (and I love his Robin Hood program...)
Changing The Image Of Men's Figure Skating
- Thread starter IDLERACER
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2007
What is so praise worthy about simple, plain, boring costumes ?
Give me a costume with some color and style any day.
Except for Lysacek’s penguin tuxedo and KVDP‘s skeleton costume ( although some of Lysacek’s and KVDP’s other costumes have been fine with me. And this just has to do with taste, anyway)
But even those are at least entertaining.
I don’t want to be distracted by boring costumes.
Praise be the European, Asian and North American skaters seem to be into either stylish and/or sometimes entertaining costumes
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
Buttercup - was that the tux like drag he wore for 2009 Worlds created by TT?
Johnny will be Johnny and he is a citizen of the World. NO?
Jeremy - Gawd awful costume
Denney/Barrett - Didn't they use Spartacus? This Penchant for wearing costumes like you are going to dance a ballet just doesn't work, for me. But she has a drop dead body and can wear anything at any event at any time. Sizzle.
Chipeur - Dreadful, but didn't he have to accept this because some idiot said it will make him stand out. It did for me but negatively.
I have to admit, I erred. Some Americans and Canadians do have poor taste in competitive sports as well as all the other boys. They are not necessary. The men's division is ruled by women. :banging:
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- Jul 11, 2003
I understand your gaudy taste for sports, but it just isn't mine.
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- Dec 12, 2007
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- May 15, 2009
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- May 17, 2008
I think it’s endless and no meaning to discuss about costumes between people who want to watch Figure skating is as only “ Sport” and people who want to watch as both “ sport and art. “
The point is having fun, no ?
The point is having fun, no ?
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
Absolutely no fun!! the point of Sport is the same as in every Sport.... Win.
- Joined
- May 17, 2008
No fun to watch any performances, and you just care for Win ???
It must be stressful for you, and causing endless complaints. Good luck and take care.
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- Jun 21, 2003
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- Mar 25, 2008
Of the men, Chan is the only one I can think of who had great SP and LP outfits. They weren't dull but they weren't too showy, and they looked good and suited the music and the programs. Maybe the skating gods approved, too. I used a picture of the LP costume because I couldn't find a good one from his SPs.
I think the point of doing fashion police is that a bad outfit distracts from the skating, while a good costume compliments it.
Toni, I think Kevin's LP outfit this past season is the kind of thing only he would wear
.Would've looked more smashing without the tights - just the dress is good.No fair. Miki looks smashing in anything.
IMO FS is not a sport, but a discipline with elements of athleticism and artistry.
If we want to transform FS in a sport we should throw away all the elements of art that it has.
-costumes - once women were not allowed to wear pants. Now it is allowed (three-four years ago), but few girls choose it. I think FS is the only sport where girls wear skirts. Have you ever seen a female basketball player in a skirt?
So let both the boys and girls wear standardized sport uniforms (such in ski, basketball, volleyball, soccer etc.).
-the fact that women are called ladies. In other sport they are called women. So the name should change.
-music - no need for music. A soccer player does not play with music, a ski athlet does not use music either. The exception are rhytmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming (again those are more disciplines than sports - more similiar to FS)
-PCS scores such as presentation, execution which are very subjective as in a pageant.
-away with all the balletic elements.
As you see, if you want to change the image of FS you have to make a real revolution to be convincing.
I don't agree with those changes at all, but I wanted to show that to appeal a football watching audience you have to make a big effort. I don't think that changing a few male costumes will appeal that kind of audience.
JMO
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- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
The image of Figure Skating did not start with costumes. Know your history of Figure Skating before you make claims.
Elaborate costumes came into being when the Pro Shows of Figure Skating were popular some 30 years after St.Petersburg. Costumes for Amateur Figure Skating came into being very slowly in imitation of Pro Shows.
Costumes have never been scored in any system of competitive skating. Would you want them scored and added to your final score? I am all for scoring the costumes and make the pagaent complete.
The Winner of the 2010 Figure Skating Pagaent is .....
Elaborate costumes came into being when the Pro Shows of Figure Skating were popular some 30 years after St.Petersburg. Costumes for Amateur Figure Skating came into being very slowly in imitation of Pro Shows.
Costumes have never been scored in any system of competitive skating. Would you want them scored and added to your final score? I am all for scoring the costumes and make the pagaent complete.
The Winner of the 2010 Figure Skating Pagaent is .....
Joe, I'm not making any claims that costumes should be scored. I never said that!
I'm just trying to say that FS is different from other sport and that if you want to change that image of FS you should change it completely to be convincing.
I don't understand why you have to answer in this way. We are here to talk in a polite way and share our views that can be also opposite.
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- Joined
- Feb 17, 2007
I don't know if they are scored, but they ARE penalized.
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- Jun 21, 2003
I think Kevin's LP outfit this past season is the kind of thing only he would wear
He did take a fashion risk -- wearing white after Labor Day!
Oh, I like the black tights.You can never go wrong with black. Black is the new black.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
I mistakenly read your post as figure skating is a discipline of sport and artistry which I believed justified the use of elaborate costumes and your sense that costumes were not at the origins of figure skating.Joe, I'm not making any claims that costumes should be scored. I never said that!
I'm just trying to say that FS is different from other sport and that if you want to change that image of FS you should change it completely to be convincing.
I don't understand why you have to answer in this way. We are here to talk in a polite way and share our views that can be also opposite.
OK. you are right and I will simmer down. However, in a more talkative way, I will say that costumes did not start with the origin of figure skating. Costumes grew to be a type of 'uniform' after years of ladies skating in long dresses and gentlement in woolen tights.
The more elaborate costumes became more popular each year, So goes the history. Maybe it was Sonia who dared to use a skating dress that barely covered her knees, and then opened up the Pro Skating with flashy rhinestones, beads, and sequins which crept into amaateur skating. So be it. I can live with the sport aspect of skating but it is difficult for me to grasp the great Art that is battered about. I live in a city where truly great art is so easily reachable both the performing arts and the creative arts. How could I possibly watch a lady spinning around in sitspin with all those rhinestones glittering and consider it as artistry? It can be pretty but it is not artisty, and that's not just my opinion. The sitspin is Sport and that's what is being judged.
I could say there is an art for figure skating as I would say there is an art for playing ball. That connotation, however, speaks of talent.
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- Mar 14, 2006
Joe, I totally understand what you mean about the difference between the "great art" of New York City and figure skating. (To me it's the music that's often cringeworthy, not the costumes... but I've gotten used to it.)
Yet I don't think your view of the sport accounts for programs. If it's just a sport, how do you explain the difference between, say, Yagudin's MITIM and Curry's Don Q?
and figure skating. (To me it's the music that's often cringeworthy, not the costumes... but I've gotten used to it.) Yet I don't think your view of the sport accounts for programs. If it's just a sport, how do you explain the difference between, say, Yagudin's MITIM and Curry's Don Q?
- Joined
- May 15, 2009
That is a good way to look at it.
Think of the great NBA Lakers teams of the '80's and the term "Showtime."
The great athletes on that team were not only playing great ball but were also putting on a show with their flamboyant style of play.
Many considered Maradona an artist. Great Brasilian footballers typically are noted for their ability to entertain in addition to playing well.
In tennis there was Andre Agassi, who was not only a great player but was known for making fashion statements with his choice of outfits and even his hair - when he still had it. Even when he shaved his head - wasn't that something of a fashion statement?
There are skaters who are very athletic and there are skaters who are very artistic. We tend to like and remember the ones who are best at combining both of these aspects. I don't see anything wrong with skaters using certain costumes to enhance the presention of their programs. That seems natural and when Katarina skated to Carmen her outfit certainly enhanced her program. She told us a story on the ice - but if she had not skated well she would not have won the GM that night.
Skating has been evolving ever since Janet first expressed her feelings and movements to the music. There is no reason to go back and I clearly enjoy that skating has become a "performance art" combining elements of dance, music and fashion to create unique magical moments rarely seen in today's hectic world.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Well, if you want to go way back, it is Jackson Haines (1940-1875) who is usually credited with inventing “fancy skating” as a mix of sport and performing art.
He was the first to skate expressively to music and to incorporate elements of his training in ballet into the amalgam. He also invented the sit spin.
Here he is in his skating costume. :yes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Haines
