Let's Have Fun Talking Costumes!

[el henry]

Sorry for a long post as my first post, but I have some thoughts on the whole 'Green figure skating costumes are bad luck' thing!

In Western culture, green was historically considered unlucky. You come across this in the folklore of many different countries.
There seem to be a few factors which may have influenced this:

1. Before the advent of modern chemical dyes and pigments, it was very difficult to produce a consistent, highly saturated green colour
2. It is not a primary colour and there was a taboo against mixing pigments in the middle ages due to the association with alchemy
3. Green is the colour of nature, therefore linked to fertility, which in turn links it to pagan rites, women, and sex (all things the medieval church hated!)
4. The 12th century crusades invoked anti-Islamic sentiment, and the colour green was sacred to Muslims
5. Later, in the 19th century green became popular but unfortunately green dyes often contained arsenic, causing sickness and even death...

There is an old Theatre superstition that actors shouldn't wear green costumes as it's unlucky.
This is commonly attributed to a 17th century actor named Moliere, who collapsed onstage in a green costume and died shortly after.
It probably has more to do with a) pre-existing European superstitions and b) the fact that early spotlights burned quicklime (hence the phrase 'in the limelight'). The limelight produced a greenish glow that washed out anyone wearing green clothes and made it difficult for the audience to see them. So, not great for theatre or dance costumes.

I actually didn't know green was considered unlucky in figure skating, but if you think about it, it does make sense.
Skating is a sport, but it overlaps with and is influenced by the performing arts, so little wonder some of the theatre/dance superstitions get passed along.It's really interesting to me that these superstitions are able to stand the test of time, and fascinating figuring out how they might have got started!

Personally, I don't believe green is unlucky and I love green skating costumes. Emerald, teal and bright Kelly green all look amazing on the ice.
No strong feelings on yellow, it's fine. My least favourite colours for skating costumes are actually pale pastels and white. They make for really beautiful costumes in and of themselves, but sometimes I feel the skater is a little lost against the white backdrop of all that ice...

Welcome to Goldenskate, Chiffon, post long and post often!

Thank you also for the interesting information, I enjoyed learning; I had no idea about Molière, (also a playwright of course) but that makes sense it would carry over. .

 

[elbkup]

Two more exquisite GREEN costumes from recent NHK competition:

Mako Yamashita SP

- YouTube

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youtu.be

Mai Miahara FS

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

 

[elbkup]

And NHK.... Yuma in green..

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Another comment about flesh colored gloves:

I'm starting to dislike them. There was a russian junior who competed recently (Osokina?) with pretty red hair who wore flesh colored gloves that didn't even come close to matching her skin tone. The effect the gloves had was kinda distracting, especially since they looked too big (the ends drooped around her wrist like plumber gloves do)

 

[yume]

About jumpsuits, two nice ones from Fumie Suguri. Has somebody else (lady) skated on carmen in a jumpsuit?

 

[iluvtodd]

^ Debbie Thomas skated her 1988 Olympic short program in a unitard.

 

[NanaPat]

^ Debbie Thomas skated her 1988 Olympic Carmen free skate in a unitard.

Are you sure? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4LqC33TiU

I think the unitard was for her SP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChmdEFrn3OY

Note: I don't know / remember the unitard at all, but that's what I found on google.

 

[iluvtodd]

Are you sure? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4LqC33TiU

I think the unitard was for her SP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChmdEFrn3OY

Note: I don't know / remember the unitard at all, but that's what I found on google.

You are absolutely right! I stand corrected!

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Stepanova and Bukin's simple black costumes for nationals!! Stepanova looks so elegant. And the cut of the skirt shows off her long legs. Perfection in its simplicity.

 

[iluvtodd]

^ That's how I felt about Katia & Sergei's Moonlight Sonata costumes from the 1994 Winter Olympics. Elegant & understated!

 

[Petrushko Sashenko]

I gotta say what stands out to me in that costume is the stripes, it looks like Julia's dressed up as Wally/Waldo.

I like gloves, adds a bit of glamour I think, but flesh coloured ones that don't match the skaters actual flesh tone though are a no-no.

Rsrsrsrsrsrsrs Kiira Korpi's red, white and grey costume for her tango free skate gives a good lesson on how to do stripes on ice in a glamorous and inventive way.

 

[brens78]

My fave colour for costumes for either men or women would have to be blue in all shades. I’ve always found that blues look great on the ice and with next season being an Olympic season, we may see an influx of blue costumes as it has often been seen as a lucky colour.

I recall there was a thread a few years ago about this topic and also saying that red was unlucky?

 

[bouncy]

It's probably just me but I somehow find particular trends in recent years, i.e., seaweed-like meshes, asymmetric sleeve cuts and heavily swarovskied costumes quite jarring. I can tell from those "extra touches" the designer's effort to make a costume stand out but usually it turns out visually distractive and awkwardly overdone.
I'd like to see more costumes like those of Sasha Cohen. Her dresses never went wrong.

 

[TallyT]

Karen Chen's white On Golden Pond was exquisite (she is one of the really lovely dressers of the past decade) but for me the earlier blue is even more so

https://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/International+Figure+Skating+Classic+Day+2+wVbsE1k_sOkx.jpg

 

[anonymoose_au]

Karen Chen's white On Golden Pond was exquisite (she is one of the really lovely dressers of the past decade) but for me the earlier blue is even more so

https://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/International+Figure+Skating+Classic+Day+2+wVbsE1k_sOkx.jpg

It's really lovely! Although the tight colour is a bit of a miss.

You're right about Karen's dresses, this one is fierce:

Google-Ergebnis für https://i.pinimg.com/originals/91/aa/52/91aa521f2c8e6f4c14f81dd83b8f3da8.jpg

images.app.goo.gl

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Curious what everyone thought of wakaba's short program costume from the 2016/17 season. The blue one with ombre yellow at the bottom. Personally, I have grown to like this dress except for the silver crystals on the back and dotted in front. (Looks like the unnecessary beading of brad griffies, imo).

 

[lappo]

Curious what everyone thought of wakaba's short program costume from the 2016/17 season. The blue one with ombre yellow at the bottom. Personally, I have grown to like this dress except for the silver crystals on the back and dotted in front. (Looks like the unnecessary beading of brad griffies, imo).

It reminded me of one of Sasha Cohen's costume (2003 I think?), that had the same idea of ombre yellow at the bottom but a purplish blue on the rest. I like the unusual colour combination but not the execution of both costumes (on Cohen's the excessive V neck covered with mesh, on Wakaba, as you said, the strange crystals on the front and, I might also add, the end of the sleeves). On the subject of ombre costumes, I liked the grey and pink one that Medvedeva wore in the 2017 FP.
Also, on the topic of simple elegance, I would like to add Satoko's red dress for her Tosca LP, both the colour and the cut really suit her; unfortunately I don't really like the green one for her Gnossienne SP, I really wish she could go back to the simple black dress that she used for it in the past season when she skated in gala. On the topic of gala dresses, I adore Satoko's new dress for her Egyptian disco SP that she now uses in competition (and, to my own surprise, I also liked very much her catsuit last season, whereas I'm normally not very fond of them... except the ombre sleeves).
Here the red dress for the Tosca LP (complete with a perfect score step sequence, no less!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lorFA1ClXVs&ab_channel=FNNプライムオンライン
I cannot find the video for the new SP at Japanese Nationals with her green dress, here it's her previous dress for the same program as a gala last season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUwH35XA9Y&ab_channel=uni_2
Here the new gala dress for Egyptian disco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJRffn5jyMA&ab_channel=muchadoaboutfs

 

[Amei]

It's probably just me but I somehow find particular trends in recent years, i.e., seaweed-like meshes, asymmetric sleeve cuts and heavily swarovskied costumes quite jarring. I can tell from those "extra touches" the designer's effort to make a costume stand out but usually it turns out visually distractive and awkwardly overdone.
I'd like to see more costumes like those of Sasha Cohen. Her dresses never went wrong.

What's with the trend this year of 1 long sleeve and little to no sleeve on the other side, it always makes the dresses look unfinished. And I'm not particularly a fan of the weird should area cut-outs on Valieva or Trusova's FS dresses.

 

[TallyT]

It's really lovely! Although the tight colour is a bit of a miss.

You're right about Karen's dresses, this one is fierce:

Google-Ergebnis für https://i.pinimg.com/originals/91/aa/52/91aa521f2c8e6f4c14f81dd83b8f3da8.jpg

images.app.goo.gl

Yes, love that one too.

I also have to say - on the men's side which is sadly lacking most of the time - Shoma's black and red Loco was a stunner, the best costume he's ever had. And Yuzuru's new Heaven and Earth is not only gorgeous, but layer upon layer of meaning....

 

[gliese]

It's really lovely! Although the tight colour is a bit of a miss.

You're right about Karen's dresses, this one is fierce:

Google-Ergebnis für https://i.pinimg.com/originals/91/aa/52/91aa521f2c8e6f4c14f81dd83b8f3da8.jpg

images.app.goo.gl

That's one of my all time favorite dresses. Reminds me of one of the few Tennell dresses I like for some reason:

Spoiler

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How does everyone feel about Trusova's dresses this year? I personally preferred her original dresses to the ones she has replaced them with, so I'm curious.