Skaters with consistently good/bad costumes

[likevelvet]

Something fun to occupy my offseason so far has been rediscovering my favorite elite skaters' costumes. I like looking at the color palate and fabric choices they wear performing, and also seeing which costumes end up being on-trend or well-done or just... awful, even if they're charming. As a rabid ice dance fan it's also fun to study short dance costumes and see who nails the theme and who's way off base


Lu Chen always had consistently beautiful costumes, imo. Understated construction, beautiful colors, and whatever movement the skirt gave on the ice perfectly emphasized what she was doing. For example for her piano concerto no. 2 lp the bodice of the dress had beautiful form-fitting lines and the skirt was classic georgette with a longer back to bring out the flow of her movement, all in a beautiful, rich eggplant color. In '97 her short program had a bunch of punchy movements timed to the beat, and her skirt was straight-cut and more 80s-looking, but it wasn't a million bright colors and in poor taste.

Ashley Wagner has really pretty dresses. I tend to like her glamorous, dripping-with-glitter approach. And they are STUNNING in person - they don't stop shimmering even when she's holding a pose.

Wakaba Higuchi has lovely costumes. They are thematic without being cheesy (usually.)

I've always been like, half and half on Julia Lipnitskaya's costumes. She's one of my favorite skaters but I don't particularly like how a lot of the stuff they put her in for her most famous programs ended up making her body look straight up and down (what I mean by this is high neck, long sleeves, straight in the waist area - Schindler's List.) I actually really loved that rainbow dress with the poofy skirt, as well as the weird goth bodysuit and leather-looking jacket for the Kill Bill program we unfortunately only got to see once or twice. I like when ladies do something really fun or really different.

As far as men go, Shoma Uno's costumes are either incredible or just absolutely hilariously bad. Unfortunately the distinction seems to be tied to what style of music he's skating to. Anything poppy or upbeat ends up in the hilariously bad category, and for his classical programs he's outfitted in gorgeous deep colors and velvet with Swarovski all over it and he looks like a little prince. I enjoy his skating so much that I've learned to consider costuming mishaps charming but it'd be nice if he stopped taking so many cues from Daisuke. But when he nails it he nails it, so I look forward to that free skate every season

Denis Ten probably has my favorite men's costume each season.

I hate tutus :dev2: I'm a huge Russian ladies stan but I just can't get into the platter tutu thing Alina had going on this past season.


Do you guys have skaters whose costumes you always love or always hate? Or someone you have beef with because they won't pick something that works for them and stick to it?

 

[SarahSynchro]

I’m not familiar with any of the dresses she wore prior to turning senior, but Evgenia’s dresses have always been gorgeous since then. Long live the dip dye! It’s a style that I always love.

Edit: I lied, I’m aware that Alina’s FP tutu dress for the last two seasons was first Evgenia’s.

 

[TGee]

An interesting off-season thought...thanks!

On the "costumes not up to the skating" side of the coin...it often seems as though someone with a strong role in the decision just isn't seeing it the way the audience does...

Tarasova and Morosov haven't just suffered from dull programs but also too often uninspired costumes to go with them. (Excepting last season's short in which both music and costuming really suited them.)

Kevin Reynolds of Canada frequently had costumes that just didn't seem to be up to the scrutiny of the big screen...but his black jeans and a t-shirt exhibition program costumes were usually great.

On the costumes lift the performance side, I can't think of any of the Gadbois dance teams that haven't had consistently great costumes - - with the exception of the agonizing failure of Gabrielle Papadakis' short dance halter at the Olympics. Less than statement costuming just doesn't seem to get the nod there....

 

[mau]

Ilia Kulik had probably the worst costumes ever. Too bad, he was so handsome. :noshake:

 

[Osmond4gold]

Best outfits include all Gadbois, Lulu, Ashley and Kaetlyn. Leslie Jones texted that KO had the best outfits during the OG, same with FS Gossip, and Kaetlyn responded to contact her, as she knew of a great dress maker in Montreal, who has been making her outfits for years.

 

[yude]

I feel Michal Brezina always has nice costumes although I don't remember all of them.

 

[Spinning]

GOOD: So Youn, Kailani, Mao, Yuna and Akiko!

 

[Imagine]

For most, I'd say it was half and half. Sasha had some of the most beautiful costumes of all time, but also a couple of stinkers. Same with Mao. Same with Shizuka. This discrepancy is also known as the Tarasova effect. In the modern era, a prime example of this is Adelina Sotnikova, who unfortunately has had consistently hideous costumes (so much so that her Olympic winning ones are actually quite tame in comparison). Same goes for Radionova, but I don't know what her issue is. As for Yulia, of course there's Schindler's list which was iconic, but I think her blue costume was stunning as well...especially when she was up against those boards at Sochi. Sadly, I did not really like her costumes after Sochi as much, except maybe in her last SP. Her packaging for the Olympics was on point, I wonder if they just wanted to have fun with it and go all ham aftwerward. The rainbow vomit Elvis dress needed to die, and I'm glad she killed it off in time for a great performance at Russian nationals. Nobody is really 100% consistent, but I suppose Yuna comes close. The only costumes she had that I didn't like (but at the same time were not flat out ugly) were Les Miserables, and the Sochi ones at the end of her career. Her Dance Macabre dress is my favorite figure skating costume of all time.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Some of the best: H/D, G/P, V/M, Wagner, Karen Chen, Mirai, J/C, Daleman, KO, Angela Wang

Some of the worst: Hanyu, T/M, Zags, Voronov, P/C, Ge, B/S.

 

[likevelvet]

Best outfits include all Gadbois, Lulu, Ashley and Kaetlyn. Leslie Jones texted that KO had the best outfits during the OG, same with FS Gossip, and Kaetlyn responded to contact her, as she knew of a great dress maker in Montreal, who has been making her outfits for years.

That is interesting! I do love Keatlyn's costumes - they definitely suit her programs. I loved the Edith Piaf costume this season especially. When you see blue on ice, you usually don't see that blue. And the uber-Parisian neckscarf was to die for. I'm not surprised she sticks with one designer. I wish more skaters would do so.

 

[Scout]

Ashley Wagner has really pretty dresses. I tend to like her glamorous, dripping-with-glitter approach. And they are STUNNING in person - they don't stop shimmering even when she's holding a pose.

Yes! I attribute that to the designer - Lisa McKinnon. Some absolutely gorgeous dresses! I loved the dresses she did for Maia (the SD), for Aljona, for Starr, and others...

I've also been a fan of Sasha Cohen's dresses.

 

[karne]

Andrew Dodds is always impeccably dressed. All the Dodds brothers are usually pretty hit but Andrew's the one who never misses.

Kailani and Brooklee are also always gorgeously done.

Jason's costumes are so hit and miss it gives me whiplash. So many of his costumes have been appalling.

 

[Weathergal]

The Chinese pairs always seem to have beautiful costumes. They've come so far from the Zhang / Zhang eyesores in the 2006 Olympics.

Michelle Kwan had great dresses, and Gracie Gold also looked very put together,

I think most of Meryl Davis / Charlie White's costumes were also well done.

 

[likevelvet]

Yes! I attribute that to the designer - Lisa McKinnon. Some absolutely gorgeous dresses! I loved the dresses she did for Maia (the SD), for Aljona, for Starr, and others...

I've also been a fan of Sasha Cohen's dresses.

That's right, Lisa does do Ashley's dresses, doesn't she. She's awesome.

Did she do Aliona's free skate dress this season? That one was a stunner, so perfect on her. :shocked:

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

That's right, Lisa does do Ashley's dresses, doesn't she. She's awesome.

Did she do Aliona's free skate dress this season? That one was a stunner, so perfect on her. :shocked:

She also did Maia Shibutani's SD dress, some of Karen Chens dresses, Vincent Zhou's, and the Kneirim's.

 

[4everchan]

worst costumes award : yuzu

 

[el henry]

Maia Shibutani has *the* most gorgeous dresses, and I think Alex always looks perfect next to her.

Not many folks have seen them, but Deanna and Nate have beautiful costumes as well, the blues in “Hallelujah” are to die for.

I have fondness for Misha Ge, because he isn’t trying to live up to anything or anybody, he’s just doing Misha. My pet peeve for men is what Nick Verreos calls the “Ross Dress for Less” look. I don’t want to see clothes that look like you picked them up at Target on the way to the rink, wear a costume, darn it:curse: Even Shoma’s yellow curtains from Hades are better than the Ross Dress for Less....

 

[narcissa]

I think Yuzu has some of the best costumes, and even if a few of them may not be to everyone's taste, there are more than enough that could be considered one of the best. Seimei at the Olympics might be the best costume in figure skating history, and Chopin (even though it's a JW copy) is quite lovely. Phantom of the Opera is my personal favorite, even though I can't explain why, but it just worked. Subconsciously I always stop to appreciate it when I see a photo of it or a thumbnail of a video. And Notte Stellata is really beautiful, too, in a different way.

I also really love the blue Parisienne Walkways costume, because it looked good and it fit the music really nicely.

I can't say who has the worst costumes but I typically don't like skaters who don't seem to care about what they wear, or they wear something really generic that looked like they purchased it from a pro shop at their local rink. Like it's blue, with a sweetheart neckline, obligatory illusion mesh, and a thousand crystals, but no character or relation to the music. Then I'm like...snooze. I think it's better to have hit and misses than to be consistently bland.

 

[Kelti]

I think Yuzu has some of the best costumes, and even if a few of them may not be to everyone's taste, there are more than enough that could be considered one of the best.

I would say it's probably a personal preference, and perhaps one's personal preference on the skater might have played a factor too One thing for sure, Hanyu's costumes are never boring whether one likes it or not, he'd never just throw on some training gear and call it an outfit...tho there are some programs i'd much prefer to see him in his training gears

For ladies, I think Ashley generally has nice costumes, love Satoko's galaxy costume from last season, Marin and Haruka Imai always have nice dresses too.

 

[charmblade]

Maia Shibutani is impeccably dressed on and off the ice.