Skaters with consistently good/bad costumes

[TallyT]

Yuzuru is like the little girl with the little curl - when it works, you can't take your eyes off him, and when it doesn't... oh dear. I can't see how anyone could accuse him of consistency in anything but making absolutely everyone doubletake every year

Seimei - in all its forms - may be remembered as one of the most iconic costumes of all time, and while they may not be to everyone's tastes, the glittery flow of Etude and Hope and Legacy totally enhance the otherworldly aura he can evoke sometimes (and I actually love the 2nd POTO, simply because no one else in the WORLD these days could get away with that ornate, ultra-Georgian-aristocrat-bling feel). But when he lets his inner OTT extraness take full flight (Romeo & Juliet 2, Notre Dame)... well, at least he doesn't commit the cardinal sin of being boring.

I do think any man who is going for the cool look of open neck shirt and slacks should think twice. When it works, great, but most of them look like they actually forgot to PACK anything but the stuff they wore on the trip... dulldulldull.

 

[brens78]

Yuna had some of the nicest outfits hands down! THAT blue dress from 2010 is still my fave and when you Google images of her, you'll find many pics of her in it holding her OGM

 

[synteis]

I have to say that Shoma's costumes very seldom work for me. Guarise/Della Monica also have some real head scratchers.

I actually don't mind Yuzuru's costumes, I think they suit his skating.

For the ladies the super blinged out look with concentrated rhinestone bands is really not for me so a lot of Ashley's costumes have been beautiful but not to my taste. Same with Maria Sotskova's this year.

I agree that Gracie Gold always had incredible packaging. That Louboutin dress from 2016 was stunning.

Wakaba Higuchi's Skyfall dresses have been in a real tier of their own and are such an improvement of her SP dress that she looks like a different person. I like a lot of details in Satoko Miyahara's dresses but they've almost worked as a whole for me though her Memoirs of a Geisha costume is special. I think a big part of the reason is that they always seem to be loose on her especially in the arms.

ETA: My biggest favourites are James/Cipres who always completely wow me with their costumes, I love how modern and original they are.

 

[TallyT]

An extra thought - for consistently bad, none of the current crop of men have anything on Kevin Van Der Perren, true?

 

[synteis]

An extra thought - for consistently bad, none of the current crop of men have anything on Kevin Van Der Perren, true?

Voronov tries real hard.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

I'll take Kevin VDP's costumes any day over the lavender 90 year old woman draperies that are Yuzu's costumes. :sarcasm:

 

[temadd]

Many of Carolina's costumes are very unflattering. Not necessarily ugly but not flattering to her body. And it seems odd that she would find so many unflattering dresses with her beautiful long legs. Her long program dress at the Olympics this year made her look like a football player. Too high in the neck and too short for her long legs.

https://www.gofugyourself.com/photo...ames-figure-skating-south-korea-23-feb-2018-4

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Kostner#/media/File:2012_WFSC_05d_427_Carolina_Kostner.JPG

Ashley's costumes the past few years have all been gorgeous - including the exhibition costumes

This year's SP costume is my all time favorite skating costume

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24291681@N08/38994549371

 

[Kelti]

Yuna had some of the nicest outfits hands down! THAT blue dress from 2010 is still my fave and when you Google images of her, you'll find many pics of her in it holding her OGM

How can I forget about Yuna!! Agree she's gotta be the one with the most consistently good costumes of all times

 

[Interspectator]

I'll take Kevin VDP's costumes any day over the lavender 90 year old woman draperies that are Yuzu's costumes. :sarcasm:

No 90 year old ever wore this https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/15/10/2e1510997ab1e5c0f8b505358a51c242.jpg I've grown to love this costume.

But I'm of the camp that would rather be appalled than bored with a costume. So if a skater puts some thought into a costume and tries to make it relevant to their program, I'm happier with it even if I don't like the design. -That's not to say that a simple design can't be the best.

Some of Daisuke Takahashi's understated costumes are my favorites from his competitive days.

My favorite from last season for the men was Shoma's Blue and Gold LP costume. Very princely, matched the music and program.
Yuzu's Seimei costume was lovely too.
It got mixed reviews, but I liked Nathan's Black and White SP shirt. It stood out, and had a modern look to match the music. --However, the black of the shirt did not match the black of the pants, so that's a no-no.

From the ladies I loved Rika Hongo's dresses. -But so many ladies have beautiful and thematic dresses they start to blend together. So the onsies stand out to me for the ladies more than the dresses.

The queen of simple, bold and beautiful dresses for me is Kiira Korpi.
I'm also impressed with many of Denis Ten's costume designs...I think he designs them himself?

 

[Kelti]

Can we nominate costume designers too? Vera Wang + men costume =

 

[SmallAminal]

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....

I have to agree on the Ross Dress For Less look. If it looks like you grabbed some black pants and a colored tee from your closet, it's not a skating costume (I also personally HATE when guys where regular belts....like the same ones they would wear off ice).

On another note, I have a love/hate relationship with Yuzu's costumes. He seems very committed to the shredded silk scarf look.

 

[TallyT]

I'll take Kevin VDP's costumes any day over the lavender 90 year old woman draperies that are Yuzu's costumes. :sarcasm:

Shhhhhh! He's never worn lavender (the closest being the purple pants and me, I'd LOVE to see a 90 year old trying them!!! - or some of the other men, those that have the legs at least) and we don't want to give him ideas

Though to be sort of serious for a minute, the question was about consistently good or bad, and none of them are all the time, surely. I've found even in my short time that a part of the joy of the top ranks is you never know... even the best dressers can come an eyepopping disaster (and do it with such shining pride, too - I love it when they clearly think they're gorgeous and they... aren't) and even the worst or dullest can sometimes make you go "that's actually rather lovely... who bought it, surely not you")

It's like shrieking at the frocks come the Oscars, and just as much fun.

 

[WineHerUp]

Yuna had the most stunning and elegant costumes. Her costume for Kiss of the Vampire is my absolute favorite FS costume of all time and it's a shame that she didn't show it off as much as she could've.

http://figureskatingcostumes.tumblr...na-kim-skating-to-the-kiss-of-the-vampire-for

 

[4everchan]

cynthia phaneuf was always extremely well dressed... and i cannot believe that nobody mentioned Surya Bonaly... I adored her Givenchy over the top costumes... she was truly daring....
D-G (italian pairs) : I agree... awful costumes but he is so well built that i forget about it.

Funny enough... I loved Patrick's over the top costumes especially the aranjuez and first elegy with ruffles... or his esqualo costume... and yet, when he went minimalistic... i appreciated his outfits even more just because it showed his gorgeous body lines..

one Patrick costume to throw to the garbage or burn it with fire as SarahSyndrome would say is the Mack the Knife one.

Kurt Browning comes to mind for very appropriate costumes with all his programs.

I agree with those saying Evgenia has wonderful dresses and Zagitovas' s tutus should co-burn with chan's frumpy sweatshirt...

to make it clear : what I dislike about Yuzu's costume is the unnecessary frivolous boob skirts, sparkle lettuce, golden wings in the Chopin... etc... i don't mind if he goes wild like in LGC but the extra floppy fabric is just not good....it distracts from the skating and i think that's why i started more and more to appreciate simpler costumes....

an iconic costume : Josée Chouinard's pink and orange Lillehamer outfit..
Gabby's snaky dress was awesome too... and so was her carmen outfit this year

 

[TallyT]

Denis Ten seems to have a lot of understated but elegant ones (not always)... he does seem to be one of the the best dressers even if not as umm, interesting as our favourite peacocks.

I have to admit, I find Patrick Chan and Nathan Chen both consistently dressed but not in a good way :sarcasm: though the red top Patrick wore a while back was really nice. Javier does really match his to the character/performance, though that does mean they are all very VERY different, but the red and black one (2015?) was gorgeous (and Black Betty too, hottest thing on ice).

Who was it who said consistency was a hobgoblin anyway???

 

[NanaPat]

Gabby's snaky dress was awesome too... and so was her carmen outfit this year

Gaby had two different Carmen dresses. The one she used early in the season was all red, and the one she used later was black with red on the bottom on the skirt. I liked the all-red one, which was quite simple and modern in style, but the black / red color of the second one was stunning.

 

[klutzy]

Gracie Gold had some beauties--that Daphnis and Chloe outfit was stunning--it so made me want her to skate it clean because it would have been so perfect to look at. Her Firebird was also gorgeous.

Chen Lu, the ShibSibs, Michelle Kwan, Ashley Wagner have all had some gorgeous costumes and a lack of stinkers.

I find the Russian tutus jarring--I expect to see a toe shoe and a balletic line when I see a tutu--when they're not there, part of me feels annoyed.

 

[nolangoh]

Anna Cappellini is the queen of dresses. She should launch a collection of all of her dresses.

Mao also had beautiful dresses; Mao's Scheherazade-pants costume is beautiful, I have seen the costume in person, the best costume of hers, no question. Her Mary Poppins, Butterfly, Red-Ritual Fire Dance, Bells of Moscow are among the top.

Marin Honda has gorgeous dresses too, her costumes for her The Giving SP are fantastic, especially the purple one.

I seldom find male costumes as captivating as female ones, but Shoma's Blue-Turandot is imo the best one last season. His costumes have been really nice too so far (The Yellow-Turandot is starting to grow on me).

Yuzu's white-Let's GO Crazy is better than the purple one.

 

[creaturelover]

Maia Shibutani, Ashley Wagner,Gracie Gold, Yuna Kim, Mirai Nagasu, Soyoun Park, and Satoko usually have gorgeous dresses! Evgenia too!

 

[charlotte14]

Can we nominate costume designers too? Vera Wang + men costume =

If you call the things she gave Evan and Nate “costumes”