Profile: Michelle Kwan

[sadya]

The Tosca certainly is lovely and I adore the 2003 sp dress as well. I like most costumes Kwan wore actually. There were so many nice ones, such as the one from her 'Winter' program and the first year she performed 'East of Eden' in ex as a World Champion for example.

[iarispiralllyof]

Of her Vera Wang dresses, I thought her 2002 Rachmaninoff and Nationals Tosca dresses were incredible. I think her Aranjuez and The Feeling Begins (2003 Nationals and Worlds) were quite interesting as well. The first one was reminiscent of the way Pedro Almodovar costumed the matadors in the film Talk to Her while the latter had a very interesting back, one of the more interesting looks I've seen on a skating costume.

Yes to everything. The back of the Tosca dress was gorgeous, it had almost a sexy bondage style with the overlapping straps. Actually, a lot of Michelle's dresses in her final years of competition did - like the blue one with which she almost had a wardrobe malfunction.

Sometimes skating costumes can either look practice generic (think of plain sleeveless dresses with straps and sparkles).

I agree but I surprisingly ended up LOVING the glittery purple dress she wore at 2001 worlds for song of the black swan. I mean it had nothing to do with the music but..she looked great lol

Imo a lot of Michelle's Vera Wang dresses would've looked good as real life dresses off the ice. They were like couture. I liked some of Mare Talbot's dresses, but her style is the epitome of pageanty. Vera's dresses were just simple and elegant with beautiful cuts, colors and fabric. And when Vera made a thematic dress (like Spartacus) she didn't go over-the-top with the gladiator/Roman theme, but stayed subtle. Spartacus is one of the most regal dresses Michelle ever wore.
The original Lyra dress Mare Talbot made was horrific and she was upset when Michelle replaced it with the beautiful blue Mark Bouwer dress for Nationals and Olympics..that was the end of their working relationship lol, Mare even bashed the Bouwer dress in an interview later on, saying that she didn't understand why Michelle was wearing such an unflattering dress

[aftershocks]

^^ Interesting ... some of you guys are really in the know on all of this costuming backstory.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I liked some of Mare Talbot's dresses, but her style is the epitome of pageanty...

The original Lyra dress Mare Talbot made was horrific and she got angry when Michelle replaced it with the beautiful blue Mark Bouwer dress for Nationals and Olympics..that was the end of their working relationship lol, Mare even bashed the Bouwer dress in an interview later on, saying that she didn't understand why Michelle was wearing such an unflattering dress

Funny you mention pageantry with Mare Talbot because I always wondered what was her inspiration for the Rachmaninoff and original Lyra Angelica dresses...the swimsuit competition at the Miss America pageant?

Here is an interesting Mare Talbot article before Nagano.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/feb/20/news/ls-20938

Yet even she doesn't know which of her designs the skater will wear when she performs to British composer William Alwyn's "Lyra Angelica" for the final competition.
"She has a new white costume that's off-the-shoulder and has gold beading, and a blue slip style one with tiny spaghetti straps that goes from pale on the top to deep blue at the bottom of the skirt," Talbot says. "The program is very light, lyrical and joyous, and I tried to give that feeling" with the costumes.

I wonder if we ever saw the two dresses Talbot mentions because I don't remember seeing Kwan wearing those at all.

I remember there was some grumbling that Sarah Hughes decided to re-stylize herself before SLC with Jeff Billings, essentially dumping Tania Bass, whose dresses she had been wearing all season. I do think that was a wise choice because there was something that made Sarah look pale and plain with Bass' designs and colors.

[iarispiralllyof]

The blue slip with "tiny spaghetti straps" is this monstrosity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTtkBeR7An4

Whereas the white off the shoulder dress with gold beading is quite pretty I think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8i-KY1nuHY

(she also used the white one for the cover of one of her autobiographies)

[iarispiralllyof]

Oh wait..maybe the white one above isn't right since Mare calls it a "new" costume and this article is from 1998..whereas the Winter costume is from 97

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Speaking of Song of the Black Swan, what do you think of this one?

mk16-1.jpg

I always liked it myself, and always wondered if Kwan had intended to wear this instead the dress she ended up wearing for 2001 Worlds (since her luggage got lost).

[iarispiralllyof]

I liked it too! I was shocked because it's very unlike Michelle. It's almost Russian in style, like something Irina would wear lol
but it certainly matches the program. She had like 5 different dresses that season for that one lp lol

[Vash01]

Yes to everything. The back of the Tosca dress was gorgeous, it had almost a sexy bondage style with the overlapping straps. Actually, a lot of Michelle's dresses in her final years of competition did - like the blue one with which she almost had a wardrobe malfunction.



I agree but I surprisingly ended up LOVING the glittery purple dress she wore at 2001 worlds for song of the black swan. I mean it had nothing to do with the music but..she looked great lol

It was pink/fuscia (sp?); definitely not purple. I saw it in person. It was one of my favorite Kwan dresses. I did not always like her dresses, but liked this one very much.

[fenway2]

Speaking of Song of the Black Swan, what do you think of this one?

mk16-1.jpg

I always liked it myself, and always wondered if Kwan had intended to wear this instead the dress she ended up wearing for 2001 Worlds (since her luggage got lost).

LOVE that costume for Black Swan.

[fenway2]

The blue slip with "tiny spaghetti straps" is this monstrosity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTtkBeR7An4

Whereas the white off the shoulder dress with gold beading is quite pretty I think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8i-KY1nuHY

(she also used the white one for the cover of one of her autobiographies)

Love the dress but not on someone with Michelle's torso type. It reminds me of this costume which was also unflattering on her. http://www.usfigureskating.org/conte...n/kwan-sp2.jpg She probably weighed 50 pounds at the time but the design did the impossible and made her appear bulky in all the wrong places.

I preferred her in slightly longer skirts, jmo obviously.

[Vash01]

Speaking of Song of the Black Swan, what do you think of this one?

mk16-1.jpg

I always liked it myself, and always wondered if Kwan had intended to wear this instead the dress she ended up wearing for 2001 Worlds (since her luggage got lost).

Very striking, but a bit distracting, IMO. I prefer the more modest costume she wore at worlds (and several other costumes in other competitions). It's easier to focus on the skating when the costume does not overpower the program.