2017-2018 Dress Thread - Couture and Comically Bad

[clairecloutier]

I liked Tessa's previous SD dress, but I don't understand why the new one is blue. I've never seen blue leopard print before?

 

[DreamSkates]

Ashley Wagner's SP new short program dress is FIRE. Love it.

(there has to be a fire emoji, right??)

 

[Sylvia]

Polina Edmunds posted a photo of her FS dress earlier this month: https://www.instagram.com/p/BcLibeGHLhc/

Deep appreciation & gratitude for this last dress Jef Billings made before he passed, for my program "Time to Say Goodbye"
A very special dress, thank you for always being kind to me Jef

"Inside the Niche, Glittery World of Figure Skating Dressmaking" by a former competitive figure skater (includes her interview with Jan Longmire): http://www.instyle.com/fashion/figure-skating-costumes

 

[Willin]

More designers:
Lisa McKinnon - Starr Andrews (FS)
Vera Wang - Nathan Chen (No pictures)
Tania Bass - Alexia Paganini (FS), Nicole Rajicova (?)

 

[Sylvia]

@Willin, it's Nicole Rajicova FS dress. ETA link to a 2017 Skate America photo: http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Nicole+Rajicova/2017+Bridgestone+Skate+America+Day+3/jmSXW4nDFqq

 

[oleada]

I liked Tessa's previous SD dress, but I don't understand why the new one is blue. I've never seen blue leopard print before?

How quickly we all forget

(yes, it's not the same thing, I know )

 

[RoseRed]

Not sure I like Gabriella's new FD dress.I don't like the metallic looking material at the top.Prefer the previous one.

Where'd you see it?

I liked Tessa's previous SD dress, but I don't understand why the new one is blue. I've never seen blue leopard print before?

Isn't this one zebra print? Not that zebras are blue either. I prefer the first black and gold one.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Nicole has many sparkles! And, not so great illusion fabric.

 

[muffinplus]

I am not seeing the difference in Gabriella's FD dress. In any case, I love it.

 

[muffinplus]

How quickly we all forget

(yes, it's not the same thing, I know )

Not quickly enough...

 

[lauravvv]

I liked Tessa's previous SD dress, but I don't understand why the new one is blue. I've never seen blue leopard print before?

Well, there is no such a thing as a black leopard with spots either. Pantheras have no spots . An neither do leopards, jaguars, cheetahs or other big cats have golden spots, or spots of any other color except black on beige-yellow/orange-brown and beige-white (in case of snow leopards) .

Also, Tessa's dress seems more like bluish grey with shiny blue accents.

Isn't this one zebra print? Not that zebras are blue either. I prefer the first black and gold one.

No, it's not zebra print. More like leopard or cheetah etc.

 

[chattila]

More designers:
.....
Vera Wang - Nathan Chen (No pictures)
....)

So is Nathan getting real costumes and not just the plain black shirt and pants (what he wore for both SP and LP in the G-P series)? If not, then I sure hope that Nathan didn't pay designer prices.

 

[Willin]

@chattila Yes - he's getting entirely new costumes. I don't know why they're doing it this late in the season though as opposed to before the GP. I bet he's not paying. Vera Wang likes to pick US medal favorites to design for, and I believe she gives them the costume for free.

 

[Aerobicidal]

@chattila Yes - he's getting entirely new costumes. I don't know why they're doing it this late in the season though as opposed to before the GP. I bet he's not paying. Vera Wang likes to pick US medal favorites to design for, and I believe she gives them the costume for free.

Is "design for" a euphemism?

#replacedbyayoungerman #lysacekinajealousrage #sloreaccusations2018 #nosuchthingasafreewang

 

[Willin]

@Aerobicidal Well, she does tend to pick the most (potentially) newsworthy USFS star to design for - Kwan, Lysacek, Kerrigan, Nathan Chen... So I guess that Nathan is the hot young commodity right now

(I mean, it is rather odd that she only chooses to design for skaters that are seen as medal favorites, and even then only a select few of them... Maybe USFS asks so that they can name drop her a lot? Or maybe she only thinks Olympic medalists are good publicity to design for?)

 

[skatfan]

@Aerobicidal Well, she does tend to pick the most (potentially) newsworthy USFS star to design for - Kwan, Lysacek, Kerrigan, Nathan Chen... So I guess that Nathan is the hot young commodity right now

(I mean, it is rather odd that she only chooses to design for skaters that are seen as medal favorites, and even then only a select few of them... Maybe USFS asks so that they can name drop her a lot? Or maybe she only thinks Olympic medalists are good publicity to design for?)

I'm thinking the costumes are probably in the range of $10k each if they were to be bought, so yes, I imagine she's deciding who will get her beneficence for the PR value. Nathan makes the most sense as a real medal contender for the US. And am I remembering that at least one of Nancy Kerrigan's costumes in 1994 didn't show up until Nationals?

 

[Willin]

After nationals I want to start a skating costume blog or something. I love talking about them and the designers.

Some notes: Seems Lisa's the most trendy designer right now. I saw some Brad Griffies as well, but not much at Senior as in past years, and there's no pictures to confirm on his instagram (his twitter is locked). Lisa's also been doing a lot more Men's stuff as of late. It appears she's hiring, so I'd imagine her business is booming!

Recent costume updates (rolling in since Nationals happened):
Lisa McKinnon
-Camden Pulkinen (FS)
-US Juv. Girls Pewter Medalist Maddie Park
-US Int. Ladies Competitor Ava Stephens
-US Nov. Ladies Champ Beverly Zhu (FS)
-Starr Andrews (SP, FS) - for whatever reason she hasn't posted the nice mannequin shots of these
-Alexa & Chris Knirem (SP, FS) - again, no picture yet; also shocked she did the FS costumes considering the lack of rhinestones; also shocked Alexa agreed to no rhinestones
-Liu/Johnson
-Ashley Wagner (FS - La La Land)
-Vincent Zhou (SP)
-Maia Shibutani's new SP dress

The Well Dressed Skater
-US Juv. Girls Silver Medalist Clara Kim
-US Nov. Pairs Competitor Jasmine Fendi

Ladu Design
-Vincent Zhou (FS)
-Morgan Flood (now competing for Azerbaijan)
-Jason Brown (FS)
-Max Aaron (SP, FS) - I think I already noted these?
-Junior Ladies Competitor Emily Zhang (SP)
-Nov. Ladies Competitor Jessica Lin (SP)
-Junior Pair Peterson/Schwab (SP, LP)
-Novice Pair Burden/Pagano
-Junior Dance DelCamp/Gart (SD)
-Junior Ladies Pewter Medalist Hanna Harrell
-Mariah Bell (SP) - already noted

Pat Pearsall (Idk how I missed her this far into the season)
-Mirai Nagasu (FS)
-Brynne McIsaac (FS)

Vera Wang
-Nathan Chen (SP, FS)


Nothing new from Del Arbour, Tania Bass, or Brad Griffies

 

[RoseRed]

This is what I've found for Mathieu Caron (Feeling Mathieu Caron) for this season (a couple already noted here):

- Virtue/Moir: SD 1 (black and gold), SD 2 (blue and silver), FD 1 (red dress, now EX), FD 2
- Hubbell/Donohue: SD 2 (purple outfits), FD (Zach only)
- Smart/Diaz: SD, FD
- Min/Gamelin: SD
- Carreira/Ponomarenko: SD 2 (link)
- Chock/Bates: FD
- Seguin/Bilodeau: SP, FS
- Moore-Towers/Marinaro: SP, FS
- Matte/Ferland (CAN Jr pairs): FS

So some of the Gadbois teams, the Novi teams, and some Montreal-based pairs.

I'll add links later.

 

[Willin]

More dress updates
Tania Bass
-Denis Ten
-Ross Miner FS
She also posted a Shibutani/Shibutani TBT picture!

Pat Pearsall
-Mirai Nagasu Exhibition

To go off of @RoseRed 's post with links
Mathieu Caron
-Virtue/Moir SD1, SD2, FD, practice
-Video of making a new dress for Tessa
-Hubbell/Donahue SD, FD
-Chock/Bates FD
Looks like he's done all of Tessa's dresses this/last season, and Chock/Bates' FD costumes for Under Pressure

On the synchro front (Most top teams don't share who made their dresses, but certain brands are popular; Unfortunately most of the dressmakers from when I skated don't have websites/instagrams and/or the teams don't share who makes their dresses!)
Del Arbour
-Crystallettes Sr
-Haydenettes Sr (No pictures yet)
-Synchroettes Jr

The Line Up
-Team Delaware Jr

 

[skatfan]

Nick Verreos writes up his comments on US Nationals costumes. Got to meet him at the very end of the event - nice guy!

http://nickverrreos.blogspot.com/2018/01/ice-style2018-us-figure-skating_11.html?m=1

 

[Willin]

@skatfan I saw him and wanted to say Hi, but I have a "don't bother the even very minor celebrity" policy. I hope that someday he'll do some skating costumes!

 

[skatfan]

@skatfan I saw him and wanted to say Hi, but I have a "don't bother the even very minor celebrity" policy. I hope that someday he'll do some skating costumes!

I usually don’t either, but he was clearly hanging out in the concourse after the FD waiting for his partner. I had seen him on Project Runway a million years ago, so I took the plunge. When he said that Zach should take off his jacket for the long, I told him that given theme of the FD, it would be too much. Clearly he disagrees!

 

[clairecloutier]

My level of love for Alexa Scimeca-Knierim’s costumes this year is through the roof. Both of them are so delicate, ethereal, yet classy, sophisticated, and on-trend. I feel like when you’re a bright blonde like Alexa, it can be easy for your whole package to get a bit garish, if there is too much bright color and sequins etc. But Lisa MacKinnon’s dresses go the opposite way, making Alexa look classy and elegant.

MacKinnon is really doing amazing work. Ashley’s La La Land costume was so beautiful, as are Savchenko/Massot’s FS costumes, both last year and this year. And I absolutely love her costumes for the Shibs’ SD (both sets, although I preferred the first ones). I would totally go to her if I were a top skater. If I could afford her.

 

[Willin]

Vogue has posted a video featuring many of the dresses Lisa McKinnon has made for Ashley Wagner. Lisa herself posted close-up photos of Ashley's new and improved red Satine dress from last fall. It's one of the few dresses I like from far away more than up close - usually it's the opposite!

As for updates on who made what:
Tania Bass
Michael Martinez (Competition, EX)

Del Arbour
Crystallettes
Haydenettes (SP posted, FS not posted yet)


The Haydenettes dresses were bad on video, but so much worse in this close-up. Del Arbour makes such pretty dresses and Hayden usually has great dresses. What the heck happened this year?

 

[Willin]

Olympic Dress Updates!

Lisa McKinnon
-Aljona Savchenko SP
-Mystery Skater's new dress (I don't know if it's ladies or dance)

Ladu & Lisa McKinnon
-Misha Ge (I believe Ladu did the design and Lisa did the construction or rhinestones?)

Brad Griffies
-Close-up of the rhinestones of Mae Bernice Meite's Beyonce unitard

Mathieu Caron
-Virtue/Moir new FD costumes

 

[chapis]

Interesting article about costumes New York Post https://nypost.com/2018/02/16/the-surprising-engineering-behind-olympic-skaters-costumes/

 

[screech]

There's a celebrity fashion gossipy website I go to called Gofugyourself, and every year they do skating costume recaps after US nationals, Worlds, and O's (when they happen).

So far they've done their recaps for the pairs event and for mens. Dance should probably be up tomorrow. You can also browse their site and see their takes on years gone by.

They also post some thoughts on twitter.

 

[clairecloutier]

So I was noticing that Laurine Lecavalier went for a boy-short cut with her LP costume this season. See here and here. Curious what people think about this. I kind of like it & wouldn't mind seeing more skaters go for this.

 

[muffinplus]

Piper Gilles should win best dressed for that FD cocktail dress.

 

[AxelAnnie]

So I was noticing that Laurine Lecavalier went for a boy-short cut with her LP costume this season. See here and here. Curious what people think about this. I kind of like it & wouldn't mind seeing more skaters go for this.

I loved it!