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Part Three of my 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships Costume Recap involves the always visually-entertaining ICE DANCE! There is lots to discuss including all the "folkloric"-looking costumes (it's like a Miss Universe Parade of Nations competition!), Cowgirls and Cowboys (in CHAPS!), an IMPORTANT Costume Change (Mon Dieu!) and much more...Here are some of MY highlights from both the Short and Free Dance portions of the Ice Dance competition at the Worlds 2013:






Olesia Karmi and Max Lindholm of Finland--I loved their very folkloric and Finnish-looking costumes for their Short Dance to Säkkijärven Polka and Kesäillan Valssi. The colors were great, loved the trim and applique detail and they both looked very polished. They looked like teenagers from "The Sound of Music" von Trapp family...the Finnish version!






Madison Chock and Evan Bates of USA--Chock and Bates skated their Short Dance to Selections from Quidam by Cirque du Soleil. Madison designed the costumes and I liked them. The colors were impacting, vibrant and perfect for the dance. Hers, especially is a bit over-the-top but then again, that's Cirque du Soleil! I also liked Evan's slim, fitted velvet midnight
blue jacket with trimmed lapel. I kind of wish his pants would have matched though.







Nelli Zhiganshina and Alexander Gazsi of Germany--For their Free Dance titled "Two From the Grave", they skated to three songs "Tore My Heart", "Et Maintenant" and "Rama Lama".
They look like these messy/torn-up
seemingly-rising-from-the-shipwrecked-"grave"couple. It's such a MESS
that I'm actually all for it. I just feel bad for Alexander, because he
really looks as if he got the BAD end of the Costume-and-Makeup Stick. They both look very Helena Bonham Carter going to an Awards Show!




Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy--I LOOOVE! When I saw them step onto
the ice to do their Short Dance, I think I quietly exclaimed "Now, these
are Costumes!". For their Short Program, they skated to a Waltz sung
by Luciano Pavarotti and a Polka by Strauss. These two looked like they
came out of a Vienna Austria dinner theater and straight onto the ice! These costumes blend camp, color, and actual historical
period costumes and do it superbly.




Sara Hurtado and Adria Diaz of Spain--For their Short Dance, these two cuties from Spain chose a Waltz to "Jane's Waltz" and a Polka to "Modern Times". I thought they both looked elegant, so "Old Hollywood Glamour" and still "costume-y" enough for this portion of the Ice Dance competition. I thought her dress was FABULOSO! And I especially liked how the costume designer brought in her lemon yellow color into the boutonniere he had on his chest. Muy bien chicos!





Pernelle Carron and Lloyd Jones of France--Carron and Jones skated their Free Dance to "La Chanson des Vieux Amants" by Jaques Brel. These two looked elegant and very "Red Carpet Ready". I especially admired her costume and that front torso heavy sequin detail. It looked expensive. I also liked his very fitted double breasted suit.




Justyna Plutowska and Peter Gerber of Poland--For their Short Dance to "Mary Poppins" (of course!), they wore these great costumes above. I appreciated the bold and graphic vest of multicolored harlequin print and the juxtaposition of her soft, delicate and lacy dress. It was nice to give him a red neck-tie to go with the pops of red in her dress.





Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada--Gilles and Poirier also skated their Short Dance to Selections from "Mary Poppins" (like the Ice Dance team from Poland above them). As you can see, there were some similarities between both costumes--the red ribbons, red neck-ties on the men, the lace top sections of the girl's dresses. Paul's vest however, was much more subdued than his Polish counterpart. Which Ice Dance "Mary Poppins" costume do you guys like the best?





Allison Reed and Vasili Rogov of Israel--Reed and Rogov performed their Short Dance to "Claudia's Waltz" and "The Rambler's" by The Dreadnoughts. I wanted to highlight her yellow with teal ribbon'ed detail dress because well, it really stood out. It's a little "St. Pauli Girl" and she's a hot minute from serving beer at a Hofbräu but, somehow, I still like it!




Cathy Reed and Chris Reed of Japan--These two really brought the Capital "C" in Costumes for their 2012-2013 Season. For both their Short and Free Dances, they went 110% and I liked them. For their Short Dance to "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", they wore these costumes above. The bright pink and shiny fabric of her
dress was a bit much but very "on trend" with what's going on in fashion for Spring 2013. But the overall theme was appropriate for the
musical.




For their Free Dance to Selections from "The Beatles", they went
pop-art 60's Mod (well, she was!). Again, I really liked these looks.
The color-blocked dress on Cathy was very on-trend yet seem
perfect for the music and ice dance. And notice, kids, how his tie had
the SAME colors as her dress. They get an "A" in costumes for this season!





 Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani of USA--The costumes this brother and sister team from the US wore for their Free Dance were some of my favorites of the entire season. They skated their Free Dance to John Williams' "Memoirs of a Geisha" and I thought their costumes were perfect.
Alex looked sublimely chic in his grey side draped waist-coat/vest,
black pants and white dress short. Maia was a vision of pretty in her
rose-pink and steel-gray Kimono-and-Obi costume.




Julia Zlobina and Alexei Sitnikov of Azerbaijan--For their Short Dance to "Violente Valse" by Caravan Palace and "Dolly Song" by Holly Dolly, Zlobina and Sitnikov went very colorful and festive with their costumes. I like colorful and festive but something about the entire looks hinted of Cirque du Soleil backup performers and looked a little "Happy Hands At Home" arts-and-crafts.




Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia--For their Short Dance to "Andijan Polka", they wore these
costumes above which were some of my favorites of the 2012-2013 Season, especially amongst the "Folklore Costume Category".
The print was fabulous, the crown she wore, the little details in her wrists/sleeve hem, she looked like a Miss Universe contestant at the Parade of Nations Costumes Competition. Oh, and yes, Nikita looked very cute as well.





Irina Shtork and Taavi Rand of Estonia--For their Short Dance to "Old Country Waltz" and "Cotton Eye Joe", these two went COUNTRY!!! On Irina, I absolutely loved the richness, vibrancy of the red gingham, the perfectly tailored denim and the delicacy of the lace trim. She was sassy and looked right at home for a good ol' barn ride--or a line dance competition. But the Star here are those chaps on Taavi! I need to repeat: CHAPS! Plus the matching fringed vest! I want this entire look the next time I go to my Gay Rodeo! Seriously.




Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat--For their Free Dance, Pechalat and Bourzat skated to "Miss You," "Angie," "Symphony for the Devil" and "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones. Their "costumes", if you could call them that, were what I would call "Boho Hippie Chick Meets 'Survivor' Reality Show Contestants". It was a bit of a mish-mash. She wore a cami-like tunic top (or was it a dress) that was a teeny
bit short and her panties kept showing whenever a turn or a lift
occurred. She had accessories on her forehead and a long dangling
necklace that I guess were there to reiterate the "Hippie" part but they
looked a bit contrived. He looked like he belonged in a "Jesus Christ Superstar" revival. To sum it up: I wasn't a fan.






Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada--One word: WOW. Another word: Sublime. Kids, I could go on. And I will. They skated their Silver Medal-winning Free Dance to "Carmen" by Rodion Shchedrin and these ensembles were flawless. So chic, so modern and directional. We have seen those "Carmen" costumes over and over...and OVER again. So how refreshing to not see a red rose in sight, or a mantilla or lace. Yet still, through their powerful performance, you get it! This, kids, is a MODERN Carmen. Thank you very much. Now, to the Costume Change news: This sheer and solid black asymmetrical neckline dress was a change for Tessa in terms of what she had been wearing all season long for this Free Dance...




This above is the dress/costume she had worn for the 2012-2013 season. For the Worlds, she--and her costume designer(s) decided a new black dress would be right. I LOVED the "old" plunging neckline dress above and in fact, thought it was one of THE BEST of all the Ice Dancers this entire season.But I liked the change as well. It's always refreshing to keep the Figure Skating Costume Watchers (such as myself) on my toes, looking out for any little (costume) changes.




Meryl Davis and Charlie White of USA--Gold Medal-winning Ice Dancers Davis and White wore this above for their 2012-2013 Season Short Dance to "Giselle". They looked great--and more importantly,
appropriate for the music. I liked the bold colors on her waist corset and the fringe on Charlie's tan suede vest. I also thought Meryl was very "St. Pauli Girl" (it's a theme it seems here in Ice Dance!) and maybe that's why I loved it!




For their Free Dance to "Notre-Dame de Paris", they went a little
more subdued--Meryl donned a maroon midriff corseted costume and
Charlie...well, he went into his closet and got a black stretch long
sleeve shirt and black pants (or so it seemed). I would have LOVED to have seen a
compatible COSTUME partner to Meryl's corseted damsel. I understand the simplicity in the Men's costumes, allowing the women to be the highlight, but I would love to see just a bit more of a "costume connection" between the two of them.







**Up Next: My Fourth and Final Recap of the Costumes of the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships-THE PAIRS!

Illusion or No Illusion?







Illusion vs. No Illusion. That is the Figure Skating Costume Question. First, let's get some "fabric schooling" out of the way for the folks that may not be on the "up-and-up" on fabrics and what illusion is. Illusion is a mesh/netting-like fabrication very popular in figure skating costumes (as well as with Wedding Gowns, Beauty Pageants, competitive Ballroom Dancing...). It can come in stretch (usually the most popular) and non-stretch. The content is usually nylon, elastene, Spandex,
polyester and/or maybe some silk in the finer, more expensive versions. It
is most often used in nude-or skin-like colors. It is great for mimicking
skin when you want coverage but the effect of being bare. Of course, it
also comes in other different colors (black being the next most popular
color).









The reason it's used--especially in the Figure Skating world is threefold: the fact that it can replicate the look of nude skin but still being "covered"; it can re-create certain style elements such as a "Strapless", One Shoulder or "backless" look and still make the wearer able to do strenuous sport activities; and because of certain "Costume Guide-rules" within the various elements of Figure Skating (Ice Dance, Ladies, Pairs) which require only a "certain amount of skin" to be showing.



Speaking of Rules, here they are:



Rule 500 Definition of Skate Blade and Clothing: At ISU
Championships, the Olympic Winter Games and International Competitions,
the clothing of the Competitors must be modest, dignified and
appropriate for athletic competition – not garish or theatrical in
design. Clothing may, however, reflect the character of the music
chosen.

a) The clothing must not give the effect of excessive
nudity for athletic sport. Men must wear trousers; no tights are
permitted. Accessories and props are not permitted. The decoration on
costumes must be non-detachable.

b) Clothing not meeting the
foregoing requirements must be penalized by a deduction of 1.0 point
(see Rule 353, paragraph 1.m) ii)).



Now, recently, especially while doing my "Costume Recaps" of this season's ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series, I've noticed a lot of "backless" looks from the skaters (the female, of course) as well as lots of illusion.



Here are some Photo Examples:
















Too Dark Illusion--Caroline Zhang of the USA and her Short Program Costume to "The Rushing Wings of Dawn" by Tim Janis. Here's another example of a Ladies Skater and her 2012-2013 Grand Prix Series Costume and the use of illusion. Here I think the coloring was too dark for Caroline's skin tone. But, maybe because there are crystals on it, the effect was NOT to make it look as if she was actually strapless or backless and therefore the too-dark illusion was somewhat intentional. What do you guys think?



Now, one particular skater--a Pairs skater--might be bucking the "illusion" unspoken figure skating costume rule: Tatiana Volosozhar of Russia:




Above is Tatiana in her Short Program to "Love Theme From The Godfather" costume for this season--a halter front and plunging back fishtail-hemmed dress with pearl necklace detail. At first glance, I thought "Wait a minute! Is there no illusion back there?" And then, quickly, I thought, "how in the name of the Costume Gods, is she being held up?"



Let's take a closer look:






From these close-ups, it looks as if there's a very strong nude elastic strap holding the front in place. It does not seem as if there is any of that nude-colored stretch-mesh illusion. I thought this was very unusual. Since, most of these figure skaters use illusion.




In this photo above, you can see that elastic across-the-back strap and possibly...only possibly, a hint of maybe...a line of an illusion fabrication---but...I think it's probably just a tan strap line--a remnant from her last Holiday in Ibiza probably.



Another example of the No Illusion is...




Canada's Tessa Virtue of the Gold Medal-winning Ice Dance team of Virtue and Moir--For their "Carmen" by Rodion Shchedrin Free Dance, she wears a plunging front, open back black costume. The front does have illusion fabrication (and a very good one!), while the back...




...Is Bare! (Mon Dieu) If you look closely at the the upper back left side, there is a nude colored elastic strap (being covered by her ponytail) holding the back up, as it were. But the shocking thing is, that yes, there is NO ILLUSION back there. Could this be the Figure Skating Costume Trend?



Could Figure Skating Costumes go the route of Dancing With The Stars?





Emmy Award-winning Costume Designer Randall Christensen creates these fabulous KRAZEE and Ballroom Dancing Perfect costumes for the ABC hit show "Dancing With The Stars" where miraculously there is little illusion used and lots of open backs, open sides and just about open-everything else, held together by double-stick tape, some heavy elastic straps and a Costume Prayer (And I'm sure there is much more inside those costumes that make them stay where they should!)



So, I put these question up to you guys--the Figure Skating Costume Fans? Illusion or No Illusion? What do you think? Let me know!!