As a ballet freak, it's no stretch for me to be enraptured by men's figure skating. It's another great showcase for masculine athleticism and panther-like grace.
But I couldn't get over the costumes.
They seemed lifted en masse from the wardrobe racks on the set of Blades of Glory.
American Johnny Weir's toned-down long program costume seems to pay homage to Jon Heder's costume from the film.
But what the heck is this? Belgium's Kevin van der Perren's homage to Skeletor?
I was shocked to discover that a favorite designer of mine - not that I've ever worn a garment by her, you understand - purely admiration for her design sense - is responsible for gold medal-winner Evan Lysacek's short program costume. His outstanding performance aside, I was a fan of Evan's choice of sleek black one-piece costumes, but not of the bird features, even if he skated to The Firebird, a favorite piece of mine.
Sorry, Vera Wang. This one didn't do it for me.
I liked the snake suit even less. Vera - say it ain't so!
Call me crazy, but a skater like Evan needs gimmicky flair like a hole in the head. Just let us watch his incredible skating. Don't distract me with feathers and reptiles.
As for Canada's Patrick Chan - why did you wear your grandmother's Sears sale rack vest to the Olympics?
Japan's bronze medal-winner Daisuke Takahashi - why did you wrap yourself in the paper that holds my fish and chips order?
Picky, picky. Yes, I know I am. When it comes to costumes, I'm very, very picky. It's probably why I fought with my university so I could take a History of Costume course, even though it was a Fashion course and I was in the Film program. I finally got permission to take it and got a credit for it in fourth year. Yahoo! Loved every moment of it.
So whose costume did I not despise? For some reason, the men's costumes in the Ice Dancing pairs have not had anything like the Blades of Glory vibe going on. But in the men's figure skating competion, there were only a couple of costumes that I liked. Florent Amodio of France had a nicely understated costume with the right amount of flourish. But I would prefer it without the black gloves.
Swiss sweetie Stephane Lambiel had the almost perfect costume, but the lacey epaulettes should not be there. *slapping forehead*
My favorite, nothing-wrong-with-it costume was worn by Russian Super Snob Evgeni Plushenko. I adored his haughty I-knew-I-could-land-that-quad expression during the short program. Too bad he choked during the long program, but Evan Lysacek couldn't be stopped.
C'est la vie, Evgeni. A real man may land quads, but a true champion would accept his silver medal graciously and save his sour griping till he was behind closed doors.
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