Ladies: Part 2 of 4
In our last post, we mentioned how much we hated Yukari Nakano's Firebird costume. We were disturbed to discover that both of our mothers liked it. We are very concerned and think we may both be adopted.
Elene Gedevanishvili. Current World Ranking: #14
Short Program: Fever by Davenport
This is one of those costumes that one of us (Bee, in this case) hates so viscerally that she can't really articulate why. Elle doesn't mind it so much, although she does think it looks like someone was playing a very sparkly version of pick-up sticks all over Gedevanishvili's body. She also thinks long sleeves were a bad choice here. Patterns like this should be broken up.
We have a friend whose opinions on ladies' figure skating costumes are all formed based on the question "Would I dream about wearing this when I was a little girl?" When we first saw this costume, all we could think was that it would make her cry. Elene Gedevanishvili is a ladies figure skater. That is a shining opportunity to wear such gorgeous things, and yet she chose to wear this instead. Bee pointed out that, although we talk about "sparkly onesies" a lot, most of the time the sparkles are from beading and rhinestones and not actual sequins. So she respects that Gedevanishvili went the whole way and made this costume both ugly AND itchy. This costume has also been therapeutic for Bee. She was still harboring some residual jealousy over a sequined dance recital costume her cousin wore in 1994, and now that's healed over completely.
Kanako Murakami. Current World Ranking: #10
We don't really feel comfortable with criticizing costumes of ladies still on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, especially when they are only fifteen. However, Murakami is already ranked #10 in the world. We weren't too mean anyway, since her costumes are fitting for someone of her standing. Bee is pretty much in love with this costume, but all Elle can say is "She has one lace sleeve." She thinks it makes the costume look like a tacky wedding cliché. Normally Bee wouldn't be so fond of white costumes, since they don't really stand out on the ice, but she thinks this one works. As always, what we agree on is the beading. We love the beading.
Free Skate: Swan Lake by P. I. Tchaikovsky
Bee initially didn't know what to think of this costume. There's a lot going on here, but it manages to stick to a monochromatic bluescale, so that helps. Eventually, she asked Elle what she thought of it and Elle replied "It kind of looks like Johnny Weir's Otonal costume." That has made Bee considerably more fond of it.
Mirai Nagasu. Current World Ranking: #18
We're not going to pretend to be impartial, but we will warn you when we're biased. We're biased here. We both totally adore Mirai Nagasu, so of course we love her doing a pirate-themed routine. Bee thinks this is simple, well-designed, and elegant, and that it looks good on television and under rink lights. Elle appreciates the way this works with the music, with the color scheme and the vaguely seaweedy shapes, without being too overly literal (as opposed to, say, Javier Fernandez's interpretation of this music, which included fake skating boots and faux-drunken footwork). We both think black and gold is a fantastic look for Mirai.
This is one of those rare times we feel exactly the same about a costume, which is: it's not our favorite, but we love Mirai enough that seeing it on her bumps us up to liking it. Bee now thinks we should require that all ladies wear red costumes, which annoys Elle because she was hoping to declare black and gold compulsory after Mirai's short program costume. The color scheme and beading remind us of Denis Ten's free skate costume, so we're happy that they'll have something to talk about when they're sharing a coach next season.
Caroline Zhang. Current World Ranking: #12
[top: Skate Canada, bottom: U.S. Championships]
Short Program: Zigeunerweisen by Pablo de Sarasate
We like to think of Zhang's Skate Canada costume as the rough draft to the costume she wore the rest of the season. We wish that when we edited papers for our classes, they ended up as vastly improved as Zhang's costume. The red and black color combination was a little overdone this season, but we don't even care. Bee wants to write a love letter to the neckline. She loves sweetheart necklines and loves the leaf motif this one has. There is pretty much nothing that we hate about this costume and, well, that never happens.
Although we really like this costume, we aren't a really big fan of the rhinestoned lines on Zhang's stomach. Elle thinks they look like owl markings. Bee is not really crazy about the square neckline with its triangle cut out and wishes it was more like Zhang's free skate costume. Nevertheless, we both like this. The beading on the neckline more than makes up for any problems we might have with it.
Kiira Korpi.Current World Ranking: #13
We are uninspired by this costume. Elle likes it, Bee doesn't, but either way we can't bring ourselves to care very strongly. It's simple and inoffensive, and totally overshadowed by her free skate costume.
Free Skate: Crooked Room & Passenger to Copenhagen by Kerkko Koskinen
When we were putting this post together, Bee was concerned. "You realize at some point we're going to have to write about Kiira Korpi's free skate costume," she told Elle. We've been talking about this costume since before we started this blog, because it was one of the costumes that distracted us so much we could barely think about skating. The thing is, Kiira Korpi is totally gorgeous. In fact, Bee has constructed an elaborate theory about some higher power giving Korpi stunning looks in exchange for the worst possible sense of style. "And one day," she said to Elle, starting to sound slightly unhinged, "her lack of style reached a peak and Kiira Korpi found the worst dress ever created. It was beaded and chartreuse and long sleeved and so hideous that Kiira thought to herself, 'My word! Who hath created such beauty in fabric form? Why, I must wear it to the Olympics!' And so she did." Elle's not sure about that, but she does think it's really, really ugly. In fact, it took her a while it to even notice the sparkly stripes, because she could only look at the dress out of the corner of her eye. Looking at it directly still seems kind of dangerous to her, like looking right into the sun. She's pretty sure this dress has the capacity to blind. Bottom line, we really hate it. By the way, Korpi's exhibition costume was made of the same fabric.
[Photo Credits: Gedevanishvili SP, Korpi SP1&2 and FS1. Nagasu SP1&2 and FS2, Zhang FS:Getty. Korpi FS2, Nagasu FS1, Zhang SP1&2: AP. Gedevanishvili FS: Reuters. Murakami SP: Sankei Digital. Murakami FS: Kyodo Photo.]
In my head, I'm imagining the story of Elene Gedevanishvili's free skate to be about her running away and joining the circus. That is probably the only context in which that costume is acceptable.
ReplyDeleteKanako Murakami, on the other hand, looks like a pretty pretty princess in both of her programs, which is totally the point of women's figure skating costumes. I approve.