Huzzah, Grand Prix season is upon us again, and a new season means new costumes. As much I want to go ahead and dissect every single costume right away, that would leave no fun for a long season to come, so I'm going to do this bit by bit. I'll start with one good and one bad from this week's ladies' short program.

The Good: Kimmie Meissner, USA

Although perhaps a little too conventional, Kimmie's dress wins out for me because of its refreshing simplicity. White is always a good choice if you want to look fresh and lovely, which is exactly how Kimmie looks here. The blue rhinestone detailing is pretty and the baby cap sleeves give the dress a sweet, youthful silhouette and is entirely age-appropriate. This dress isn't exciting but it suits Kimmie's music and she looks cute, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The Bad: Miki Ando, Japan

The pretty:

 

L to R:

What a gritty comeback for Marire-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon after that painful fall in Torino. This FD was beautifully skated, and they deserved their silver (so close to gold!). This costume is quite pretty, especially compared to some hideous FD dresses Marie-France has worn in the past. I think there's a bit too much frouffyness going on in this dress, but thankfully Patrice is simple (displaying rule number 1!) to contrast her romantic dress.

Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas (I'm so happy they came back!) had an amazing free dance in Torino (how did they NOT get a medal?! gah). I was hoping they'd pull through with one in Calgary, but depsite a great FD, it wasn't meant to be. However, at least Margarita was dressed tastefully, which is more than can be said for some of the dancers! This simple but elegant Phantom of the Opera dress perfectly suited the music and performance, and I love the corset-style bodice.


The horror: 

 

Top to bottom:

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, the team that brought you the "a copious mass of sequins are sufficient to cover my modesty" dress and the yellow headband, always manage to show up in costumes that should never have seen the light of day. The gold, the quilted red, his horrible top...I can't even begin to analyze this, it's all putrid. Awful taste, just awful. The only cool thing about this costume is the face gloves...but why must they be green and mauve?

Tanith Belbin, what have you done? Just because of the rest of the field consistenly chooses over-the-top, ridiculous costumes, does not mean you have to join those ranks. Your costumes used to be so pretty and well-designed, so what the hell is this? Red and pink, together on one dress? The oversized black tulle ruffle (I never thought I would have to put "tulle" and "ruffle" and "Tanith Belbin" in the same sentence) is dangerously close to joining Charlize Theron's Oscar bows in the massive shoulder accents wall of shame. While this dress doesn't hold a candle to Delobel's monstrosity, this choice is disappointing because Tanith is so much better than this.

L to R:

Kudos are in order for Stephane Lambiel, not just for becoming the back-to-back World gold medallist, but for being a proponent of diversity. Seems Stephane thought that India and Africa were not fairly represented in the mens' competition in Calgary, so he felt the need to re-imagine Vivaldi's Four Seasons as a wild animal extravaganza. Is it a zebra? Is it a tiger (the back is orange!)? Is it some heretofore undiscovered animal with sparkly blue arms? Stephane gets the prize for biggest gap between musical and costume concept. Stephane, you are a talented skater, an electrifying spinner, and you have a cute Swiss accent. Please stop making me cringe so, use some of your prize money to HIRE A BETTER COSTUME DESIGNER!

I don't get Emmanuel Sandhu (on so many levels, but I'm talking costume here). He's got an exotic look and the perfect dancer's body, he does not need to draw attention to himself with tacky costuming. His SP Tango costume was simple and sexy. Unfortunately, his LP costume, while not as bad as his spandex neon pink/black criss-cross pattern fiasco from last year, is still pretty much a debacle. Was it really necessary to choose the TIGHEST BLUE SPANDEX PANTS KNOWN TO MAN, showing us far more of his ass than we ever wanted to see? And I have no idea what's going on in the top half of the costume.

Brian Joubert gets multitudinous brownie points for successfully demonstrating my men's skating fashion category #2! Very nice athletic Matrix costume. While he does not have the lovely artistic quality of Jeff Buttle, Brian is an exciting skater to watch when he's on...(and cute)...

Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin of Canada are bang-on here with this classic and glamourous ensemble. (I cheated a bit here, this pic is from Nationals, but they wore the same in Torino) This costume perfectly fits their short program music, "Big Spender". I love the use of illusion netting on Valerie's dress to create a strapless look, and the thick rhinestone choker along with the brooch-style detail are the suitable glam touches. And Craig looks super sauve in his white vest and matching red tie. You know you're on the right track when you could step out to a fancy function in your costume and not look out of place. It's unfortunate they weren't able to put together better performances in Torino. Now on to the bad...



Photo credit: http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/OlympicGames/photogallery/gallery_143_17.html

While almost all of the ice dance competitors have been particularly offensive these Olympics, I feel the need to particularly dissect this monstrosity, brought to you by Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of host Italy. Really, they should've stayed in retirement (especially after witnessing that OD tumble/death glare incident...). Now, about this shiny peach debacle, they both really need to cover more skin. Barbara's dress is just plain lewd, I am not a fan of the strips of satin barely concealing her. That's also some excessive chest coming from Maurizio. And the overdone gold accents, the epitome of hideous.