Evan Lysacek designed by Vera Wang
When I perused the headlines on Wednesday morning, the day after the Olympic men’s figure-skating short-program competition, and saw that Yevgeny Plushenko, the Russian skater who is in first place going into the long program, had “dissed” Evan Lysacek, the U.S. skater who is nipping at his heels in second place, I was worried he’d said something about his costume. He hadn’t. (Plushenko had actually made a jibe about including a “quad” jump in competition, which Lysacek, because of an old injury, does not do.) But really, he could have.
Lysacek’s skating was divine on Tuesday night, but his costume was nearly unwatchable: black strips of fabric wrapped and wrapped around the bodice as on a sinister mummy, a sparkly strip of fabric around the neck like a gaudy necklace, feathers at the wrists (song choice: Stravinsky’s “Firebird”), and what looked more than anything like rolled black pipe cleaners at the shoulders. The slicked-back hairdo didn’t help. Lysacek is built like a truck driver, and the whole ensemble just looked … unseemly. As he waited for his results, and the camera treated us to a close-up, I kept wanting to protect his dignity by averting my eyes.
Samuel Contesti
But Lysacek’s getup wasn’t even the evening’s worst. Even more execrable was the outfit worn by Italy’s Samuel Contesti (song choice: the J. Geils Band’s “Whammer Jammer”): an overly cutesy ersatz flannel-shirt-and-overalls combo, with one side of the bib hanging off the shoulder. The orangey faux dirt and wink of a flannel butt pocket took it way over the top.
Johnny Weir
And the good? U.S. skater Johnny Weir’s black-and-fuchsia number was an indisputable highlight. The NBC commentators (Scott Hamilton and that woman who drives me batty) couldn’t stop chuckling about Weir’s having said he was going to “rock the tassel” that hung from one shoulder. But by the end, even those two, who had been clucking about Weir’s “controversial” comments off the ice, were solemnly noting that he had, in fact, rocked it — hard.
Weir notwithstanding, my personal favorite costume of the evening was Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka’s gorgeous rock-and-roll-inspired number (song choice: Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold as Love”): the faux black jeans, and that resplendent red shirt. Beautiful.
If you missed them, you can watch videos of all the men’s short programs here.
PHOTOS: Dimitar Dilkoff, Yuri Kadobnov, and Matthew Stockman via gettyimages.com
Jillian reynolds says:
Evan’s costume was designed by Vera Wang
Bradford Shellhammer says:
I like Evan’s costume!
I think it is hilarious that you did not like Evan’s but did like Johnny’s. They’re both so flaming, flaming, flaming!
Michelle says:
I think he looked more like a scary black raven than a Firebird –Interpretation aside, I didn’t really mind the costume myself…Samuel just made me feel downright uncomfortable as I was watching him. Loved Johnny’s hot pink and black creation! I am glad his coach let the real Johnny shine through!
thatgirlinnewyork says:
the hendrix song is “axis: bold as love”. evan needs to re-think his whole look. the slicked-back guido hair and fake ‘n bake tan make him look cheap, and his costume choices are consistently disastrous. that said, i wholeheartedly agree on the poor quality of the commentary. scott hamilton takes particular delight in expressing every flaw, and that former canadian skater sounds like she’s on lithium, and has little good to say, either. someone needs to tell them, “you’re not judges–you’re making commentary!” comments are not criticism. do your job, supply the snappy factoids, and explain technique. otherwise, it just comes off as sick jealousy.
and bradford–what’s with the “flaming”? hardly useful.
Renee says:
When Evan skated out on the ice, I told my friend on the phone “OMG, he looks like a Guido! He’s giving “The Situation” from the Jersey Shore a serious run for his $$$!”. His skating was indeed glorious, but the outfit was a little off. What was with the feathers at the end of the sleeves???? He reminded me of one of those fancy breeds of chicken that have these HUGE plumes of feathers around their necks and legs!!! It’s okay on poultry, but on a REALLY tall guy on skates??? As for young Samuel from Italy, I was convinced he would be skating to music from Broadway’s “Lil Abner”. Takahiko’s out fit was perfect for the music he choose. GREAT look! Can’t wait to see what costumes the guys will be wearing tonight, but my heart is with Johnny!!! With the exception of the SMALL technical error of landing a jump on the wrong edge (puh-leeze!), he ROCKED IT!!!! TEAM WEIR ALL THE WAY!!!!
Miriald says:
I could have sworn that Evan had made the (very wise) choice to pluck those wrist feathers at some point earlier in the season. Guess he and his coach decided they should come back. They look ridiculous, but I think the Guido hair and the awful fake tan are worse.
Team Johnny all the way!
Bradford Shellhammer says:
I guess I just like hand feathers. sorely lacking in fashion today.
SUNfiltered : Fresh culture daily. » Blog Archive » Make it or break it: Can Johnny pull out all the stops? says:
[...] From the rink to his wardrobe, read what Johnny has to say about being a fashion icon on ice. Get more on the good, the bad, and the ugly from the world of men’s figure skating at Full Frontal Fashion. [...]
Men’s free skate: Snakes, silver buttons and style « Full Frontal Fashion says:
[...] in the men’s free skate, though still odd, was a far sight more comfortable to watch than that short-program number Wang designed with what one Full Frontal Fashion reader called the “HUGE plumes of [...]
Millie Ashbury says:
Evan’s costume certainly did not add to his skate. He became a champion in spite of it.. But to say that Johnny Weir’s costume was fashion…is incorporating bad women’s stripper corsets with pink piping into a skating costume innovative? Just go to KMart for ideas to make a Barbie doll’s outfit a skating costume-people will say you are a designer genius. Coco Channel should haunt them all….