Top-10 best costumes. Ladies season 2016-2017
The final part of my annual fashion review dedicated to beautiful ladies.
Ladies were the only who really pleased me this season. There were do many great, amazing anf just lovely dresses. Actually even nothing to burn) Hope that Olympic season will be the same.
Girls were surprisingly resistant to the herd instinct. There were no mass trend. Well, you remember: “black jumpsuits”, “flowery finishing”, “ombre”. Girls had more individuality in costumes that couldn’t but rejoice.
The fringe in this season is was ubiquitous. It penetrated into all disciplines of figure skating, even in male single skating (Takahito Mura did not resist and used some fringe for his shirt). In ice dance’s fashion review dresses with a fringe were out of competition, but still mentioned in the annual ranking, I see no reason not to do the same for singles.
Alaine Chartrand and Mariah Bell aka blak and white swans)
Black dress with black fringe looked spectacular and reminded me Ashley Wagner’s dress from last season. In addition to fringe added other trendy things such as translucent inserts, massive necklace. The image turned out playful, but elegant. Ice dancers can start making some sketches for themselves, but it is advisable to draw with colored pencils.
Mariah chose silver for Chicago. It was risky – she could easily “be lost” on the ice. Fortunately this did not happen. The dress turned out flirtatious, playful and not at all vulgar. Transparent inserts on the sides “slender” the waist, deep V-neck “prolonged the neck.” There was some hair accessory in the tone of costume, but a hairdo in the style of 20-30th would look much better with this dress than simple ponytail.
Ok, let’s start!
10. Da Bin Choi, Na Hyun Kim, So Youn Park and Anne Line Gjersem
In her time Yuna Kim showed us that Koreans are good in fashion (amount of unsuccessful costumes in senior career = 0). So no wonder that others are catching up. Alas, so far only in fashion.
Next season Da Bin can say that she skated to La la land before it became a mainstream) In green dress.
Girls, don’t panic! There are still blue, yellow and white dresses! But green is my favorite. Another reason to chose green – it’s not an overused color in figure skating. It’s necessary to stand out somehow) Da Bin has nice adaptation of the movies dress decorated with rhinestones.
I do not remember what music Na Hyun skated to, but I remembered her dress with barbed wire. Non-standard. Stylishly. And even bravely. Designers use chains quite actively, playing on contrast with feminine silhouettes, creating confident and even militant images. But I haven’t seen a barbed wire in fashion before) That’s something new.
I also want to point out the hair accessory, completely in the style of the costume. I like when skaters pay attention to the details.
So Youn regularly pleases me with lovely dresses and a fashionable make-up. Laconic black was the theme of this season fo her. For the short program, she chose one of the classics of the genre “black + gold”. Simple cut, beautifully decorated bodice. This girl also can wear a dress with American armhole)
There was, there is and there will be a lot of light gold finishing on black dresses in designers collections. For example, we can look at Marchesa.
Wow! No red and black costume for Aranjuez) Instead, she wears moderate and rather a strict dress. I remembered it primarily because of the mesh – black with polka dot. Well, at least someone knows that in addition to “bad nude illusion mesh” and “good nude illusion mesh” some other options exist. There is also a beautiful finishing with rhinestones, passing from side to waist like a snake tail. Interesting detail.
Anne Line is a regular guest in my fashion reviews, taking a niche of pretty girlish dresses. This yellow lace dress is very charming. Sunny, summer and very feminine. The black ribbons are very useful for contrast. A popular idea, embodied in dresses from casual to evening gowns.
Dresses by Valentinо and Elie Saab:
9. Kaetlyn Osmond and Gracie Gold
I liked Kaetlyn’s dresses (so I would like to see them on someone else), but they did not suit Kaetlyn. Come on, designers! Yes, she is not a thin-boned elf, whom you love so much. But she doesn’t have that much difficult body-type to make it impossible to sew lovely outfits for her!!!! The only thing you neede to do is not to make her upper body look wider!
The dress for the short program is nice and atmospheric, beautiful dark blue color. The flying scarf was followed by a trail of French perfumes. I usually do not like all this scarves, gloves (they rarely look good), but here everything was in the spirit of the program. The “corset” with a beautiful finish, but too massive.
Looking at the strong, shining with a cheerful smile Osmond, there was no associations with a girl dying of consumption. In FP, Kaetlyn skated about something different in the lovely, not poorly decorated dress of my favorite burgundy shade. Well, it looks good on the ice and suits to brunettes. The idea of a “corsage” dress is pretty clear, and I like dresses with sleeves. But something was wrong with that corsage and they again made her look wider than she really is(
Ah and I found a prototype:
I take my words back! Apparently, the splendor of the singer’s forms inspired the designers so much that they tried to make poor Osmond look alike.
Tango … without a rose in hair? Optimistic start) Tango for second season in row, but this time the dress was more bold and seductive. And even “haute couture”.
Versace dress
But in the previous program and in the previous dress, I liked her more. It’s not enough just to put on a haute couture dress. A dress like this must be properly presented. This did not happen this season. But the podium version is well adapted to the ice, the quality of the nude illusion mesh can make anyone envy. And as always, attention to detail – a suitable hairstyle and earrings.
The dress for the free program is chic and stunning …… would be in show under the spotlights. What was they thinking about? I mean besides the symbolism “Gold in gold” and the fact that all the podiums of the world crowded with such “golden” dresses?
Dresses by Elie Saab and Reem Acra
Well that doesn’t matter. In the FP mademoiselle Gold skated with an effect of absent dress. So well matched it was with her skin tone. Shame on you everyone who can’t choose a small piece of nude illusion meht in tone with your skin. Maybe that was the idea?)
8. Evgenia Medvedeva and Wakaba Higuchi
I like that they don’t try to make Evgenia look older. She has totally age-appropriate dresses. Sky blue is a very good color for this SP. In combination with this music, looked like a streamlet or drops of warm rain. The decoration is beautiful: sequins, laces, dyed fabric. The idea is excellent, but there is a problem with proportions. The waistline and the abundance of trim in combination with the wing-sleeves made the top disproportionately large compared to slim legs. And I don’t like the gloves, especially of this color.
I like the dress for the free program more. First, you know that I love dresses with sleeves) Secondly, I like the experiment with the length of the skirt. It’s something new for Zhenya. There is just an amazing finishing on the bodice, creating the effect of a high waist. Made with taste. And just an amazing shade of gray – beautiful and noble. Therefore, I do not like this coloring in pink at all! The dress at once became simpler and trivial ( Maybe it was necessary to dye the fabric differently and less, or not to do that at all.
Another fan of ombre effect. Very beautiful top, with a light drapery, high waistline (this is a good idea for Wakaba) and a massive decoration. The top of the dress looks expensive. And it could be … ..well it should have been a chic evening dress in miniature. But then someone decided that something was missing … .Let’s add ruffles to the sleeves? We do not have sleeves. Wow, what a pity, let’s use the mesh and do sleeves with ruffles. Dark blue is not beautiful enough. Let’s dye the fabric! Which color? Which do we have? Yellow? Well ok, let it be yellow.
I don’t deny that the dress turned out pretty. But it could have been better! I guess It’s time to arrange a strike against ombre effect)
7. Maria Sotskova and Mao Asada
I admired Masha’s dresses back in juniors, so I was looking forward to see this girl skating in seniors. And I was quite pleased with her fashion-debut.
For the butterfly from the short program they chose a dress from the collection of Zuhar Murad. It is a pity that most likely there was no such rich green shade among fabrics suitable for fifugre skating.
Dresses by Zuhail Murad and Versace
Also, adapting the idea of a real evening dress for the ice, you need to remember that you do not have a meter skirt at your disposal, so the finishing on the bodice needs to be proportionally reduced for balance. The top of Masha’s dress was a little overloaded with details. But in general it was an interesting, memorable look.
Dress for the FD has very simple cut, without extra details, to focus our attention on the main idea – flower garlands on the shoulders and back. I think Masha was the first who used floral decoration this way in figure skating. Light skirt made the image even more tender compared to the prototype. And only the selection of the nude illusion mesh failed (
Dresses by Tarik Ediz and Giambattista Valli
I’m glad that at the end of her career I saw my favorite skater in a completely different image.
I really like both variations of the red dress for FP. They are very similar, but still … .. the one with the denser laces and the skirt with the pintuck (right photo), I like it more. It looked less typical for figure skating, like a separate lace body and a skirt for dancing. Both dresses are almost without sequins and rhinestones. The main decoration is lace. And of course, Mao herself, who does not need any sequins to shine brightly. These were very beautiful, feminine dresses, different from those that Asada wore before.
6. Kailani Craine and Elizabet Tursynbayeva
Australian Kailani Craine showed us a nice, thought out to details look in retro style. Gently pink will always be a good choice for a young girl (albeit not the most original) and shirt dress is not only a reference to 50-60th, but also a trend of the last summer seasons. Stylis, so girlish and charming.
There is something about this dresses with ribbons, collars, bows. Cute girlish spontaneity. And, the main thing is to catch the moment while you can put on such dress. It is not as long as it seems. You will have plenty of time for “serious adult” dresses.
Elizabet has one more variation on the theme of retro and “good girl”. Lovely dress with beautiful sophisticated finishing. This is an expensive dress, where all the details are made with taste. Elegant, but still a girlish. I also like the pink underlayer. Collars with sequins also continue to be popular.
5. Julia Lipnitskaya and Anna Pogorilaya
In the fifth place there is the autumn dress of Julia Lipnitskaya. A beautiful and graceful thing that suited so much to new mature Julia. I really like this cut, that emphasizes figure and lines. Instead of usual back design “rhinestones on the mesh” Julia has an open back with interesting tiny strips decoration. Looks nice and unusual.
Also thank you for the brown color, undeservedly ignored in figure skating. By the way, I wonder why? Is it considered unhappy? Or not looking good on the ice? As for me, this dress looked great both for TV and live.
Finally, the designer of Anna Pogorilaya had an insight that she’s a stunning beauty. Alas, the insights did not last long and was enough only for one dress.
However, it’s almost impossible to spoil the idea of little black dress. I like almost everything about this dress: asymmetrical design, unusual length, stunning view of an open back, absence of finishing. Even Russian answer to Yuzuru’s sea plant stopped distracting and annoying me over the time. She presented it with a truly royal chic and confidence! I even found some fashion-prototype:
Dress by Giambattista Valli
4. Satoko Miyahara and Elena Radionova
I love novelties and non-ordinary solutions (and who does not like them?), but I have nothing against the old-good ice-princess style. Satoko looked very good, as lovely statuette of expensive porcelain in the ancient sideboard. Beautiful, delicate dress with a light silver finishing flied along with Satoko. I do not know what it has to do with La Boheme, but it definitely reminded me of Princess Elsa from Frozen)
White is always risky choice for ice. The big risk to get “lost” on the ice. Why did Satoko choose white for her free program?
Perhaps this is a reference to white outfit of Princess Leia from Star Wars. Perhaps the color and style are reference to the Greek togas, and Satoko plays an ancient goddess. Or the white color symbolizes purity and innocence against the cruel and harsh world.
I think it would look even more spectacular for the gala, with dark arena and spotlights. Yes, I have some questions about design (I do not really like this cross-drapery on the chest), but I like that the image is worked out to the details. Satoko also receives the prize for the best hair accessory.
There were a lot of discussions about Lena’s dress for SP. It’s kind of love it or hate it. Well, I really liked it. First, this is something new and unusual. Seeing 1000 and 1 variation of leotard + chiffon skirt of standard length, you start to appreciate experiments with fabric, style and texture. Secondly, I was surprised that all the effects in the dress were created by fabric, not by any finishing like rhinestones. Thirdly, the dress is completely in the style of the program. Lena is such a coquette from 20-30th. But it was a feeling that over the season Lena started to grow out of this dress.
She’s keeping the SP, interesting what she’ll decide about the dress.
Dress for the free program Lena designed herself. It turned out very, very well. Much better than last season’s something with brass knuckles made by famous designer.
A gentle color pallet that suits to blondes. Beautiful finishing as “flashes” on the bodice. Something reminiscent of dresses from the collection of our beloved Zuhair Murad:
I really like the dress, but I think that something is lacking in her image and in this dress she could skate to any classical-lyrical music.
3. Gabrielle Daleman and Mirai Nagasu
This season, Gabrielle surprised me not only with the results, but also with her outfits. The golden rule – choose something one. Color, style or finishing. With both dresses Gabrielle bet on finishing and did not fail.
I especially like the dress for the short program. It’s quite bold. I’m not a fan of massive finishing. But I must admit, cobras turned out luxurious and inspiring. Exactly what such a powerful music needs. The image was bright, dangerous and memorable.
The dress for the free program is also very beautiful. Dazzling. There are so much sequins on it. This season Gaby picked up very good designs which showed her as a strong, but beautiful and elegant girl. And only one thing frustrates me) Gershwin … .in blue dress … ..again….. Yes, yes it’s Rhapsody in blue, but I do not lose hope that there will be brave people who will not skate to it in blue costumes)
Royal purple, royal finishing, royal necklace, royal dress. This dress is luxurious and magnificent. It would seem that everything is the same – the same heart neckline, the same chiffon skirt. But the color and finishing made this dress. I’m not a fan of “expensive” finishing, because skaters is not always able to use it wisely and with taste. But when they succeed, turns out WOW.
2. Ashley Wagner
I really like the asymmetry and sharpness of the lines. I like that the dress is not black and not in the style of disco. This is a cool stage outfit, you can imagine a pop diva wearing something like this. The finishing is also cool. Golden rain and a chic epaulet. The image was stylish and very sexy. I do not like only one detail – a bright blue bottom layer on the skirt.
Dresses by Basil Soda and Georges Chakra
All season I admired her dresses for the free program. I really like both.
White and gray combination is one of the most popular choices for the Muse program.) The dress turned out very beautiful, with a note of sadness, but with amazing finishing. So beautiful that I’m ready to close my eyes on ombre effect) Something in this dress reminds me of Jenny Packham’s gowns:
I do not know why Ashley decided to change the dress. Maybe she wanted to add drama and colors. Maybe her heart demanded some changes. The second dress was also very beautiful. I like the rich color scheme. In such little amounts I’m ready to tolerate ombre. Moreover, here is an example when it was done tastefully. Probably, here it will be appropriate to recall Elie Saab:
Again beautiful finishing. But the main decoration of the dress, in my opinion, is the design of the back. But with all the beauty of the new dress, I liked the gray one more. It seems to me that it fitted the mood of the program and music better.
Before I can name the winner, I’ll still say. We saw many beautiful dresses, many elegant finishes. But sooner or later you realize that yes it’s beautiful, but you’ve already seen it all before. This year and in the year before … .. Probably, therefore, after some hesitation, I chose the winner, who needed only two colors and a minimum of finishing for the wow effect .
- Carolina Kostner
I missed her bold choices and beautiful lines, both in skating and costumes!
The costume for the short program is original, like the choreo itself. Stylish, modern and unordinary. The idea of asymmetry and black and white yin-yang regularly inspires designers and appears in fashion world.
Dresses by Zuhair Murad, Georges Hobeika and David Koma:
But for figure skating it’s something new and bold. Carolina was never afraid to experiment. But what I like most about this dress is that it is not just original itself. All this originality is used to show in the program, in choreography. It’s high-class.
Oh yeah, we remember that Carolina is very good when it comes to little black dresses.) What could be more elegant than a little black dress? Only a perfectly sewed, perfectly fitted little black dress. Exquisite image, emphasizing the beauty and nobleness of the lines. Minimum of finishing … ..just as much as necessary for decoration and sophistication. Very beautiful design of the back. In general, everything, as I love) Timeless classics.
Related topics: Alaine Chartrand, Anna Pogorilaya, Anne Line Gjersem, Ashley Wagner, Carolina Kostner, Da Bin Choi, Elena Radionova, Elizabet Tursynbayeva, Evgenia Medvedeva, figure skating costumes, figure skating dresses, Gabrielle Daleman, Gracie Gold, ice style, Julia Lipnitskaya, kaetlyn osmond, Kailani Craine, Mao Asada, Maria Sotskova, Mariah Bell, Mirai Nagasu, Na Hyun Kim, Satoko Miyahara, So Youn Park, Wakaba Higuchi
Carolina’s dresses were beautiful, but I must say my favorite dresses this year were Ashley’s. Anna’s black dress was gorgeous too. And I also loved Zijun Li’s dress for the FP.
Thanks for this really thoughtful and comprehensive review of ladies figure skating fashion. Though I’m really surprised by your love of Carolina’s costumes this season. They seemed kind of unfinished or an after-thought. I actually really liked her original short program costume, the blue and black sequin shorts, before she changed to the black-white assymetrical dress (which reminded Evgeni Plushenko’s 2003 costume, not a compliment).
“original short program costume”
That one was great! Carolina is one of the few who can wear shorts with skates)
But black&white was more interesting, bold, modern, high-tech minimalism. And I liked how the costume highlighted some moments in choreo.
I absolutely LOVE how you show the fashion inspiration to these fantastic skating costumes!
I really like Anna Pogo’s LBD this year! It was chic but not boring, and combined with the hair and makeup it was really good.
Evgenia’s SP blue dress didn’t fascinate me, not my shade of blue (I prefer the darker blue from last season), but I liked her FP grey dress. Nice finishing on the bodice and long flowing skirt, the grey + pink ombre combination was a surprise but not bad. The only thing I dislike is the empire waistline?
Maria’s butterfly dress was also very memorable. I usually don’t like taking an inspiration so literal but this one looked nice.
Satoko in her white dress looked like a greek goddess. And yes, she got the prize for hair accessories. (Thank you to everyone who’s not putting a flower in her hair.)
I really really like Ashley’s black&blue asymmetrical SP dress. It was so shic I cried. And it suited her. But Carolina’s black&white asymmetry, not so much.
“I really like Anna Pogo’s LBD this year! It was chic but not boring, and combined with the hair and makeup it was really good.”
I really hope she’ll have nice dresses in Olympic season. She’s such a beauty! She deserves great dresses!
Hair accessories are always welcome))
What is “American arm hole”?
Design of neckline, for sleeveless dresses and tops.
http://en.texsite.info/American_armhole
I bow to you FS Gossips. I am a life-long fashionista and I had never heard this term. Of course, I dropped out of sewing class in grade school. I was hopeless. :-)