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Dresses floatEveryone deserves the freedom of expression, but sometimes it's hard to look past the costumes to see the skating.Women’s champion Jennifer Robinson, whose costumes are designed by veteran coach Mari jane Stong and made by a National Ballet seamstress, says she always likes longer skirts on her costumes. “I like the way ice dancers’ dresses float, how pretty it makes them look and I guess I’m sort of emulating them.“I've been using a lot of silk. It’s really soft and makes me feel pretty and comfortable;” Robinson adds, revealing that each of her costumes costs between $1,000 and $1,500.Last year, in their breakthrough season, Canadian pair champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier wore very simple, grey and black outfits depicting the collegiate lifestyle of their Love Story characters, Pelletier recalls a Russian man, whom they didn't know, telling them that they needed to add something to their costumes, that the judges would frown on such plain apparel.Judges can deduct one-tenth of a point from the presentation mark if an outfit contravenes the ISU rule which states costumes must be modest, dignified... not garish or theatrical in design.” Whether that deduction is ever imposed is anyone's guess. The rule also states women must have a skirt and men must have sleeves.For his Peter Gunri Mambo short program,Winnipegger David Schultz is pushing the limits with his Chippendale-esque outfit featuring a sleeveless vest. He wears white cuffs fastened at the wrists.World and Olympic skating judge Jean Senft, who grew up in Winnipeg, reports that a young male skater once asked her what effect dying his hair blue and wearing it in dreadlocks would have on his score.“I told him that if he had really funky music and a costume jAk. to match, I would probably think it was pretty good andk might even, mark him up' artistically, Senft says. “But ifb he was skating to classical music, it might detract.”Senft notes, “What I find particularly interesting these days are the French and Russian ice dancers who have taken to draping yards and yards of chiffon around their bodies. It will billow profusely and make your speed across the ice look greater than it actually is.”As with any fashion, the appeal of a costume is really k a matter of personal taste. Sale and Pelletier’s choreo-I grapher Lori Nichol says that costume choices make1 her so angry sometimes, she begins to think everyonef should wear a generic black ensemble. “It would* destroy the individuality and I just say that when Ithink ‘this is too much.’ Everyone deserves the free-H dom of expression but sometimes it’s hard to look past thecostumes to see the skating.”Canadian ice-dance champion Marie-Franee Dubreuil, who wears metallic gold spandex this season, counters, Everbody's trying to be original and explain a story through their choreography and costume.”As for the costume rule, Dubreuil asks, “Where do you draw the line? It's a funny rule. It's not precise enough for judges to take off marks.”In comparison, pairs skaters’ costumes are conservative for reasons of practicality,“I can't have a lot of beads on my outfit, It would scratch Dave’s face up on the twist, going up into a lift,says Sale. “I can't have a long skirt or use certain materials that would be too slippery to hold onto me when we're doing
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