Crystal Skate

Ever since Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet that 'the apparel oft proclaims the man', this phrase has been circling the globe, confusing people as to whether they should translate it into modern English as 'clothes make the man,' which is what it means literally, or 'clothes don't make the man,' which is what Shakespeare truly meant. Figure skating has distanced itself from this dilemma as it can only translate it as  'the costumes always make the figure skater.' Costumes are as significant in figure skating as they are in theatre because both skaters and actors put on a performance and often play a role. So if an actor cannot play Hamlet in a clown costume, neither can a figure skater skate to its soundtrack in one. To celebrate the beauty and originality of figure skating costumes, I decided to write a series of blog entries which take a look at the best and worst costumes of the glorious season that has just ended. The best costumes in figure skati...

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje have made their home country proud by effortlessly taking the lead in the short programme. They were followed by Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin. On third came Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue. Let's see if the standings change after the free dance. Elisabeth Paradis/Francois-Olivier Ouellette  have a better skate than in the short, on Un peu plus haut . It's a pretty routine with great lifts and open movements. Their score: 84.13 . Overall: 134.48 . Every bit as unique as always, Nelli Zhiganshina/Alexander Gazsi  skate on something called Swan Lake Reloaded . It looks like a modern, rather disturbing version of the ballet, filled with drugs, violence and sex. They have troubles with the twizzles, which is not new for them, I'm afraid. They get 85.60  points. Overall: 140.95 . Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier  are picture perfect on rhythms of blues and jazz. They have such difficult balance points on the twizzles and a lot of difficul...