Les Femmes:
Colorful Top Three: (left to right) Silver Medalist Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia, Ashley Wagner of USA with the Gold, and Bronze Medalist Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia, ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Trophee Eric Bompard, Omnisports Bercy, Paris, France
This past weekend was Trophée Eric Bompard 2012, the French-hosted arm of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating invitational international competition. I discussed the Men and their costumes HERE in my last post, but now it's time for the LADIES. As usual, the Ladies Figure Skaters looked like little Princesses in their bedazzled and colorful costumes.
Figure Skating Princesses: Princess Caroline of Hanover Hereditary Princess of Monaco and her youngest daughter Princess Alexandra, seen above at the World Figure Skating Championships in Nice in March of this year
But, speaking of Princesses, there were a couple of REAL ones in the Omnisports audience: Princess Caroline of Hanover, Hereditary Princess of Monaco and her youngest daughter Princess Alexandra--it was very cute when the cameras would pan to them and little Alexandra would be holding up signs for USA's Ashley Wagner as well as some of the French figure skaters of course.
Now let's get to the LADIES and their COSTUMES. First up (Drum Roll Please!)...A COSTUME CHANGE!
Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia: Fourteen-year old Julia (she was born in 1998!!! Ouch that really hurts!) skated her Free Skate to the iconic "Pas de Deux" from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky wearing the above deep lilac costume at this past weekend's Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris. The costume had crystals and stretch lace with criss-cross details (a popular trend in current figure skating costumes) throughout the arms and neckline. It looks a little "Jr. Figure Skater" in the picture above but it came off prettier on TV. This was a Change of Costume from what she wore at the Cup of China 2012 earlier this month:
Julia Lipnitskaia at "Cup of China 2012" during her Free Skate to the "Pas de Deux" by Tchaikovsky. I didn't like this plain lace white costume. Back in my "Cup of China" post, I said that it looked like a cheap lace lingerie and I was alarmed by the sheerness of the lace on a 14-year old. Either someone read my blog or her "people" were thinking the same thing I was and well, voila: Costume Change! It's a good change, but part of me would still like her to look more like this:
Sugar Plum Fairy Ballerina Costumes, "The Nutcracker"
Julia Lipnitskaia in her Short Program Costume to "Sabre Dance" (modern arrangement) by Khachaturian. Yes, it's a BODYSUIT, kiddies--which we don't see often in figure skating, especially in international competitive figure skating. I wasn't a fan of this either but I do like the fact that it's different, unexpected and stands out.
Léna Marrocco of France: I have never discussed Lena in any of my "Figure Skating Costume Minute's" so this is a first and I was excited to do so. When I saw photos of her and this costume, I prayed that she WAS NOT skating to "Les Misérables", and yes, I was right--she wore this for her Short Program to "No Hay Problema" by Pink Martini. Her bright orange and lemon-yellow fringed costume also features THE "figure skating costume" detail of the YEAR--The criss-cross laced-up detail. It's an attention-grabbing costume but somehow looks as if it belongs to one of the 1,000 samba-dancing extras at a Rio de Janeiro Carnival celebration. I also think that if she's going to "Go There", she needs to take it ALL the way; her makeup and hair need to be more finished.
Speaking of Attention Grabbing...and someone who Takes It All The Way:
Joshi Helgesson of Sweden: I've talked about the beautiful Joshi and this costume above which she wears for her Short Program to "Mystere" and "Taiko" from Cirque du Soleil --you can read that HERE. In essence, this I LOVED. This is a perfect example of taking a look to the 110% level, down to her fabulous eye makeup and hair details. There's an element of "Oh No She Didn't!" but in such a good way. Léna Marrocco of France should take note.
Speaking of Oh No She Didn't:
Maé Bérénice Méité of France: Maé Bérénice, I have something to say to you: You are my new Figure Skating Costume DIVA! (someone else can translate that into francais!).
One look at Maé's Short Program costume and I couldn't help but think that she should have probably skated to an instrumental version of Whitney Houston's "Queen of the Night" from "The Bodyguard".
UPDATE:
Well, thanks to one of my FABULOUS blog readers...I learned that in fact I did get
Méite's music wrong. She skated to "1001 Nights". To me, either way, she still looks like a Figure Skating Costume Diva, but this now makes much more sense with the music theme!
Here is Maé Bérénice and the bubblegum pink costume she wears to her Short Program to "Derniere lettre du Prince" by Henri Torgue. It is a WHOLE PLANET away from her Free Skate costume. A planet called "1986 Figure Skating". This is cute for an 8-year old skating at her local rink in Colorado, but not for one of the top French Ladies Figure Skaters.
Finally, I must end with what is--so far--Hands DOWN--my favorite Ladies Costume for this 2012-2013 Grand Prix of Figure Skating series...
Ashley Wagner of USA: Ashley wears this for her Free Skate to "Samson and Delilah". I talked about my utter LOVE for this costume back in my Skate America 2012 blog post HERE. This is perfection. The color, the cut, the silhouette, the intricate bead work...all of it reminds me of a Haute Couture gown from a top Lebanese or Parisian fashion designer. This, kids, is A COSTUME and one that costs a lot of money. And it is worth it! She looks like an International Gold Medalist. Oh, yes, I forgot, she is! She won the Gold at Trophee Eric Bompard this past weekend. Congrats Ashley!
***Up Next...The Pairs Costume Recap of "Trophee Eric Bompard 2012"!
