As December rears its ugly head, some people diligently prepare for their upcoming exams. Others, resigned to their inevitable fate of abysmal grades, procrastinate instead. I unfortunately count myself among the latter camp, having whittled much of my time away by watching figure skating. After all, it is an Olympic year: the one time every four years in which the mainstream media gives an indication that figure skating does indeed exist.
My opinion on figure skating is rather mixed. On one hand, I love the sport sincerely–at best, it is a sport that blends athleticism with artistry, the triumph of the human will over the constraints of gravity. On the other hand, the idiosyncrasies and the sheer ridiculousness of figure skating brings forth a steady stream of snark on my part. Today, it is the latter half of figure skating I focus on, a part of figure skating that lends itself to a substantial amount of (perhaps not completely unwarranted) ridicule and dismissal: the costumes.
Costumes are a fundamental part of figure skating. Most figure skaters regard themselves as artistes, wringing out their souls on the ice in the form of angsty expressions, overly-dramatic gestures and costumes that appropriately reflect the character of the arty masterpiece they are attempting to pull off. However, as in life, good taste is more often than not a rare commodity in the figure skating world. Which, of course, spurs me to pass judgment on a bunch of hard-working athletes not by the content of their character but by their choice of attire and my completely subjective sense of aesthetics. Ah, internet, my never-ending outlet for catharsis.
And so, without further ado–the best and worst dressed figure skatings of this season (so far):
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