Vancouver Olympics: In Figure Skating, Women Go Classy, Men Stay Flashy

Feb. 25, 2010— -- It's not often in sports commentary that you hear anyone say, "He rocked the tassel."

But in the highest level of competitive figure skating, the Winter Olympics, that was how figure-skater-turned-commentator Scott Hamilton described Johnny Weir's "spectacular short program" last Thursday.

Fans have always been curious about skaters' costumes. But this year, more people are paying attention to the men's outfits than the women's.

Why? Today's male figure skaters are imitating previous winners -- who wore flashy, bold, outfits at a time when few others would take the risk. The women, on the other hand, have gradually toned down their look. And judging from this year's most successful skaters, the men's outfits are only going to get more elaborate.

Jef Billings, a figure skating costume designer for 18 years and the current director of the Smucker's Stars on Ice Tour, has designed outfits for such stars as Dorothy Hamill and Kristi Yamaguchi.

"When someone does well and wins, I think people pay attention and try to emulate what they see as a successful formula," he said.

When the Russians dominated men's figure skating at every Olympics from 1992 to 2006, Billings said, the rest of the world responded by emulating their style and flamboyant dress. As a result, men's ice fashion has become much more colorful over the past decade.

In 1992, gold-medal winner Viktor Petrenko of Russia wore a bright purple top with gold fringe. At the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan, Russian gold medalist Ilia Kulik wore a yellow and black cow-print shirt under a white vest with black accents.

By 2006, the Russian look had started to trickle into the routines of performers from other countries. The silver medalist, Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, wore a zebra-print top with sleeves of mixed bright orange and blue swirls.

"It's like when a tennis player wins with a different kind of racquet," Billings said. "And then everyone starts to use that kind of racquet. Every competitor wants to win, so they emulate the winner's style to some extent."