Olympic figure skater Karen Chen shares touching meaning behind her costume
Chen's mother designed her free skate costume with special meaning.
Karen Chen was lovely in lavender during day three of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games for this year's Women's Single Skating Free Skating Team event.
While she wowed spectators with her performance and look, the Olympian also revealed that her costume was crafted by her mother.
Her free skate dress was embellished with glowing gems, crystals, jewels, and on Team USA's Instagram, she shared more details on the origins of how her latest ensemble came to be.
Alongside the short clip, Chen said that her mother probably does 90% of the work in creating her costumes, while she does about 10%. "I just tell her that looks good, or that doesn't look good, and she does all the hard work, and she puts in blood sweat and tears into it," she added.
Chen said her favorite part of the look was a cluster of dazzling stones in the shape of a butterfly near midriff.
"She strategically picked the stones and arranged them in a way so it looks like a butterfly because my free program I'm skating to a 'Butterfly Lovers' Concerto' and so I just want to be a pretty butterfly on the ice," she continued.
While incorporating head-turning combinations while gracefully gliding across the ice, the Team USA figure skater ended with a total overall score of 65, placing fourth and winning a silver medal for this season's free skate event.
Chen shared her gratitude on Instagram, saying, "truly hat a journey of so many emotions these past few days." She continued, "so proud & thankful to be a part of this team."