Go on, admit it. If it weren't for the ice skating competitions, you would not be remotely interested in the Winter Olympics. Ok, that could just be me because I was fascinated and also slightly peturbed by the following:
1) How the flesh coloured tights always looked scarily unnatural
2) How much make-up they wore, especially when they do that close-up at the end of their routine and you can see the sweat trickling and running down their make-up.
3) How that smile at the end always looked so wooden and forced.
4) How much spangles, velvet, chiffon, sequins and all the rest of it was involved in their costumes.
Well, amidst all of that, there's also that flared mini-skirt that is a key component of the skaters' costumes, allowing them to do all of those terribly complicated jumps, spins, twists and twirls. In the spririt of reviving the 'naff', the skater's skirt has been lauded as one of the 'key' skirt shapes for autumn winter 07-8 by the glossies. They're flirty, short and so flared that they stick out in a slightly intrusive, trianglar fashion as demonstrated by Christopher Kane's creations.
A quick Google search will find you on some rather attrociously designed websites with some very cheesy models but I believe if you take a look closer, these skating skirts at Rivers Edge Dancewear which come in plain, metallic or velvet materials would suffice nicely should you wish to indulge in the inner Jayne Torvill in you. I think the metallic ones with an all black ensemble of opaque tights, chunky sweater and some biker boots would also kill any 'faux smiley skater' sentiment in the skirt but still retain the flirtatious element of the skirt.
Dig a little deeper and you'll find some ice skating costumes over at Figure Skating Deals that could be classified as being 'so bad it's good'. I picked out the slightly 'tamer' ones here that should you wish to venture out in, with the right styling, could, dare I say, work on some random level or another. For example, a Boombox-frequenter would work these like no other. At $100 a pop, I'm in no way tempted to take this skating costume experimentation on board but if you ARE a skater, perhaps you could try and take your costume out of context and don it in reality.
I also had to post this silver and neon concoction created by Ice Wear. I have no doubt, that someone could wear this out with no qualms at all and since it's a custom-made-to-measure garment, on someone lithe and if worn with those green HoH-Kickers boots, some pink fuschia tights and a perky House of Flora perspex headband...hello wonderfully cartoonish outfit.
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Back to conservative reality though, I did pick up this vintage dress that has a SUPER flared short skirt, not really thinking about it as a seasonal skirt shape, which I will wear cinched in, with leather gauntlets and also the obligatory de-girlyfying chunky boots.
