Nobody Skates By on Looks Alone

Before Nancy Kerrigan balked when Campbell Soup stuck her in a loud shirt to promote its product, she received a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics while performing on the ice in a black and white Chanel-inspired outfit accented with pearls.

Before Tonya Harding was placed on probation after being implicated in the attack on Kerrigan, she competed against her in Lillehammer, Norway, in a peekaboo body-clinger. Harding’s skate lace snapped, and you know the rest.

Thousands of miles away and a year later, dozens of budding Kristi Yamaguchis gathered at the Ice Capades Chalet in Costa Mesa Saturday and Sunday for the Orange County Figure Skating Club 1995 Open. The 107 contestants--from 5 to 55 years old and dressed in their best ice-ready finery--competed in showcase events, as well as footwork, artistic, interpretive and free-skating categories. From here, entrants will skate it out in qualifying regional and sectional competitions.

Typically at figure-skating championships, costumes vary from very simple to elaborate beaded costumes that can cost $1,000 to have custom made. The contestants are supposed to evoke style and fantasy while gliding through their routines.

But ask skaters what really counts and they’ll tell you that in the end, it’s grace and footwork, not the sparkling adornments, that catch everybody’s eye.