As a huge fan of Gladiator, I was excited to make a costume that had a cosplay level of detail. Perhaps my mind works in a literal way, but I like to design and make costumes that don't make you wonder what the music is and if a skater is portraying a character, I like to be as true to that character as possible. I was extra proud on this piece that I was able to manually recreate the artwork for the armor and used 3 layers of different color glitter vinyl to give it dimension. 

I made this for myself for 2024 Adult Eastern Sectionals. I'd never competed in free dance before and thought I'd give it a try. Since I was doing a Paul Anka cover of It's My Life by Bon Jovi, I wanted something both classic with a Marilyn Monroe vibe (to match the big band, 50's feel of the music) and modern, to hint at the more rock and roll vibe of Bon Jovi's music. This was my first time making crystal appliques for a costume and I fully lined it since the rink where the competition was held is historically very, very cold so I could skate more comfortably. 

This was for a waltz to music from Cinderella. I had fun created custom 3d printed buttons for this costume, which I panted and stoned to add some further customization. It's these levels of details that I enjoy getting to with costuming. All boys/mens pants I make have stirrups that travel under the boot and snap to the pant leg for comfortable fit that won't ride up while skating. As a skater myself, I understand how important it is that costumes not be distracting whenever possible. I was also honored to make his partner's costume (pictured next).

This beautiful blue might be my favorite fabric ever. It's just so pretty! I hand dyed white applique flowers, hand painted the details, and hand sewed them on. We went conservative on rhinestones to let the dress speak for itself and I think the effect was quite lovely.

This costume was made with custom vinyl tech designs I created on the computer then cut out of stretch vinyl with a Cricut and ironed on. I then stoned over it and the front with matrix-like rhinestone patterns to convey information traveling through the matrix. Shiny fabric in the front of top and at the cuffs matched the colors and added some shine. A faux open collar and tailcoat over the leotard added a Neo like element to speak to the character without being too literal. Every part was of my design :-)

This was a great collab between this gorgeous skater and I. She wanted a black and white look with some cut outs and this was the design I came up with and tweaked according to her specifications. I sewed in bra cups and stoned and stoned until I couldn't stone no more! On the ice: pure class.

This skater and his partner had a free dance to the song "Nureyev" from the movie about Rudolf Nureyev, the Soviet-born ballet dancer. The coach added thunderstorm sounds to the music to give it more personalization and I took that into account for the design. The feathers were to pay homage to Nureyev's role in Swan Lake and to speak to the ballet history of the man and music. Each was hand cut, dyed, painted, and sewn on to add beautiful movement. The rhinestones were arranged in thunder bolts over and around the feathers to speak to the sounds in the music. I absolutely love the sheer bishop sleeves on this costume and how they add a light, ethereal quality. Partner's costume listed next.

This is still one of the most beautiful dresses I've made. I just love the feather details and the gradient I was able to create through custom dyeing. Each feather was hand cut, dyed, painted, sewn, and stoned. I included the thunder bolts of rhinestones on the arms and back to match the music.

I was excited to collaborate with this badass skater to create a costume for National Showcase. Every project is a new adventure and I learned about 5 new things on this costume. This is a good example of a full customization project. Every aspect was discussed, agreed upon, and fabricated to the skater's specifications. 

I used skating in the Christmas recital as an opportunity to try new patterns and techniques. I have long wanted to do a dress with lots of strips of mesh that could create organic lines and fluttery edges and beautiful movement on the ice. I was also excited to try a different back with snaps instead of a zipper. I used 5 different kinds and colors of stones to create the impression of moonlight glinting off snow. This was my first dress for myself with a built in bra and I'm never going back!

This was for my ladies bronze freeskate for 2024 Adult Eastern Sectionals. I had chosen a super fun Hungarian folk tune to skate to and designed this gorgeous, colorful, and (important to me) culturally accurate details and colors. This remains my most complicated and detailed piece of work to date and I'm tremendously proud of it. As happens, I also won the event, so it has some additional good juju :-)

This costume took weeks to finish thanks to having to individually cut and iron on one inch of vinyl details at a time on the skirt hem as well as the stretch vinyl details throughout. Each was hand painted then stones and many hours stoning nearly every inch until, frankly, I just got sick of adding stones and called it done (hehe). 

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Coming soon!