Hipster Style Infiltrates the Olympics - Olympics - Gawker

Hipster Style Infiltrates the Olympics

Though Olympic fashion continues to revolve around flags and garish patriotic color, a strange undercurrent of hip infiltrated this year: jeggings-esque faux denim, a surfeit of plaid, and the world's most ironic mustache.

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French half-pipe snowboarder Mathieu Crepel sported the world's most ironic mustache last night. Let us count the levels of irony: (1.) Beginner's irony: It is a fake, black-ink mustache on an adult. (2.) Advanced-placement irony: It is drawn on top of his real mustache. (3.) Nationalist irony: A teensy, curling mustache on a Frenchman, at an competition that emphasizes one's citizenship. I was unable to find explanation for Crepel's stache other than (paraphrasing) "kid is weird."


The American snowboard team's uniform were either Cobain-era grunge (a gateway fashion to hipster) or the same outfit everyone in Williamsburg wears, but baggy and warm-looking. Designed by Burton, the snowpants aren't actually jeans, just "overlaid images of worn denim" via a fancy-pants (pun!) fashion technique called sublimation, explains ever-explaining website Slate. Ergo: Jowpants. At the flower ceremony for men's half-pipe, Americans Shaun White and Scott Lago wore theirs, while Finland's Peetu Piiroinen sported a jaunty plaid of his own. [AP pic]


Italian figure skater Samuel Contesti wore a plaid shirt and a never-before-seen feat of tailoring that Dov Charney is surely imitating as we speak: Faux denim overall leggings with stirrups and asymmetry. In this picture, Contesti even looks like he's yawning. Bored and disaffected, just like party photographer ordered.[AP pic]


Plaid and suspenders on Switzerland's Anais Morand and Antoine Dorsaz. You could even say Anias is rocking the shorts-over-tights look. Although I wonder if Burberry imitations should count; they strike me as tacky in a non-ironic way. [AP pic]


Bold argyle--in two different colors!--for the Norwegian curling team. Upon seeing them, American curler Chrys Plys tweeted "Norway has the crazy pants. Kickin it retro I guess." [Getty pic, tweet via SeattleTimes]


Though I originally assumed Czech figure skater Tomas Verner's pants were fake denim, the more I stare at them, the more I become convinced he's actually wearing bellbottom jeans. Lest the width of his Tomas' pants leave you unconvinced, here is American Apparel's "Sailor Shirt" outfit for comparison. But really, I just want to know how Tomas avoided crotch-chafe doing spread eagles in such restrictive pants. [Pic: AP, AmericanApparel]

 

Gold-worthy fashion at the Winter Olympics.

2010 Johnny Weir - Poker Face EX (US Nationals)

Johnny Weir is a caricature of a person. Check out this performance from 2010's US Figure Skating Championships.

‘Hey, Ryan?’ ‘You Mean Me?’ - Vancouver 2010 Blog

VANCOUVER, British Columbia

"All the Ryans will be in the hallway," Dave Fischer, the senior press officer for the United States men's ice hockey team, said Monday before a news conference at Canada Hockey Place.

He was referring to the seven players on the 23-man Olympic roster with Ryan as a given name or a surname: goalie Ryan Miller; defensemen Ryan Suter and Ryan Whitney; and forwards Ryan Callahan, Ryan Kesler, Ryan Malone and Bobby Ryan.

"You say Ryan, and three guys turn around," Coach Ron Wilson said. "You need to learn their nicknames."

The N.H.L. Players' Association lists 21 players whose given name is Ryan as having skated in the league this season. Bobby is the only one with Ryan as a surname. So, 32 percent of all N.H.L. Ryans are playing for the United States Olympic team.

The figure does not include the Canadian Ryan Getzlaf.

Seven players on USA's 23-man Olympic team have the name Ryan as their first name or last name. I wonder what their nicknames are...

Live-Blog: Men's Figure Skating, Short Program

Much of this blog is experimental, so I'm trying live-blogging via CoverItLive. We'll see how this goes.

Unlikely Victories

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Day 4 was a day of surprises and well-earned victories across the board. In both men's downhill skiing and pairs figure skating, the gold went not to the pre-race favorite, but to the veteran competitor.

Yesterday, alpine skiers took to the (somewhat slushy) slopes at Whistler Creekside for the men's downhill competition. Despite a recent thumb injury, Switzerland's Didier Cuche was a gold medal favorite, as was World Cup champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway. In the end, Switzerland's Didier Défago ended up with the gold, finishing 0.07 of a second above Svindal. Défago was an unlikely winner--he had never before placed in a World Cup or Olympic competition. At 32 years old, this win made him the oldest man to win the downhill. America's Bode Miller, who did not medal in any of his five events in Torino, took the bronze.

After a flawless short program, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China upset Russia's 42-year winning streak in pairs figure skating. Though their free skate was not quite as smooth as their short program, the sizable gap they maintained over the other pairs put them on top, taking home China's first gold medal for pairs skating. Another Chinese pair, Pang Qing and Tong Jian, won silver, with two-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy winning bronze. As in men's downhill, the gold went to the oldest competitors (Shen and Zhao are 31 and 36, respectively, and have skated together for 18 years). These are the stories we remember, the stories that bring the Winter Olympics to life--stories of lifelong dedication, raw passion and relentless commitment to excellence, always keeping the Olympic gold in sight.

[Photo courtesy of guardian.co.uk]

Music on Ice

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After tonight's kickoff to Vancouver's pairs figure skating competition, two names stand out: Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo. Their crisp, flawless short program routine was the best pairs skating I've seen, and was augmented by an interesting music choice. The pair chose an orchestral arrangement of Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever?" -- a piece that truly elevated the power and grace of their performance. Shen and Zhao may be the oldest pair in Vancouver, but their short program had a spark that their competitors lacked.

Other pairs also chose unique musical selections. Canada's Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison skated to a piece from the haunting Requiem for a Dream, and Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig of the United States chose "Portuguese Love Theme" from Love Actually. Unlike Shen and Zhao, though, whose music was a perfect complement to their routine, Dubé-Davison and Evora-Ladwig were outshone by the strength and intensity of the music they chose. Their routines seemed flat in comparison, and their scores (which placed them at 6th and 10th, respectively) reflected that.

Going into tomorrow night's free skate, Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (two-time world champions) lie just 0.68 below Shen and Zhao, with Russia and China not far behind. As usual, though, I'm more excited about the Figure Skating Exhibition Gala on February 27, when the skaters we've fallen in love with mix it up a bit with more light-hearted routines. 

[Photo courtesy of nytimes.com]

The Curling Lords of Argyle - Video Library - The New York Times

Norway's curling team mixes it up with argyle golf pants.

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