“The shoulder details curve, like a bull’s horns,” added Bates. “And the chest is sort of reminiscent of a bull’s head. I absolutely love it.”
He went on: “Our costumes really put us into a mindset where we become the characters. That’s really important in figure skating. I think where Madi really excels is in her ability to combine her athletic artistry and her design artistry. And more and more people keep asking. I think there are going to be 10, 12, even more of her costume designs in Milano-Cortina.”
“I would love to collaborate with other brands, just to bring more high fashion into sport,” Chock also said, referencing her love of Ralph Lauren in particular (the label is one of her and Bates’s sponsors). “The overlap has been really popular lately. You see it a lot in tennis. I think golf is going to get more of it. And figure skating, by nature, has these beautiful outfits and costumes… so I think it’d be an easy fit.”
As far as their preparation for Italy goes, Chock and Bates are staying the course. “I think you’re going to see a similar lineup of elements from us,” said Chock. “But as always, we love pushing out creativity. So you’ll also see some fun, interesting lifts from us, and of course, creative costuming.”
It’s been a challening year in figure skating: in January, American Airlines flight 5342 crashed when it collided with a helicopter on the way to Washington’s Reagan Airport. Twenty-eight members of the sport’s community, returning to the East Coast from Wichita, Kansas, which had just hosted the US figure skating championships, were killed.
“That was an incredibly difficult time for the skating community,” said Chock. “But I think we banded together really well to support each other. And we found the family bond that is so prevalent within us. We always say it’s like a family, but that experience… it showed us that figure skating truly is. It was an unspeakable tragedy, and it still lives heavily on our hearts. So there is this even deeper honor to represent US figure skating, every day, while remembering not to take a single moment of it for granted.”