[2025.06.24] Figure Skating Life Extra: The Magnificent World of Skating Costumes VI

[gapil27]

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist*

Figure Skating Life Extra: The Magnificent World of Skating Costumes VI
フィギュアスケートLife Extra「華麗なるスケート衣装の世界VI」 

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https://amzn.asia/d/0fzE9X6H

Yuzuru Hanyu’s Costumes: Letting Go of Preconceptions

(Excerpt when Satomi Ito talked about Yuzu's costume, P. 10-11)

- Speaking of another of your famous “Boléro” costumes, there’s Yuzuru Hanyu’s “MANSAI Boléro.” The fabric reflected light like water and was incredibly beautiful. What concept gave birth to that costume?
 

Spoiler

The starting point was Hanyu-san’s request: “I want the image of Nomura Mansai’s ceremonial style.” I told him that I didn’t understand the authentic structure of traditional kariginu robes, but if I could reinterpret them as a figure-skating costume, I would be happy to do it. He said that was perfectly fine. In fact, I only submitted a single design sketch.

Actually, I had a revelation after seeing costumes made by other designers for Hanyu-san’s Echoes of Life. For years I had been making competition costumes, and my biggest concern was always functionality and ease of movement. I had convinced myself that costumes absolutely had to be made from stretch fabrics.

But after seeing the costumes in Echoes—made with ordinary fabrics and pleats—I realized, “Wait, you can use non-stretch fabrics too!” (laughs)

That realization influenced MANSAI Boléro. I wanted to use beautiful materials like organza, even though they don’t stretch. For the gold sections, I used about three different non-stretch fabrics. I bonded organza behind the main silk body fabric to give it firmness, and layered highly transparent organza on top. However, in areas where I thought Hanyu-san would be concerned about movement, such as raising and lowering his arms, I used stretch materials.

The sleeves are long now, but during the fitting stage they were actually much shorter. Hanyu-san asked, “Could you make them as long as possible, right up to the limit?” That’s how they ended up at their final length.

- The “Ubugoe ~ Meguri” costume from Echoes also featured dreamy organza colors. Was that a different material?

Yes, completely different. The color and manufacturer were both different. Japan is particularly strong when it comes to delicate sheer fabrics like these.

For this costume, Hanyu-san gave me requests regarding both the music and the colors—white and a greenish hue. The title Ubugoe (“First Cry”) made me imagine something newly born, emerging softly from beneath a covering. I designed the costume around that image.

I used smocking around the wrists and neckline. At one point I thought the neckline smocking looked too bulky and unnecessary, so I told him, “I think I’ll remove it.” His response was, “It’s going away?” (laughs) So instead, I changed only the neckline smocking to a thinner material than the body fabric, which gave it a cleaner appearance while keeping the detail.

- In “Aqua’s Journey,” the overall color is blue, but only the fingertips fade into green.

It may be difficult to see under the lighting, but the right hand has a green gradient. When I draw costume sketches, I often do so based purely on emotion in the moment. In the original sketch, I had colored only the right hand green. During the fitting, Hanyu-san said, “I’d like the right hand to have green in it, just like in the design sketch,” and that’s when I realized I had actually colored it green.

For this costume, I was very particular about color overall. I used many different shades of blue and green, along with transparent organza. If you cut organza into thin strips and carefully singe the edges with a lighter, the fabric warps into three-dimensional shapes that resemble splashing water. I was still adjusting decorations and details right up until the day before the performance.

- What goals do you have for the future?

Being able to design costumes for Mao allowed me to achieve one of my major goals in figure skating.

Until now, I have always created costumes with the mindset of “for the skater.” From now on, however, I want to create costumes “for myself.”

Ultimately, making things is a dialogue with oneself. I face the costume in front of me and constantly ask: Is this really right? Is this truly the best it can be?

Because I’m being paid, I have to respect the client’s wishes. Even when there were things I couldn’t fully accept I often endured them because I told myself, “It’s for the skater.” But eventually I began to wonder whether that was really benefiting the skater at all.

In recent years, the number of costume designers has increased, and being able to make beautiful or high-quality costumes is now simply expected. The question is how to create something beyond that.

First, I need to create costumes that I myself am completely satisfied with.

It may sound selfish, but these days I only accept commissions from people who allow me a certain degree of creative freedom. I believe my job is to create costumes that the client themselves could never have imagined.

As a result, I have fewer jobs now (laughs), but I still want to improve. I don’t want to lose to the amazing designers overseas, so I intend to keep studying and growing.

Another dream I’ve had since my student days is to present a collection in Paris. It wouldn’t be figure-skating costumes, but I think everything I’ve learned so far could be put to good use there.

 

[yuzurujenn]

Costume captions:

 

1. From “nottestellata 2025,” the “MANSAI Bolero” costume.

Yuzuru Hanyu wore a costume inspired by kariginu and skillfully manipulated its long sleeves while performing hydroblading.

“The gold-colored costume is difficult to achieve, but I’m glad it properly reads as gold and stands out well on stage. The outer layer of organza, which looks like water, is surprisingly light to the touch and has a beautiful sheen. Pleated georgette is layered over the pants. I aimed for a costume that has a sense of weight and presence, while still feeling light and floating.”

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

2. From Echoes of Life, the “Ubugoe ~ Meguri” costume.

The feather-like organza is especially striking. Smocking is applied to the wrists and neckline.

“The large fabric attached to the sleeves is a key feature, and it uses organza that I’ve often used in Hanyu’s costumes before. The sense of floating movement and the flow of fabric around the body turned out exactly as I envisioned. It can also look like emerging from a cocoon. I added vine-like decorations on the left leg.”

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

3. From “Echoes of Life,” the “Aqua's Journey” costume.

The organza that shines like splashing water was heat-treated and shaped before being attached. The overall tone is blue, but only the tip of the right hand is green.

“The silhouette is reminiscent of his competitive skating days. Since Hanyu is known for his sparkle, I added a lot of glitter. The other costumes in the show didn’t use much sparkle, so I think it worked well in contrast. It’s based on the image of water splashes, but looking at it now, it also resembles Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night.’”

 

Spoiler