Red Mittens, Scary Pants and Gold Speed Skating Suits

"Drawing inspiration from golfer Jesper Parnevik, Croatia's national soccer team, the circus and the night terrors of Lewis Caroll, Team Norway's pants are rumoured to be the reason they cannot be harmed by conventional weapons." - CBC Fashion Report

One of the things I've enjoyed during these Olympic games is the parade of fashion - some great, some horrific. Watching opening ceremonies was fun. The U.S.A.'s Ralph Lauren outfits look great though some Americans have criticized the prominence of the Pony on each piece. The Italians look like they just stepped out of the pages of Vogue. The very small Irish team is sporting a rather unattractive line in an electric green colour. The Russian team looks great. The Canadian fashion is actually pretty boring. After Roots lost the Olympic contract and HBC took over, our Olympic fashions retreated from really cool to ordinary. All except for our red mittens. When the red mittens were released in October, the Canadian population responded with enthusiasm. I went to the Bay the day after the line came out and several times each week through the beginning of February when at last I was able to buy them. In the Fairview Mall store, the mitten shipments were selling out within a couple of hours of hitting the store shelves - three thousand pairs at a time. The thing is, the mitts are very cool looking and very warm wearing. I bought ten pairs for Jacob and his friends, for myself and my sisters. Oprah featured them on her show last week. I will be hitting the store tomorrow to try to pick up a pair for my friend Margaret in Colorado.

I love the gold suits, complete with built in g-string, that the Japanese speed skaters have been wearing. Can't say the same about the weird suits of the Australian speed skaters. I don't care much for most of the snowboard pants. I hate the look of pants sliding down the butt with the crotch in the middle of the legs. It's supposed to be cool. I think it's just plain ridiculous. I keep waiting for people to break into a rendition of "Pants on the Ground". The Canadian snowboarders have been criticized by some of their peers for wearing their pants too tight. Somehow, their pants are tarnishing the cool image of snowboarders.

Some of the figure skating costumes have been interesting - from the fairly offensive "native Canadian" costumes worn by Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, to the very strange blue spacesuits worn by Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov of Ukraine to the pink lacy costume worn by the U.S.A.'s Johnny Weir - there has always been something to talk about.

But the fashion statement of the games goes to the Norwegian curling team who chose the most hideous pants of the century from the golf wear company - Loudmouth Golf. They are the same people who outfit golfer John Daly. It hurts me to look at those Norwegian pants. I can't help but wonder what they were thinking when they picked them out of the catalogue.