The fabulousness of Johnny Weir: Nick Verreos' Interview on KNBC Channel 4 Los Angeles

Quadruple Axle???No Fur Johnny: Pink and black rubber and spandex with corset strap detail and tassel: Short Program Costume at the Vancouver Olympics

This week, while teaching at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM, I got a call--interrupting my class--saying "it's important!"--Cary Berglund, of KNBC Los Angeles Channel 4, contacted FIDM, saying he had read my Tweet (I can't believe I just wrote that!) in which I said I was at the FIDM Museum doing TV interviews for the Art of Motion Picture Costume Exhibit. KNBC was doing a story on the Figure Skating Costumes--and particularly , Johnny Weir and his Figure Skating "fashion sense" and his fur/no fur controversy--and they wanted an interview with...yours truly! Fur and Sequin Diva: Johnny Weir off and on the ice

Done and done! The interview was taped at the FIDM Downtown LA campus and I spoke about how Johnny Weir could wear just about anything...and at the same time, do an unbelievable jump sequence. So unbelievable, I said that he could even do a "Quadruple Axle" (a non-existent jump in Figure Skating kiddies, I know!). I'm sure some Figure Skating aficionados will make fun of me to no end for saying that, but who cares. I was trying to make an "extreme" point.
Figure Skating Fanatics:Cary Berglund, Nick Verreos and Camera Person at FIDM Hope Park

It was to my surprise that the interview was THE LEAD STORY on the 5 PM Los Angeles Channel 4 NBC local news! Oh Cary Berglund, I LOVE YOU!!! And take this as a lesson in "social media" and marketing. Who knew my Tweets were actually being read...I didn't!

Click BELOW for the KNBC Lead News Story and my interview (it was very sunny at the FIDM Hope Park, I know!):

Nick Verreos on Public Radio International's "The Takeaway": Reviewing Best and Worst--and Most Iconic Figure Skating Costumes!

This morning I was a guest on Public Radio International's "The Takeaway" and had a wonderful time discussing, what else: Figure Skating Costumes!!!! This is the topic Du Jour for me these days and I love it! Well kiddies, don't fret, I haven't forgotten about you. Click above for the interview and at the end, Celeste Headlee mentions that they will have my list of Best and Worst Costumes of all time. Unfortunately they were unable to post it so instead I have added all the juicy commentary and photos here. Enjoy!

Best Figure Skating Costumes:
Michelle Kwan: 2003 World Championships
Michelle won the Gold Medal skating to Concierto de Aranjuez. I absolutely LOVED this design. The turquoise blue stretch and chiffon costume (with gold embroidery) was so impacting---that even the people in the nose-bleed seats couldn't miss it! It was exotic, a bit on the Christian Lacroix vibe and fit Michelle's GORGEOUS performance.

Nancy Kerrigan: 1994 Lillehammer Olympics
Wearing a custom Vera Wang. Illusion sleeves with hundreds of Swarovski Crystals. Subtle, not-over-the-top elegance defined. This is directional and modern--at least for the Figure Skating world. Vera Wang AND Nancy Kerrigan were YEARS AHEAD with this simple elegant and very high-fashion design.

Carolina Kostner: 2006 Torino Olympics
I think Carolina's costume--which was designed by Roberto Cavalli-- was actually very fabulous. It looked well-made and expensive, the Star sequined crystal embroidery was beautiful and the Ombre light gray-to-almost-black effect was sublime. One of my favorites.

The Worst Figure Skating Costumes:Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin: 2010 European Championships (will keep the same music but are expected to change their costumes for the Olympic Games). Skating to an Aboriginal Dance for their Original Program. To start with: Get rid of the "Spray Tan"/way-too bronzed bodysuit, then why did all those plants ATTACK the culturally-insensitive too-dark bodysuits? How do you say "Not Cute" in Russian?

Tonya Harding: 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.
Where do I start? The sequined Mandarin collar, those gathered "petal" sleeves, the "happy Hands at Home" (Thanks Tim Gunn) embroidered torso beading. Polyester chiffon and the BEDAZZLER never looked sooooo bad!

Debbie Thomas: 1988 Calgary Olympics
This was the year Debbie Thomas faced off against Katarina Witt in the "Battle of the Carmen's". Both ladies skated there Long Programs to Carmen (Witt coming out on top and winning her 2nd Gold Medal). Here, Debbie shocked the world by wearing a beaded unitard for her short program. RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3 here she comes!

Oksana Baiul: 1994 Lillehammer Olympics
Although Oksana won the gold by beating Nancy Kerrigan, she certainly lost the Fashion Olympics, at least in my eyes. This outfit is better suited for one of the young girls from TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras as opposed to a Gold Medalist! There is such a thing as one too many cheap sequins from Jo-Ann's Arts and Craft Stores! Is there a Russian version of Jo-Ann's? If there is, Oksana must have been there!

Ilia Kulik: 1998 Nagano Olympics
Ilia won the Gold Medal in THIS! He looks like the Spokesperson for The Parking Spot Airport Parking/Shuttle service.

Most Iconic Figure Skating Costumes:
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean: 1984 Sarajevo Olympics
Torvill and Dean became the highest scoring Figure Skaters of all time receiving 12 perfect 6's with their unforgettable performance to Maurice Ravel's Boléro. The Ombre-shaded blouson tops (him and her), the Grecian-draped cowl (her), those exaggerated Bishop sleeves (him)...26 years later and the same Ombre effect is being used by Olympic Gold Paris Medalists Shen and Zhao.

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov: 1994 Lillehammer Olympics
Classic in it's simplicity. Gordeeva and Grinkov were clearly on trend with the simple design echoed throughout the early 90's. Ekaterina looked like a young Audrey Heburn in Hubert de Givenchy in this simple yet elegant costume. Timeless.

Johnny Weir: 2006 Torino Olympics
The inspiration for Blades of Glory. In his Swan-inspired costume, Johnny skated to "The Swan" and called his red glove "Camille" after the composer of the song he skated to. The red glove was a bit "Skating Muppet Show" of him but I LOVED IT!!!! Kudos to Johnny and his Costume Designer.
Dorothy Hamill: 1976 Innsbruck Olympics
Who can forget Dorothy Hamill skating to Olympic Gold wearing the simple red costume with that iconic wedge haircut. It is probably the worlds most copied hairstyle! The skating costume was simple yet elegant--and very 70's! It is so iconic that if you wanted to make a Figure Skating Doll, this is probably the model! I loved how her white skating boots matched the white of her neckline sequins.

Katarina Witt: 1988 Calgary Olympics:
In a historic back to back Olympic Gold Medal performance Katarina skated to Bizet's Carmen and brought a sexiness to Figure Skating never before seen! Much more of a woman than at the the previous Olympics, Katarina Witt brought a fire to the ice that was reflected in her plunging Spanish-inspired Costume. Very Hola Magazine meets the Goya Infantas!

Advice for anyone with dark under-eye circles

As you will no doubt know by now, disguising my hereditary under eye dark circles is a constant battle for me. I have accepted at the age of 27 that they are never going to completely go away as I have deep set eyes, like my mum, so that’s bound to create a shadow. I can improve the situation by getting adequate amounts of sleep and drinking lots of water but at the end of the day, I always need a good under eye concealer to hand to camouflage them.

I know this is a problem for lots of other women, so I decided to make this post into a little guide on what works for me and I also have a few little tips as well that I have picked up along the way.

First up, using a light eye cream containing Avocado oil, Chamomile, Sesame, Vitamin K and Vitamin E will help to reduce some of the darkness under the eye. It’s best not to use heavy formulas or normal moisturiser as these are way too dense for the skin under the eye and can cause swelling/puffiness. Using eye cream will also stop your makeup from caking.

I have always found that the way you apply the concealer under your eyes is just as important as the actual product you use. For instance, there’s absolutely no point in applying a concealer that’s a couple of shades lighter than your skin tone on the whole area under your eye. This doesn’t achieve anything as you are lightening the dark shadows AND lightening the area that surrounds the dark shadows so in essence, they cancel each other out! This also creates a weird reverse raccoon effect when you get your photo taken (I have seen many celeb pics where they have way too much illuminating concealer under their eyes and they end up with white circles).

Also, don’t use any products that are too thick/heavy on the delicate skin that surrounds the eye, it will just look cakey. I think the key to getting it right is choosing the right shade which is generally one shade lighter than your foundation (difficult to do when some brands only offer a very limited choice of shades). Generally, peach toned concealers are best for those with paler skin and yellow toned concealers are best for medium to dark skin tones.

This is a fantastic video to watch about concealer by Lisa Eldridge, the famous makeup artist, she has taught me A LOT! She has a great way of making you re-think your whole perception of makeup…

Lisa explains how you should ONLY apply concealer to the areas of the eyes where you have dark areas (which is generally the inner corner and outer corner of the eye). Once you adopt this technique, you will really see a difference and you also don’t need as much product which is always a bonus! A really good product is the Benefit Eye Bright section of the Brows A Go-Go palette shown below. The pale pink creamy corrector (front right hand side of palette pictured below) is brilliant for brightening the eye area. I just apply it with my finger.Another good technique to use is the ‘upside down triangle’ method. Basically you apply your under eye concealer in a triangle shape with the flat base sitting against your eye, so it would be pointing down towards your cheek (running up against and parallel to your nose). This creates an optical illusion that brightens the area and draws the eye away from any darkness. I learnt this technique from the YouTube goddess Kandee The Makeup Artist. I have found that it’s best to use a creamy concealer for this rather than a liquid formula as it’s easier to blend it down. I only use this method when I am doing more dramatic makeup looks for night time as I feel it’s a bit much for the day, but that’s just my personal preference.

I use a few different concealers depending on how bad my dark circles are. I have listed my favourite ones below and why I like them:
Korres Wild Rose Brightening Concealer – This is a brilliant illuminating everyday concealer with a light formulation that offers a lot more coverage than any of the other illuminating products such as YSL Touche Eclat. It doesn’t settle into lines or wrinkles, it doesn’t cake and it lasts all day whilst really brightening the whole eye area.
Bobbi Brown Corrector – This is a great product because it concentrates more on correcting the colour under your eyes rather than just lightening it. It comes in a wide range of shades and can be used underneath a conventional concealer if you need a lot of camouflage under the eyes. It’s long lasting and when applied thinly and with care, it looks really natural.
MUFE Full Cover – This stuff is heavy duty! It’s very opaque and you only need a tiny bit but boy does it cover up! You have to be careful to use it sparingly on the eye area but I like to use this for night time looks to get a totally flawless look. There is a large choice of shades so there’s bound to be something there to suit everyone.
Clinique All About Eyes – I like to use this product when I’m suffering from a lack of sleep because it reduces any puffiness as well as concealing (I don’t suffer from severe puffiness, just very slightly when I’m tired). It’s oil-free and doesn’t settle into lines and it lasts all day without melting off. The down side is there’s only 4 shades available but luckily No.02 Light Golden was a great match for my skin tone.

I prefer to apply under eye concealers with my fingers rather than with a brush. The warmth from your fingers helps to blend the product into the area (you can always go over the area with a clean fluffy brush to really buff the product in if you have extra time).
Another great product to help brighten the eye area is Benefit Powderflage. Now I know some people don’t see the point in this product but I have never classed it as a concealer, I use it as a finishing product. In the same way you use light diffusing powder to set foundation, this pale pink brightening powder is great to apply over the top of your under eye concealer to set it and sap up any excess moisture and also to brighten the whole area. I don’t apply mine with the small fan brush that comes with it, but with a clean eye shadow brush with more density. I dust it on the area under the eye and it really diffuses/softens any fine lines and disguises my dark circles even more.

If anyone has any tips/advice on this matter, feel free to comment below…I’m always open to learning new things!