Wheres My Koppy's Blog: Johnny Weir Hits the Ice Rink for Elise Øverland's Fashion Line

Video added February 21st:

++++

From Vogue Magazine:

For Elise Øverland—whose clothing appeals to the type of chic jet-setters who frequent St. Moritz and Gstaad—presenting her fall collection on ice seems like the most natural idea in the world. And roping in American figure-skating champion Johnny Weir to skate a solo afterward (to the beat of “Dirty Love,” his dance track that reached number one in Japan last month) is the obvious accompaniment. “What I’d been doing felt repetitive,” explains the Norwegian Øverland of her previous, customary runway shows, “so when I was offered use of any space at the Standard Hotel, I thought the rink would be a fresh idea.”

But the unconventionality doesn’t stop there. Øverland has commissioned an old-fashioned ice-sculpting company in Pennsylvania to dig up ice from the bottom of a lake and drag it to land by horses, before chipping and hollowing it into a sculpture of the female form that will be positioned in the center of the proceedings. Models clothed in shaggy fur and stretch leather catsuits will stand around motionless, Vanessa Beecroft–style, while a troupe from the Ice Theatre of New York weaves in between them, as if in warm-up mode, until the lights dim and the rink clears on cue for Weir’s entrance.

“Figure skating isn’t thought of as a fashionable sport,” admits 26-year-old Weir, who’s known for his oft-controversial, peacockish fashion statements on and off the ice. (They’re so attention-grabbing, perhaps, that they’ve helped land him his own reality show. Today’s he’s followed around by a five-person TV crew.) “[People] think it’s tacky and over the top, so I love that Elise is bringing her original, modern vision to it.” For his performance, Weir will don Øverland’s stretch leather pants and a weighty, flamboyant coat. The rest of the collection is inspired by the ice rink itself and features long black-and-white fur coatdresses alongside swirling, psychedelic-print jackets with patterns based on “futuristic ice cubes.”

“I grew up in a skiing environment, so I never understood chiffon,” says the eccentric former costume designer, whose outerwear-meets-sport-on-ice spectacle can be viewed—unlike traditional Fashion Week events—by the public from Washington Street and the High Line. “Maybe it’s the Viking in me that feels this is right.”

--Esther Adams, February 10, 2011 6:51 p.m.