A Quebec costume designer is getting into the worldwide highlight on the 2026 Winter Olympics, dressing a number of the world’s high determine skaters as they compete on the game’s largest stage.
Mathieu Caron, a former ballroom dancer from Quebec, has been creating elaborate costumes for greater than a decade. He says his fascination with glittering materials and dramatic designs started early.
“I used to be very fascinated by the costumes, all of the bling-bling and the materials. So I made a decision to go to vogue college,” Caron instructed International Information.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the US compete throughout the ice dancing free skate in determine skating on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026.
(AP Photograph/Natacha Pisarenko)
After learning vogue at LaSalle School in Montreal, Caron launched his firm designing clothes for ballroom dancers. His work quickly expanded into the determine skating and ice dancing world.
By 2018, his creations had reached the Olympic podium. Caron designed the costumes worn by Canadian ice dancers Tessa Advantage and Scott Moir throughout their gold medal-winning efficiency set to Moulin Rouge.
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Now in Milan for the 2026 Winter Video games, Caron says 28 athletes from 10 international locations are carrying his designs. Amongst them are American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates, in addition to Japanese skater Ami Nakai.
Caron says every costume can take as much as 150 hours to finish, from the primary sketch to the ultimate rhinestone. Caron says the method includes shut collaboration with athletes, coaches and choreographers to make sure the design enhances the music and enhances motion on the ice.
“We’ve got conferences with athletes, but additionally with the coaches, choreographers. We speak concerning the music and the imaginative and prescient of this system,” he stated.
His studio crew contains different designers, cutters, seamstresses, sample makers, and painters — all working to convey the clothes to life.
The value displays the labour concerned. Caron says costumes sometimes vary from $3,500 to $8,000, relying on the hours required and the complexity of the design.
Whereas determine skating stays a central focus, the designer stated he hopes to broaden into different inventive fields, together with Broadway musicals and designing full seems for touring artists.
For now, Caron says he feels lucky to see his creations glide throughout Olympic ice, and in some instances, onto the rostrum.
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