{"id":34411,"date":"2016-03-02T17:17:26","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T23:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=34411"},"modified":"2016-03-03T11:15:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T17:15:44","slug":"figure-skating-dress-design-with-an-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/figure-skating-dress-design-with-an-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Figure skating dress design with an edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Erin Barney<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gail Johnson didn\u2019t fit in with the other figure skating moms.<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t wooed by elegant melodies or charmed by gaggles of twirling toddlers. She didn\u2019t love glitter. Sequins weren\u2019t her thing.<\/p>\n

But in an effort to save a few bucks, Johnson found herself more closely tied to the sport and its culture than most. She decided to make her five-year-old daughter\u2019s dresses herself rather than pay an expensive designer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should have hung a skull and crossbones over the door [of the skating world] because of how expensive and how time consuming it was going to be,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

No, Johnson most definitely did not belong.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 30 years\u2014Johnson is buried even deeper in rhinestones and chiffon. Literally.<\/p>\n

As the owner of Illuminescent Design, she produces hundreds of custom, hand-sewed masterpieces for skaters each year, all from a cluttered corner of her home in Glen Ellyn. Her sewing machine is wedged between endless bolts of fabric in Jolly Rancher shades, mountains of beads and binders stuffed with costume sketches. Her creativity hardly has enough breathing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is organized, I swear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Despite the tight space, her business has grown exponentially since designing for Gracie Gold, Team USA\u2019s top Olympic figure skater.<\/p>\n

Gold\u2019s family bought Johnson\u2019s dresses throughout her early career, but when the Chicago-area native took silver at Junior Worlds in 2012, higher-profile designers began to fight to get her in their designs. Johnson said everyone from Brad Griffies to Vera Wang tried to hand Gold a $4,000 dress. But wearing a famous name came with an unseen price.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t even tell you how many people it took to arrive at what [Gold] was going to wear, and the skater\u2019s [opinion] is usually at the bottom,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Even Gold\u2019s measurements weren\u2019t prioritized over the designer\u2019s vision. Johnson remembers the tearful phone call from Gold: Brad Griffies\u2019 design was beautiful, but it didn\u2019t fit and the heavy stones threw her off balance.<\/p>\n

Johnson couldn\u2019t afford to give away custom pieces, but was heartbroken over her client\u2019s predicament. She gave Gold two properly fitting dresses to wear for the remainder of that Olympic season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ended up being an easy call. I really just love her as a person and her whole family. Lovely people,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Good karma found its way back to her in a big way.<\/p>\n

One of two looks, the light pink dress with an edgy black trim, rocked the skating world. \u201cProject Runway\u201d contestant, Nick Verreos, called it, \u201cthe best look of the 2014 season.\u201d Gold\u2019s photo was used in United States Olympic Committee promotions and appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated and People Magazine, Johnson\u2019s name right there with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo walk into Walgreens and see her in my dress on magazine covers, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh my god!\u2019 Completely indescribable,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

On the surface, all was well, and Gold was on pace for a storybook season. No one knew she was still unhappy and had plans for another big change.<\/p>\n

Just five months before the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Gold left her coach, Oleg Epstein, for Frank Carroll\u2014a cringe-worthy move in the skating world. Johnson said a mid-season coaching change is ill advised, and so close to Sochi? Catastrophic.<\/p>\n

Carroll threw everything out. Gold\u2019s music, routine and the season-favorite dress wouldn\u2019t see the ice again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard on everyone, but she really had to,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cShe was such an emotional wreck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Gold didn\u2019t wear her dresses in the Olympics, word of Johnson\u2019s designs still spread. Her client requests quickly surpassed the amount of fabric and time she had\u2014a problem she was happy to have.<\/p>\n

Johnson found her way back to the big stage through Lithuanian ice dance teams, Swedish and Croatian champions and Philippine National medalists. She\u2019s even poised to repeat the Gracie Gold saga with another Chicago-based Olympic hopeful, Paige Rydberg.<\/p>\n

Rydberg, 17, is a four-time national and international champion for Team USA. After placing fifth in the 2013 U.S. Intermediate Championships, she went to Johnson for a dress worthy of her newfound attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had seen them on some other people,\u201d Rydberg said. \u201cThey were always the ones that caught my eye on the ice. She\u2019s a creative lady and thinks of some really amazing things.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Johnson\u2019s dresses go beyond beauty for Rydberg\u2014she has never sacrificed mobility for pageantry.<\/p>\n

Rydberg\u2019s coach, MaryBeth Marley, said it\u2019s painfully clear when a dress is working against her. She fidgets with a sleeve or hem, and her jumps aren\u2019t as clean. But her Johnson originals never cause those problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a dress that\u2019s not comfortable, you think about it a little,\u201d Rydberg said. \u201cYou can\u2019t move as freely and can\u2019t focus on your program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Gail\u2019s are so comfortable. I don\u2019t even feel like I\u2019m wearing one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each dress is the culmination of Johnson\u2019s aesthetic, a skater\u2019s vision and the U.S. Figure Skating Association\u2019s costume regulations. Ladies must have a continuous skirt and no more than 50 percent of their skin showing, which, in Johnson\u2019s opinion, is way too generous.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine taking half of your clothes off,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of ridiculous, right?…There are things I have to make and I feel like those people are out of their freaking minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she aims to please. Johnson is a business woman first and an artist second, so anything the skater wants, she gets.<\/p>\n

Well, almost anything.<\/p>\n

One skater requested a dress embroidered in bones, while another wanted to incorporate a swim cap and goggles into her look. Neither radiates couture, but Johnson said she\u2019s willing to take risks as long as she stays on trend. Designers at every level are expected to study fashion and incorporate current concepts in their designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come to me and trust that I know what \u2018right\u2019 is,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey also trust that I know what current \u2018right\u2019 is. It changes every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

That trust makes for a unique relationship between skater and designer. Johnson finds herself emotionally invested in each client\u2019s success, no matter how many times she designs for them. This causes her some heartaches\u2014like when the media bashed Gold for changing coaches\u2014but said it ultimately makes her a stronger designer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some days when I\u2019m like, \u2018No, I can\u2019t make another dress,\u2019\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut I realize I\u2019m blessed to do what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Gail Johnson, owner of Illuminescent Design, displays one of her custom creations (Erin Barney\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Erin Barney Gail Johnson didn\u2019t fit in with the other figure skating moms. She wasn\u2019t wooed by elegant melodies or charmed by gaggles of twirling toddlers. She didn\u2019t love glitter. Sequins weren\u2019t her thing. But in an effort to save a few bucks, Johnson found herself more closely tied to the sport and its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":34430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[1869,1965,1963,1964,1230],"class_list":["post-34411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016","tag-figure-skating","tag-gail-johnson","tag-gracie-gold","tag-paige-rydberg","tag-winter-olympics"],"yoast_head":"\nFigure skating dress design with an edge - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/figure-skating-dress-design-with-an-edge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Figure skating dress design with an edge - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Erin Barney Gail Johnson didn\u2019t fit in with the other figure skating moms. 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