If you, are like me, Dear Reader, you are already suffering Olympic burnout before the games even begin.
Fashion, sports, and sophistication don’t often go together, but during pre-Olympic hoopla, I have no choice but to wonder how they co-exist.
They don’t meet in the Canadian Olympic Team’s uniforms and Beijing-inspired Hudson’s Bay collection. Though they are high-tech and high-concept, the fashion and sophistication are missing from the sport. I must hold hope for fashionable Canadian athletes at the Vancouver 2010 games.
Do they mingle at high-end fitness club juice bars? We’re getting closer, especially since designers such as Stella McCartney for Adidas and Alexander McQueen for PUMA, but some patrons insist on wearing decades-old t-shirts to the gym. Fitness clubs are public places where we should be subjected to double fashion don’ts: sweating in public and out-of-date clothing.
Perhaps fashion, sports, and sophistication meet in the athletes themselves. Certainly the antithesis would be trashy Tonya Harding, but who embodies haute athleticism and high style in one toned and sophisticated package? I have the answer for you.
Lucinda’s List: Most Elegant Athletes of All Time
- Dorothy Hamill - This skate princess created new moves on the ice and new fads off of it. Almost every little girl sported her Dorothy ‘do during the Seventies.
- Michael Jordan - This gentleman knows basketball, business savvy, and sartorial sophistication.
- Maria Sharapova - She vamped in Vogue and plays like the tennis pro she is.
- Ian Millar and Big Ben - One of only two horses in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the first horse to win two consecutive World Cup Final titles, and his own postage stamp, Big Ben and his rider Ian Millar epitomised equestrian elegance.
- Wayne Gretzky - Though some hockey players and fans called him “Whiny Wayne” because he played by the rules, in my eyes, this makes him the most elegant player in hockey history. And though his clean image dipped after marrying a Playboy Playmate (never the height of sophistication), the two are still together and The Great One always looks dapper on game benches and press conferences.
- Tiger Woods - He changed the face of golf and that face always has an easygoing smile. Mr. Woods achieved an elegant balance between endorsement deals and embodying sportsmanship.
- Nancy Kerrigan - After the savage attack by rival Tonya Harding’s harpies, Nancy recovered and skated with sophistication, style, and grace.
- Nadia Comaneci - The first Olympic gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10, she popularized the sport.
- Sonja Henie - Though few readers today would recognize Ms. Henie, she was a superior athlete and businesswoman who revolutionized figure skating. Not only did she skate differently, but she changed skate fashion. Today’s athletes can thank her directly for the skirts and trims on skating costumes.
- Mikhail Baryshnikov - Ballet always implies elegance, but Mr. Baryshnikov embodies it. He was a superior dancer and he also looked dashing on Sex and the City.
Since I decided to give up television, the universe is sending signs that I am doing the right thing and writing is the career path I was meant to pursue. A publisher I met at dinner the other night called to enquire about my interest in writing a “Sophisticated City” book on etiquette and style. I’ve been waiting forever for that offer, especially lately since I feel that television is below my intelligence and experience level.
The wonderful Ms. Morra’s latest career venture made me realize that I must pursue my first love: writing.
The Project Runway Canada producers haven’t called back, even though I’ve called every day to ask when I’d have my second audition.
My lips finally deflated, so I celebrated at a luxurious Bridlepath dinner party last night (wearing the most beautiful Pink Tartan frock), where a director’s wife lamented the death of luxury.
Uh oh again. Sandee didn’t talk to me at all yesterday after the meeting and then today she told me that I take her and Elmo for granted and only appreciate them when they get me out of problems.
Bernie’s gossip addiction always serves me well. It seems Mimi M. told everyone that she convinced me to get too-pouty lip injections so she could take over the show! What am I going to do with her, Fiona, and the show?
Uh oh. The campers took the style wars too far and started sabotaging each other’s work. My boss caught me encouraging the competition and brought Sandee and me into the office for questioning.