Episode 4: Costume Talk

[Music] Hello and welcome to Unlaced with Chocolate Bates. I'm Madison Trock. And I'm Evan Bates and we're Olympic Ice Dancers for Team USA. If you're into sports betting, bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all of your favorite sports. Head to the new updated desktop or mobile website to sign up today and receive 50% off welcome bonus on your first deposit. Just use our promo code, Believe50, to receive your bonus. Well clearly we just got home from Vegas. Sports betting. Yeah. Goes to Vegas once, comes back with sports bets in their podcasties. I know right, we've been corrupted. Actually I didn't gamble at all. Did you? No, me neither. Didn't gamble. You didn't put anything on black 31? No, no, no black 31. Oh, disappointed. I'm so sorry. Maddie, it is so good to see you. Thanks, baby. We have been apart for three days. Wow. I know. We were in Vegas together until Sunday and then you went to LA. I came back to Montreal and you just got home a couple hours ago and I'm just dying to hear about your trip. Thank you. Yes, it was odd parting ways with you but it had to be done for that moment. You mean like you needed a reprieve from this relationship? No, no. I just like had an engagement that I had to be at. Okay, engagement. But let's talk about Skate America first. Okay, okay. Skate America first. Yes, Skate America was great. I just want to hear more about the last three days. It's not so often that we spend three days apart. I'm just dying to hear about it. I will. Okay, but first you just had your Vegas bubble popped. It was your first time out on the strip. Yes. What did you think? Did you have fun? Any memorable memories you want to share? Memorable memories. I mean Vegas was, I think Vegas was like exactly what you would expect. Like everything people say about Vegas is true. It was like full of colorful characters. I mean, we only went to the strip one night. It was overly stimulating, underly clean. But overall, I'd say it was pretty fun. I mean, people watching was excellent. I feel like it was even better than usual that weekend because of the electronic music festival that was going on there. But I don't know. I don't think it was the music festival. The people watching in Vegas is always pretty interesting. Yeah, well, I mean, it was great. I'd love to go back sometimes, spend some more time seeing circus shows, eating at next restaurants. Yeah, I would love to go to the Bellagio Botanical Gardens. I hear they're amazing. Yeah, my sister-in-law said that was amazing. But we didn't get to do that, but maybe next time. But I think the best part I'd say was just seeing family again. Like the dinner we had with them on Thursday was just across the street from the Bellagio. So we could see the fountains. The view was awesome. Great company. The food was so-so. It was, well, there was no gourmet hot dog. Let's just say that. No, it wasn't. And you got to see your friend, Katie. Yeah, I was so happy to see you. My best friend from childhood, Katie, while we were out there. Katie and I grew up skating together. And now she lives just outside of Vegas and works as an ICU nurse, aka a hero. Yeah. I see you nurse in Vegas, like, can only imagine what comes through the door. That's she's a hero. Right, exactly. So what about the competition? How did you feel that it went? How did it go for you? I felt that it went well. Good. Yeah. We skated well. Definitely better than Finland. We came in second place. So overall, I think it was a good first Grand Prix event. Nice. Congrats. Thank you. Congrats to you too. Oh, thanks. Okay, so that's enough of Vegas. I think, like, let's get to what happened over the last three days. Like, where were you? Where'd you go? What'd you do? What were you up to? Can you fill us in? Like, what were you doing over there in LA? Well, I can say I was filming something cool in LA together with my mom. It was super fun. A very new experience. Something I've never done before. And I think it went really well. And I'm super, pretty, very excited to see how it turns out. And I'm excited for everyone to see the finished project. Intriguing. Mysterious. Tell us more. No, I can't. Not yet. Okay, okay. Did you find your time away from me? Like, nice liberating. Like, you said earlier was exactly what you needed at this time. Or was it like, you know, distance like makes the heart grow fonder? Well, fonder, of course. The well really was. Yeah. We heard it's going to be a little bit, but never fully-flying. Yeah, that was the longest we've been apart in a while. I know everyone thinks we're attached at the hip because whenever one of us gets a phone call, we both answer. Like whenever patch calls were just like, hello. In unison. In unison? Hello. He's like, are you never apart? And we're like, no. Well, I mean, we were apart for the last three days. So, you know, but how was it being back in LA, your home state of California, the 310? Oh, I can't fall in California. Did they call it that? The California. I took the 405 to the 110. Got off. Cardinia. No. Sorry, that's a nesanel. Yeah, that's a nesanel. The Californians should watch it if you haven't. Yeah, I was just going to say that. If you haven't seen it, you got to check it out. It's hilarious. No, I don't know. Look at the mirror. I don't look at the mirror. But it was great. I enjoyed it immensely. There's something so special about the California sky. I was lucky to catch all the sunrises and sunsets while I was there. And it looked like a movie. It was gorgeous. A movie, you say. Was it a movie you were filming? No, it wasn't a movie, but I can't say anything more about it. Well, it was raining in gray in Montreal while you were in California if you were wondering. Well, rain. Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn't your fault. It was just saying that's the facts. So anyways, now we've competed twice and people have seen our programs and our costumes. I thought maybe it would be a nice chance to talk a little bit about the costume designs that you created for the season. How did they come to be? Great idea. Yeah, I absolutely love designing costumes. It's probably my favorite part of the year when I get to sit down with my sketchbook and put ideas from my brain onto the page and then transfer them from the page onto the ice. And it's always a process, but we are so lucky to work with the amazing Matthew Karone who we've been working with for the last five seasons. He brings my ideas to life and I just absolutely love working with him. Yeah, I love Matthew. He's great. But like, there's a lot to consider, right? Like what goes through your mind when you're designing? Well, first the music and the concept are a huge part of the design process and I kind of have to wait until those are developed. So I really get a good feel of the colors, the aesthetic of the characters and how all of that will affect the design, the story, the fabric, the movements that we do on the ice. Hmm, interesting. I feel like you think so. I think so too. And when does this start? Like when do you start the costume process? I mean, my brain starts going pretty much as soon as we pick the music. I kind of already look for inspiration of the certain styles. If it's a specific type of program, like for example, our freelance was very futuristic. So I started turning to like some futuristic designs. I looked at astronaut outfits and what the real astronauts wear to inspire my ideas. For your costume. Have you ever picked music based on a costume? Have you ever designed the costume first and then pick the music? That is a good question, but I would have to say no. I think the concept of the program is so important and the costume should really add to that and enrich it. So the music informs the costume? Yes, in our situation, yes. What about the boots are made for walking program? Like, do we make a whole program around the idea of you wearing red boots? Of course, but again, like inspired by the music. If the music didn't say that, I wouldn't just go designing a costume with boots. Got it. And how long does the process usually take from concept to finished product? Oh wow, it can really vary. I usually spend hours brainstorming, then hours sketching, and then I try to go to sleep and then I spend more hours sketching. Yes, I've seen it. And then depending on the intricacy of the costume, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to over a month to finish making the costumes with fittings and stoning or painting. painting and and then slight alterations once that's all finished. - You paint your dresses? - I don't personally paint the dresses. I have stoned them in the past, but luckily I have Matthew and his incredible team to take care of all of that. - Painting the dress, I feel like it's cool. - Yeah, like air brushing or actually like painting it. For our state costume last year, there was a lot of painting that went involved, that went into that one. - It really is a work of art. - Thank you, yeah, I agree. I completely agree. - Yeah, I have to thank you for all of the wonderful costume designs you've done over the years. You've never really put me in anything that wasn't like excellent, maybe one outfit back in the day, like before we started to work with Matthew. It was an all brown, I had bell-bottom pants, brown shirt, brown pants. - Were they all bottoms, no way. - I feel like I wouldn't put you in bell-bottom pants. - It was for American and Paris, so it was like, - Maybe like a jean. - Of the era. - Wide like yeah. - Do you remember that? - Yes, I do, now that you mention it, and I think an all brown outfit is just like, really hard to do without looking a bit like a turd. - Maddie, you can't say that. - Not that you could ever look like a turd, but if you put you in all brown, I mean. - Now we're gonna have to make this episode explicit. - Explicit warning. - I mean, all brown is, I appreciate your confidence in me for thinking that that would look good on me, but as soon as I put it on, I was like, this ain't it. - I mean, Jean Kelly pulled it off, so I was like, having him pull it off. - But, that's nice of you, but no. - But on the ice, I think it's different and yeah. - Maybe if I was like, you know, had dark hair and was like, you know. - Yeah, Jean Kelly kind of, all of a sudden. - But I'm kind of of a different, my color palette is different and I-- - Yeah, you're gonna palette. - You know this about me, I need to stick to cool tones, gemstone colors, these are my keys to my fashion. I'm so glad you know so much about yourself and what looks good, it makes it easier. - It's been a journey. - Just want you to feel confident, Evan, when you go out there, when you're looking your best and feeling your best. - I mean, I do feel confident, I have-- - Oh good. - I have the ISU Award winner for best costume next to me designing my costumes for me, congrats by the way, that was pretty cool. - Yeah, that was super fun. So Matthew and I are working hard to keep creating beautiful pieces and-- - Winners. - We're excited for the pieces that we've made this year. - Yeah, so that was for the snake dance costume last year, but how about this year, like the alien and the astronaut must have been a unique challenge. I didn't end up with the full space suit, like no helmet, no oxygen tank, so it's not exactly realistic, but-- - Yeah, well, I think it would have been pretty difficult to skate with those things, but it would have been on brand since we're skating to Deft Punk and-- - They do wear helmets. - They wear helmets. - They did wear helmets. It would have worked, it really would have worked, but I don't think he would have been able to breathe very easily, and when we're trucking to the end of the program, I imagine you want to breathe. - Right. - So maybe the oxygen tank wouldn't be a good idea at the end. - I could probably use extra oxygen. But like, what in your mind told you that this is an alien? Like, this is what I want to wear as an alien in a free dance. - Well, for me, I really drew a lot of inspiration from this might sound weird, but bugs and exoskeletons. Also some sea creatures. I thought it was really interesting the way that jellyfish move and octopus move, so you'll see I have a little wave down my spine that kind of reminded me of a bit of a sea creature or something that just moves differently than a human. And then the piping was inspired by an exoskeleton, so I would have some structure and still look like a dancer, but really incorporating some elements of, I don't know, like kind of alien, what I imagine to be like alien-ish creature features. - Like like farts. - Creature features. - Yeah. - Creepy crawlers. - Cool, what about the rhythm dance to Billie Eilish? - Oh, the rhythm dance was so fun to design. Well, both were, but I especially loved playing with the colors. It was very inspired by Billie Eilish's signature green when she had her just the roots of her hair dyed green and she was wearing a lot of green Gucci. I was just loving that look and wanted to incorporate that into our costumes. Also with a song, one of them is Bad Guy, and I feel like all of the songs we use are very like female empowerment and powerful. So, wanted to be a little bit devilish. So with the horns on the top of the dress, I was thinking kind of Maleficent vibes. - Maleficent. - Maleficent, did I say that weird? Maleficent. (laughing) - That's great. - Also a great movie if you haven't seen it, highly recommend. - I need to see it, I haven't seen it. - What? - You know I've seen so few movies, like. - Do you know that, but I feel like I've watched that a couple times and I'm surprised you just didn't when I was- - Wasn't invited. - Oh, you're always invited. Always invited to my movie watching experiences. - Maddie is like a movie buff. - I love watching movies. - And I'm like, whatever the opposite of a movie buff is. - Movie anti-buff. - No, you've watched a lot more movies since we started going out, I will say. You watched the Luca on your own. I was like, wow, you watched a movie by himself. That's so cool. - Yeah, it was so good. - It was so cute. You inspired me to watch it on the plane ride on the way home. - Wasn't it good? - It was so cute. - Yeah. - So, Lance, your Bruno, I love it. - I wanted to ask you how many rhinestones around your dress? - Well, I wanted to know that too, so I asked Matthew and he said there are over 10,000 stones on my free-geted dress, which I can't even like fathom. - That's unbelievable. With 10,000 stones laid one at a time. - Yeah, by hand. - Galee, Galee. I feel like maybe now there are only like 9,995, because five of them are like ingrained in my neck and ear. - Definitely embedded in your skin. I'm so sorry, I know. My dress cuts Evan's neck and ear whenever we do some of the lifts in our free dance and pretty much every competition so far has been a bit bloody. And yeah, I just apologize for that and you're taking it like a champ though. - Thank you. It's okay. Just feel honestly, it hurts to see blood on the dress. After all that you've explained, I know how much you put into it and how much work goes into making them and then we get them and the first weekend we wear them. - I will say though, I have been able to get it out very easily with just some cold water and blotting. And it really has been a pretty easy cleaning process. So no harm, no foul will there. Just gotta take care of your ear. - Thank goodness. The ear is fine, honestly. It's good, scabbed over for the weekend. - It looks good. I mean, your ear's just getting stronger. It's building its own resilience. - I do have resilient ears. - Well, that'll do it for this week of Unlaced, presented by Bet Online. Thank you so much for listening. Make sure you subscribe for future episodes and we will talk to you later. - Bye. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)