As the 2026 Winter Olympics spotlight figure skating in Milan-Cortina, Vera Wang has been using the moment to revisit a lesser-known chapter of her life: competitive skating. Before her career in fashion, Wang trained seriously as a skater and competed nationally, including at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but did not make the U.S. Olympic team, an outcome she later described as devastating.
That early near-miss has remained part of Wang’s public biography even as she became best known for bridal and red-carpet design. In recent years, she has framed skating as a long-running personal throughline rather than a detour, something she understands from the inside as both a former athlete and a designer who knows how unforgiving the sport can be.
Designing For A Sport With No Margin For Error
Wang’s connection to the Olympics did not end when her own competitive path did. Over decades, she became a prominent costume designer for elite skaters, dressing some of the sport’s biggest American stars, including Nancy Kerrigan and Michelle Kwan. In a past interview, she emphasized how small wardrobe failures can become competitive disasters, describing the pressure of building garments that must withstand speed, torque, and high-risk jumps under Olympic scrutiny.
Her design approach has also been shaped by the technical demands she says only skaters fully grasp. Wang has spoken about understanding the sport’s “physics,” and about how costumes can mislead casual viewers into underestimating the athletic difficulty behind what looks effortless on ice.
A Nostalgic Post During The 2026 Games
During the Milano Cortina 2026 competition window, Wang added a personal note to the Olympic conversation by sharing an older clip of herself skating, described as filmed in 2017, and tying it directly to the emotions of watching the Games. In the post, she wrote that she never reached the Olympics as an athlete, but that her designs did, and she offered support for the U.S. women competing in the event.
The post also underscored how closely she still follows figure skating. Parade reported that Wang has been in Milan for the Games and has been sharing additional behind-the-scenes snapshots tied to skating events, presenting the Olympics as both a professional memory lane, through costumes, and a personal reunion with her first passion.
The Women’s Event Context As U.S. Medal Hopes Build
Wang’s renewed visibility in skating comes as the women’s singles event has drawn heightened attention in 2026, with multiple storylines converging on medal contention. The Associated Press reported that Alysa Liu entered the women’s free skate carrying U.S. hopes, positioned within striking distance of the lead and attempting to disrupt a potential Japan-dominated podium scenario involving skaters such as Kaori Sakamoto, Ami Nakai, and Mone Chiba.
AP also noted Liu’s comeback narrative, returning after a retirement period, and placed her bid within the longer arc of U.S. women’s singles history, including the drought since Sarah Hughes’ 2002 gold. The same report highlighted additional competitive pressure from Adeliia Petrosian, skating as a neutral athlete and described as a wildcard due to the technical ceiling of her jump content.
Against that backdrop, Wang’s public encouragement reads less like celebrity nostalgia and more like commentary from someone shaped by the sport’s expectations, where performance, presentation, and pressure collide. Her posts and past remarks about the risks of perfection have circulated alongside the Games’ day-to-day drama, linking a personal origin story to the current Olympic moment.
