Johnny Weir skates to Lady GaGa's Poker Face in high-def

As promised, here is a high-definition video clip of Johnny Weir's great skate and interview during New York Fashion Week's VMAN ice skating party. In order to play this, you'll need a pretty fast computer and a good connection to the Internet. Also, we'd advise that you start playing the clip and hit the pause button to allow the clip to fully load on your computer (or at least load 50%) before you finish playing it (it should be much smoother that way). You can tell how much of the clip has loaded by the little blue horizontal bar at the bottom of the player.

If many of you have problems playing with clip without it being jerky, please post a comment on this clip and we'll downsample it a bit and repost. The smaller, normal-definition version of this clip that we posted last Saturday can be found here, if you never saw it before.

Enjoy!

New York Fashion Week ice skating party brings out the stars

During New York Fashion Week in mid-February, a unique party was held to celebrate fashion and the spring issue of VMAN magazine. VMAN and Ford Models hosted an ice skating and cocktails soiree at Chelsea Piers in New York City. Guests including Richie Rich of Heatherette, Olympic champion Oksana Baiul, singer and designer Kanye West, stylist Sofia Achaval, singer Michael Stipe of REM, designer Zan Posen and many others, gathered to enjoy the ice. At the other side of the rink, the bar area was filled to capacity while patrons listened to music by DJ Diskokaine. Ice Theatre of New York ensemble members were also on hand to skate with the crowd and show the attendees how the professionals do it. Around midnight, special guest skater Johnny Weir, three-time U.S. national champion and reigning World bronze medalist, gave a special performance to Lady GaGa's Pokerface. The evening was fun, interesting, different and memorable!

Se_Ku skating pants, the ultimate skating pants

New York City's first big snowstorm of the year and where else would I be in 20 degree weather but skating outdoors? This time, I had a mission -- to test out the Se_Ku Skatewear skating pants that I ordered online. I'm always on a quest to find great clothes to skate in, whether they're specifically made for figure skating or not. The Se_Ku Style 137 Long and Leggies skating pants (see right, model is wearing Style 137) are great to skate in. They're soft, flexible (92% Polyester and 8% Lycra), extremely comfortable, and warm. And this truly was the day to test out the warmth -- I skated outdoors for over an hour and my legs never felt cold.

I could also see myself wearing them under my ski pants, snowboard pants and frankly, regular pants. They're extremely snug but not in an uncomfortable way -- they're almost like second skin. In fact, today I wore a stretchy pair of yoga pants over my Se_Ku pants and I barely felt that I had two layers on. So if you want to treat yourself, this is the skating pants to get. And I do mean treat -- the 137 Long and Leggies are $85 per pair so they're not cheap, but they're a good investment for the long term.

Johnny Weir entertains fashionistas and talks about life after skating

Johnny Weir would some day like to have his own fashion line. I have the BEST name for his label: Wear Weir. Or how about this -- Weir Wear. It only took me two hours to come up with those! Maybe he'll include me in his marketing department once he's ready to venture into that industry. Johnny told me this, and other interesting tidbits, during his appearance last Thursday at VMAN magazine's ice skating and cocktails party. VMAN and FORD models hosted the event at Sky Rink in Chelsea Piers in New York City as part of New York Fashion Week. Johnny and Ice Theatre of New York ensemble members were on hand to entertain the attendees. Johnny skated a new exhibition program to Lady GaGa's Poker Face, which he said was choreographed in two days. Since he is first alternate for the World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles at the end of March, he also said that he is continuing to train and asked his fans to support long-time rival Evan Lysacek. What a great evening for fashion and skating to come together in this way!

Check back on this post later in the week, as we'll publish a high-def version of this video piece for a limited time.

Note: Due to extraordinarily high demand from tens of thousands of Johnny's fans worldwide, you may experience slowness in the video playing. If this is the case, simply hit the pause button and wait until the video loads (which may take a few minutes, depending on site traffic). Once the video has completed loading, it should play normally on your computer (and you can replay it as many times as you want without problems). If this doesn't work, then hit your browser's REFRESH button and you'll receive the video from a different server. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Johnny Weir and Ice Theatre of New York celebrate New York Fashion Week at VMAN party

FORD male models. An ice skating and cocktails party. New York Fashion Week. Johnny Weir. Yep, makes sense to me. On Thursday night, VMAN magazine and FORD models celebrated their spring issue with a party at Sky Rink in Chelsea Piers. Johnny and Ice Theatre of New York (which promotes ice skating as a theatrical art form through performances and educational programs) provided the entertainment for the evening -- Johnny skated an exhibition piece to Lady Gaga's Poker Face and Ice Theatre ensemble members skated with the crowd while dressed as fashion models. Other attendees included Richie Rich of Heatherette, Kanye West, Oksana Baiul, REM lead singer Michael Stipe, designer Zac Posen, Ford male models, stylists, designers, and regular folks like you and me (albeit cutting a somewhat more stylish swath).

I had a chance to interview Johnny at the party (video story later this week which includes his interview and his entire skate) and he plans to pursue a fashion career in the near future. He also said that part of his plan is to attend college to learn about the business end of the fashion industry so that he can be well-versed with all aspects of the industry. And his thoughts on Worlds in March? To root for Evan Lysacek! (Photo above, Johnny Weir performing at VMAN party. Photo below, from right to left, Richie Rich, Richie's mother, Moira North (founder of Ice Theatre of New York) and Christopher Colton (Moira's son))

FEBRUARY 28 UPDATE: Click here to see our exclusive video interview with Johnny, as well as full coverage of his program at the VMAN magazine party!