Madison Chock on Costume Design and the 2026 Winter Olympics

Madison Chock and her husband slash skating partner, Evan Bates, began pair skating in 2011, kick-starting one of the most dominant partnerships in all of figure skating. (They are the most decorated ice dance team in the history of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, as of last month, after all.) The way they dance together gives the impression that they are not two separate skaters but one entity. “Madi and Evan skate in a different world,” one announcer said during their free dance performance at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. “It’s like putting the relationship of people who have been on three dates up against a married couple who’ve been together for 50 years. They don’t even reach for each other—they feel one another.” The fluidity with which the duo skates gives them an edge on the competition, winning them three consecutive world titles and an Olympic team gold in Beijing back in 2022. Now, at the 2026 Winter Olympics—their fourth Games together and their first as husband and wife (they got married in 2024)—Bates and Chock were understandably at the very top of our must-watch lists. As of Wednesday, they had not only defended their team gold but also earned their own ice dance silver medals.

In figure skating, it’s all about visuals, and Chock and Bates know how to put on an aesthetically stimulating performance. The pair is meticulous, ensuring that every detail of their programs is flawless, right down to the costumes, which Chock designs herself. She’s been slowly honing her design skills since she was a kid growing up in Redondo Beach, California, with her mom passing her own interest in fashion on to her daughter. “She loved dressing me up, and I loved dressing up,” Chock said of her mom, Barbara, ahead of the Games. Not much has changed since. Like the film actresses whose on-screen style they watched and admired, from Audrey Hepburn to Grace Kelly, Chock pays special attention to the way her and Bates’s costumes play into the stories they bring to life on ice. Before the music sounds and their dance begins, Chock’s designs give the audience a glimpse into the narrative that’s about to unfold.

Three years ago, in 2023, Chock expanded her costume-design practice by launching her namesake label and beginning work with other figure skaters. For the 2026 Winter Olympics, she designed costumes for three other teams, according to ESPN. She also made tweaks to her and Bates’s own looks for the Games, keeping them similar to ones they’ve debuted before but making slight tweaks here and there to update them and make them appear even more intertwined with the stories they told on the ice in Milan.