Nick Verreos and US Figure Skater Rachael Flatt

Ice Capades: Nick Verreos and Rachael Flatt, and his illustrations

Back in March, I attended the World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles at the fabulous (and very cold) Staples Center. In case you have been living under a rock--or haven't seen my Season 2 of Project Runway--I love me some figure skating! It was kind of funny to go to this event because a lot of people there recognized me. I didn't realize how many fans of figure skating are also fans of Project Runway.

The night of the Ladies Final, as I was leaving, a group of people came up to me and introduced themselves. They were Rachael Flatt's family! Rachael Flatt was the Silver Medalist at the 2009 US Figure Skating Champisonships and placed 5th at the World Figure Skating Championships just moments before. They then proceeded to call her and handed me the phone so I could say "Hello" and "Congrats!". Get me a pen and paper: Nick Verreos sketches for US Figure Skating Silver Medalist Rachael Flatt

Then about a couple of months ago, I got a call from her PR person asking if I would like to come to Universal Studios where they were holding a special Media Event to promote American athletes for the upcoming Winter Olympics on NBC. Of course, I ran over there and finally got to meet Rachael (she looked so cute in apple green and flower print dress, very "Lily Pulitzer"). For fun, I proceeded to sketch some ideas for her costumes. We were both hoping I might design her costume for this current Olympic Season, but with both of our crazy schedules, it did not work out. But it was still such a pleasure meeting her and sketching for her---and giving her some dish on Project Runway!

Click HERE to watch a fun video of Rachel and the quick 30 second sketches I did.