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Vera Wang trolled for designing 'ugliest' costumes for Nathan Chen: 'Must hate him'

'Nobody hates Nathan Chen more than Vera Wang,' a fan quipped on Twitter

US figure skater Nathan Chen bagged the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics with his stellar performance on February 10, 2022. He posted top scores in both the short program and free skate in the Men's Single Skating event, leaving Japanese contender Yuma Kagiyama behind. While US Twitter exploded with congratulatory messages for Nathan Chen, celebrity designer Vera Wang's name also popped up in the trends. 

As soon as people came to know that Vera Wang has designed Chen's Olympic costumes, the veteran designer was brutally trolled for coming up with the "ugliest" designs for the 22-year-old figure skater. The costumes worn by the champion skater were dubbed "boring" and "horrendous". Many fans even brought up Chen's past homophobic remarks and suggested that Vera Wang is deliberately punishing him for the same with her appalling designs. 

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Chen can mostly be seen on the rink in monochrome costumes resembling the attire of an Olive Garden waiter, or outfits with a strong intergalactic theme. However, eagle-eyed fans pointed out that Chen's gold medal-winning costume looked eerily similar to a galaxy-themed T-shirt on AliExpress, and accused Vera Wang of copying the design.

"Vera Wang stealing designs from aliexpress," a fan tweeted, sharing a photo of the red cosmos shirt. Another user noted, "Nobody hates nathan chen more than vera wang and i respect her for that." 

"I firmly believe Vera Wang doesn't like him what are these outfits," a third user joked, while another quipped, "Nate had better NOT be wearing that on olympic ice rn…..vera wang you will answer for your crimes."

"Vera wang giving him the most basic outfits and gets paid regardless i’m crying," a fan tweeted. One user lashed out at Chen for being homophobic as they tweeted, "Everyone saying vera wang must hate nathan chen as if that homophobic nft man would wear anything other than the neon hetero monster truck galaxy fit or the olive garden waiter uniform."

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Chen is an American figure skater with multiple records and awards to his name. His parents are both Asian immigrants and his mother works as a Mandarin Chinese interpreter at hospitals. He is a three-time World Champion (2018, 2019, 2021), Olympic bronze medallist (2018), and six-time US national champion (from 2017–22). In fact, since his 2018 Winter Olympics appearance, Chen has won every single competition he participated in until October 2021. 

Since 2018, Chen has also been studying at Yale University majoring in Statistics and Data Science. So he's not just a highly successful Olympic athlete, but also juggling a full-time education as well. Chen has also tried his hand at several other areas, including gymnastics at the state and regional levels. He's also trained in ballet from the Ballet West Academy but ultimately chose figure skating as his calling.