The Body As A Billboard

Anyone who has watched professional sports can always see someone trying to make a buck through air time. You see brands flash by in a cacophony of color at events and there's always someone who is making the fashion statement of the day.

Usually it's the one with the bigger endorsement or has a lot of personality.

If I had to choose, I'd be in the latter category. And unless Nike starts to endorse people who rank top, from the bottom up, then I'll be in the "Personality" category for a while. 

What I noticed in the Ironman series is that people are all about their uniforms, their compression gear (2XU made a killing with their compression calf guards) and their tattoos. And why the hell not? Here are people who train to one day be able to swim 2.3 miles, bike 111 miles and run a full marathon at 26 miles. All in one day.

I'm just surprised that it's only a tattoo that they want, after all that. 

I long ago decided that I would not go the tattoo route, as much as I'd like to. I am blood type O+, making me a universal doner. I would much rather keep my blood clean in the likelihood that someone I know would need a length of colon or something.

My alternative then? I found just the perfect thing off of Chanel's Spring-Summer 2010 show: Les Trompe-L'oeil de Chanel. Chanel Body Art.

It's a series of temporary tattoos of iconic pieces of Chanel design and jewelry, everything from cherry blossom branches to the double "C" logo.   

Yes, I would be looney enough to wear that in a triathlon. The only place I could imagine wearing it, though, would be on the wrist. On the legs, like these models, though nice, can never be seen under the tri shorts one would wear. 

Chanel Body Art on one wrist, my Polar on the other! 

Personally, I've always been a fan of doing the most peculiar and if I had the money sitting around somewhere, I might consider the Oakley Medusa, a scary kind of bondage cap plus goggles. The dreds on that plus my already long hair and I think we've got ourselves the winner of this year's Miss Congeniality Contest. 

I think I need a pair of leather opera gloves, like the model. 

That, paired with the Cervelo Test Team jersey and I think we have the best dressed person at any triathlon!

 

I wonder if you can get the dreds on the Medusa through the holes in a bike helmet...