So Vanity Fair put this lovely slideshow online today called “Faces of the Games”. It features some really beautiful portraits of Olympians from all nationalities, and it’s definitely worth a look. A few hours after it was released, Vanity Fair put up a separate story called “Johnny Weir, Body Paint: The Outtakes”. Apparently, Weir only agreed to have his portrait taken by Vanity Fair is he could do it big, do it with body paint, do it Lady Gaga-style. The following piece is what transpired:

VF.com’s “Faces of the Games” portfolio features portraits of 44 Vancouver Olympians in their raw, natural states. U.S. Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir agreed to be photographed for the collection under one condition: Johnny wanted to go big. Think body paint. Think glitter. Think Lady Gaga.

That is how I found myself in a penthouse apartment—with the most astonishing view of Vancouver—watching MAC Cosmetics makeup artist Caitlin Callahan transform Weir into an otherworldy, blood-splattered being. The paint job took about three hours.

But amid the mayhem in the apartment—makeup brushes flying; a frenzied Sundance channel reality-TV crew bumping into people and furniture; couches being rearranged to make room for light boxes; fresh Starbucks deliveries; figure skating on TV and Bad Romance playing on tinny computer speakers—the skinny skater was rather stoic. Fragile, even. He didn’t radiate the flashy flamboyance that one would expect from the athlete who famously said about his 2006 Turin Olympics skating glove, “His name is Camille—two Ls. I think he’s my evil side. When I skate badly, I blame it on my glove.”

But when the camera turned on, Johnny turned it up. Johnny put his hand up to his cheek; click went the shutter. Johnny turned his head to the side and gazed off into the distance; pop went the flash. “It’s all about the fingers,” he said as he touched his index finger to his thumb, holding his hand up to his eye.

When the camera went away, so did the exuberance that had temporarily filled the room. I sat down with Johnny on a plush red couch, where we discussed how the Vancouver Winter Games had treated him.

VF Daily: You were a controversial figure coming into the Winter Games.
Johnny Weir: The drama that led up to the Olympics was basically because I wore a small tuft of fur on my costume at our Olympic qualification competition. I started to hear lots of grumblings from anti-fur activists, and then the things people were saying slowly started to get more and more terrible. I started to get threatened, and ultimately a price was put on my head by an activist for anyone who wanted to hurt me. [He says this while, perhaps unbeknownst to him, gesturing at his blood-spattered body paint.] So it was very rough leading up to the Olympic Games over this whole fur situation, which really was basically just like a tip of a tail of a fox. But it totally didn’t change my opinion about fur, and I will continue to wear fur.

How’s it been since you got here?
I think the controversy has definitely died down since I’ve been here because I was skating, I was performing, I was competing, and I did very well. So many people were behind me. I got standing ovations for both of my performances and that’s a beautiful thing. People can forget about whatever controversy is surrounding Johnny Weir and just focus on what I do.

How do you feel you performed at this Olympics?
Everything at this Olympics went according to plan. It went well. Canadian audiences are always known to be very rowdy and loud and very supportive of every skater, and they definitely lived up to that. And I don’t get the opportunity to compete in North America very much, so to be sort of on home turf made everything more special.

What are your post-Vancouver plans?
After the Olympics I have the world championships in Italy and then I’m going to take a vacation to Mongolia because I want to ride a yak. And after that, I’ll go to Moscow and see some friends, and after that I’m going to go lay on a beach for a little while, and then maybe continue skating, but if not, I want a career in fashion.

Fashion editorial? Fashion design?
I want to be a designer, but I have to go to F.I.T. first and foremost because I have to learn every step of the process—the business side, the production, all of that kind of stuff. I can draw and sketch and design things and put my name on whatever I want, but it doesn’t mean that you know your craft and your job. I want to know everything. I want to be great.

What sort of design experience do you have?
I design all of my costumes. I like to go out there and feel like I have contributed to every part of what I do. I choose the music, the choreographer, I’ve obviously chosen my coach, my costumes—all if that falls under my realm of power, my realm of influence. That’s something that’s very important to me, that it’s very organic and clear. I’ll start with the music and create a character in my mind and then slowly start to design around that.

Who are your design inspirations?
Definitely this year Lady Gaga was a big inspiration of mine because she did push so many boundaries with fashion and different looks and shapes and things, that I was very inspired to go a little bit off center. Not that I don’t usually go off center—I mean, I dressed up as a swan—but just to be a little bit different with my shapes and different things that I use. And I actually was very surprised: I started to put ribs on my free-program costume, and I designed it in July or June. Then Gaga came out with the Bad Romance video and she had ribs.

So she was taking her inspiration from you?
Perhaps! [He smirks.] No, but she’s definitely an inspiration. But I can be inspired by anything—a wet trash bag laying in a gutter could inspire me for a new kind of black shininess and things like that, so inspiration is all around.

Have you met Gaga?
Yes, we’re good friends with her mama.

Speaking of inspirations, what inspired today’s body paint?
Tara, my agent, actually. She said, “Why don’t we do body paint?” We work really closely with MAC cosmetics. They had an idea for the Olympic rings and the glitter and the hair. Then I’m wearing these Alexander Hotto boots—I got them in Russia, although they are Italian. And then Tsubi jeans and a Chanel watch.

The watch is so sparkly. It matches your glitter.
I’m an ice skater. I’m all about the glitter.

[From Vanity Fair]

I f-cking LOVE Johnny Weir so, so, SO MUCH. “I’m going to take a vacation to Mongolia because I want to ride a yak.” Marry me, Johnny Weir. Dress me. Cover me in glitter and fabulousness. And he’s met Lady Gaga! Thank God. I bet she loves this kid too. Wait… I guess they’re around the same age, aren’t they? He’s 25 years old and she’s 23 years old. It’s like she’s his sister from another mother.

Speaking of Gaga, you know Weir desperately wants a diamond-encrusted lobster for his head. But this is Lady Gaga’s latest look, as of today – some kind of black flower headpiece:

Do it, Johnny!

Johnny Weir photographs courtesy of Vanity Fair online. Lady Gaga in London on March 1, 2010. Credit: WENN.