Canada’s Olympic athletes will be decked out in modern Canadiana-inspired apparel when they mount the podium this winter to receive their Olympic medals.
The embarrassing printed shirts and pants of the 2008 Summer Games are gone — replaced by iconic, but contemporary, parkas, toques and trapper hats, red-and-black buffalo plaid and even Cowichan sweaters with an elk-head and maple-leaf knit.
Suzanne Timmins, fashion director with HBC, spent 18 months creating the line with a team of designers.
“For these Games, our mandate was to create a collection that would capture the essence of the Canadian spirit,” Timmins said.
“A collection that was truly Canadian. Inspired by sport and infused with Canadian style. A look that our athletes would embrace, one that is unmistakably Canadian.”
The clothing line is entitled “Canadian Stories” and is executed in red and white, with black and heather grey. The logos and graphics have a modernist ’60s feel.
Nathalie Lambert, Canada’s chef de mission for 2010 (and one of the models for Thursday’s reveal), said receiving the bag of Team Canada clothes and items is one of the special moments of the Games for athletes.
“It’s better than Christmas for kids,” Lambert said. “It’s a moment of pure joy … it is pride. It is the moment that you actually realize you are there, that you made it, that you are actually living your Olympic dream.”
Timmins, however, would not say what outfit would be worn during the Olympic opening or medal ceremonies.
