Olympics 2008: Team Fashion

I love the parade of athletes during the Olympics' opening ceremony. I love to see the joy on the athletes' faces, and I love to see what they are wearing. I cast a capricious and critical eye full of bias against prints and too casual sports wear and bias in favor of the color blue and the USA. Conclusion? My favorite Team and Individual Outfit was FRANCE. I love the shades of blue, especially on the men's suits. And while, at first, I wasn't crazy about the wide, red belt on the women, by the end of the parade it stood out from the blazers as classy and original and, dare I say, chic! Also, the French women wore their berets the best.

Update: This article agrees with my pick of France as the best of the bunch

Follow the link below to see who my other favorite and non-favorites were. Also click on the individual pictures to get a better look at the outfits.
























Second Favorite Individual Outfit: PORTUGAL's Women. The capri pants, the fitted blazer, the cute belt. It looks comfortable, fresh, classy and sporty. The mens' outfits, however, were not as nice.



Third Favorite Individual Outfit: MEXICO's Women. The white suit is deceptively plain, but has that little ruffle at the bottom to liven it up. And the suit merely paints a background for the elegant flourish of a scarf. It looks very clean. A little less fun than the Portugal outfit, and not as striking as the French outfit, but very elegant.




Second Favorite Team Outfit: GREAT BRITAIN. The white on black look "popped" (to steal a term I learned on Project Runway). It was different and classy.
















Third Favorite Team Outfit: USA. Because I am biased. It seemed a bit boring. But it was classy and struck a medium between sleek and approachable. Not everyone seemed to be comfortable with the berets. It seemed the African American teammates wore them best and the women teammates wore them the poorest. But I liked the scarves at the women's collars. The red stripes on the scarves and ties could have been broader, but on the whole a good look. Compare to Boliva which has a similar look but uses a full collar on the undershirt instead of the scarf, and I think you'll see that the U.S. outfit pulls off the look slightly better. Also, the U.S. men and women look equally good in almost the same cut of outfit.



Now I will move on to the themes of the night.



Gray---------------------------
Why Gray? What was up with all the countries wearing Gray? It just made the teams fade into the background. And looking at the pictures, it becomes difficult to differentiate one team from the other.

Italy. All gray. Sure the suits looked impeccably cut upon closeup, but from the stands you just looked like moving gray.







Germany. Sure, your colors are black and white, but does that mean you should combine the two to come up with gray. And yes, your ladies are wearing a pinkish red, but how does that fit in with the gold, black, bright red of your flag? Luckily, your buoyant enthusiasm at being there made up for the gray.





Ireland. When I think Ireland I don't think of the color gray.








Netherlands. Dear Netherlands, before your next Olympics, please travel to Austin, Texas where some very passionate people will show you how to wear burnt orange with flare, class and style. (Note, slight Longhorn bias). Love the tie, not loving the gray.





Egypt. If you must do gray, do gray on white. The Egyptians look cool and collected. They don't look particularly Olympic, but they look good.





Prints--------------------------
First, the Good
Angola. This was my favorite incorporation of a bold print. A plain separate top accompanies a bold print on the bottom that likely holds cultural significance. Also, the bottom print is uniquely tailored for the women's skirts with a bit of a ruffle and changing hemline. It's interesting and has a simplicity. I like it.




Romania. I like the skirts. I'm not wild about teal, but the print on the skirts is nice. The combination of fitted blazer and swishing print skirt is casual yet confidant. Nice image.








Now, the Bad
Finland. Worst outfit of the night. Ugly blue-flecked print on an ill fitting dress on the women.






Hungary. Almost the worst outfit, but then I saw Finland. The print on the women's dresses is distracting. The hats, however are adorably cut. They can't rescue the outfit from the print, but they do soften the blow.





Casual---------------------
El Salvador. Good. Sporty, simple, nice color scheme with the two shades of blue paired with khaki . Blue bias. Not all countries are going to invest in Ralph Lauren. El Salvador did it simple and well.





Switzerland. Not so good. Bermuda shorts just don't fit my image of Switzerland. At. All. And the Swiss don't seem to be wearing them that well.







Tracksuit------------------------
Australia probably looked the best, but still not great. I just wasn't feeling the tracksuit vibe last night.






Canada would have looked better without the dorky hats. (Plus, my expectations for Canada are very high because they have looked super sporty-stylish in the past few Olympics).









Ecuador had fun colors and decent streamlining.







Venezuela. Awful, unflattering tracksuit. Worst team outfit of the night. But that didn't dampen their enthusiasm at all.










It's not easy being Green-------------------
Iran. I liked the green blazer over the white. But then I am biased here as well. This particular shade of green is not to many people's liking, but as an American with Iranian heritage, I am used to seeing it and it has a homey feel to me.






Turkmenistan. I really liked Turkmenistan's outfit. It projected a military type look, but had some nice detail with the front pocket, the cut of the collar and the breast emblem that softened it and made it very appealing.







Ireland......sorry, they were wearing gray.




Flight Attendants-------------------------
It's a narrow line between sporty-casual and will-you-have-the-chicken-or-the-fish. These countries fell on the wrong side. And note how close the Bulgarian style is to the USA. I think the difference is in the collar and length of blazer. Also note that Georgia and Russia are currently and sadly engaged in a mini war.
Georgia







Russia






Bulgaria














Oddities----------------------------------
Poland's garden party dresses.







New Zealand's fishhook vests.











Chile seems to have the Texas state flag.










Finally, China----------------------
I read a website that analogized their team outfit to scrambled eggs and ketchup. Because they are the hosts and because they put on a superb opening ceremony, I will refrain from commenting. Besides, I was too busy looking at that adorable kid next to Yao Ming to care about fashion.