2024 U.S. Olympic fashion: Classic or predictable?
Jul 17, 2024, 4:07 PM
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 15: Ralph Lauren Team USA merchandise and uniforms at the Team USA Media Summit at Marriott Marquis Hotel on April 15, 2024 in New York City. (Dustin Satloff/Getty Images for the USOPC)
(Dustin Satloff/Getty Images for the USOPC)
SALT LAKE CITY — Paris, the fashion capital of the world. The 2024 Summer Games. Put them together and the U.S. Olympic team better have their official uniforms looking sharp as cut glass.
Let’s talk Olympic fashion with an expert
Mojdeh Sakaki, program manager at the Salt Lake Community College’s Fashion Institute, joined Dave & Dujanovic, with Maura Carabello as guest host, to explain there’s more to this fashion choice than just red, white and blue.
Maura started by saying the U.S. uniforms are sharp — yet she has seen them before.
And Sakaki agreed.
“I have seen the design before. It is predictable. It is very familiar, and it’s just branding of Ralph Lauren. So when I looked at those outfits — I mean from far away I can tell you it is representative of Ralph Lauren,” Sakaki said. “And I’m sad to say that there aren’t any innovations used in the design.”
How could the Olympic uniforms be improved?
Red, white and blue have to be part of the American uniform, Sakaki said, but not dominate all of the design. She added the big, bold lettering and numbers of the uniform take away from the sophistication and elegance of the outfit, rendering it “busy.”
“I would have used some innovative, recyclable materials for some of [the uniforms]. I would not outfit our 592 athletes in a pair of jeans. Yes, jeans are representative of the United States, yet it lacks that sophistication and elegance,” she said.
Since 2008 Ralph Lauren has done a “phenomenal job” clothing American Olympians, but it’s now time to give other top-notch fashion designers the opportunity to showcase their talents, she stressed.
“It’s a fashion world post-pandemic. People are looking for comfort. People are looking for something different and young and innovative.
“There are so many artists. There’s so many designers that are fresh, and they are very connected with sustainability in the fashion world that we need to open up some space for them to enter and to be able to express some of their ideas,” Sakaki said.
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