Owning the fashion podium

Canada’s Olympic stars look sporting, but they have some rivals in style

By: Connie Tamoto Posted: 12:11 PM CST Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014

FASHION has never really been associated with sports. I think the closest thing to an association between the two might be the glitzy and somewhat revealing rhinestone studded Lycra “dresses” graced by figure skaters, that and the fun and funky head-totoe ensembles worn by golfers like Ricky Fowler.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/02/2014 (4293 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

That said, sport isn’t totally devoid of style. Where we do see some fashion come into play is during the Olympic opening ceremonies. Whether you admit it or not, checking out the various countries opening-ceremony uniforms next week is always a bit of fun.

North Americans tend to be preppy and conservative, whereas our European and Latin American counterparts skew more to the style-savvy — it’s always interesting to see the fashion and style influences represented by each country.

Postmedia
World champion ski-cross competitor Kelsey Serwa in Canadian uniform. — Postmedia World champion ski-cross competitor Kelsey Serwa in Canadian uniform.

While doing some research I came across the uniforms that will be worn by Team Azerbaijan. Designed by Italian fashion house Larusmiani, the uniforms consist of ice-blue desertstyle boots, red cardigans and a slim leg pant.

Equally interesting are the uniforms worn by the Norwegian curling team, who appeared to have taken a page out of Don Cherry’s fashion playbook.

Here in Canada the opening uniforms are a bit more conventional, albeit likely much warmer if you ask me, but still fashionable in a sporty kind of way.

The iconic Hudson’s Bay is once again offering up a bit of Canadiana to the world for Sochi 2014 — but this time with a bit of a modern approach.

The colour-blocking trend is incorporated throughout the Hudson’s Bay collection in the form of bold horizontal swaths of red, black and white.

Out of the entire collection, I think my personal favourite — and perhaps the most representative of Canadian fashion — is the Duffle coat. Made from red wool and featuring a black stripe below the waist and cuffs, this Paddington style jacket is reminiscent of the fur-trader capote.

The collection also includes solidhued T-shirts with contrasting maple leaves, which are simple but offer a stylized way to show our patriotism, along with beaver, loon and polar bear icons, which also feature the maple leaf.