While most of you were watching the Sochi Olympics for the sports, some of us were watching for nothing but the fashion. The 2014 opening ceremony for the Sochi Olympics did not fail to impress. Whether the competitors were playing with a controversy, taking fascinating risks, or going for a simple look, the fashion aspect of the Sochi Olympics remained interesting.
During the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Germany’s pastel rainbow uniforms began the swarm of questions throughout Twitter and Facebook. The uniforms were mistakenly interpreted as a message about Russia’s anti-gay laws. With rainbow being the symbol for gay pride, it does make sense why many would immediately link the uniforms to a statement made for Russia. But Willy Bogner, the designer of the uniforms, quickly responded, promising they were simply made to celebrate the environment of the games. Along with the rainbow uniforms from Germany, many other competitors showed their anger over Russia’s anti-gay laws with different rainbow articles of clothing. One of them was Cheryl Maas, an openly gay Dutch snowboarder. She sported rainbow colored gloves, waving one of them at the cameras. Whether intending to or not, these rainbow colored uniforms created quite a stir.
For completely different reasons, the Norwegian curling team attracted just as much attention as their competitors. Their interesting, or one could say crazy, pants have many fascinated onlookers. At the 2010 Vancouver games, the Norwegian curling team’s pants became some kind of trademark. The pants, which have crazy lines and loud colors, have many supporters. There is even a Facebook page dedicated to the pants, not the team, with over half a million fans. This years pants are said to be a tribute to Norway. Although the pants are very popular, there is talk that the International Olympics committee (IOC) is displeased. Their argument is that because the team wears a different pair of pants every time the play, they could be deemed unofficial and against proper uniform code. There is no word yet on whether the rumor is true or not; those in favor of the pants should not be worried just yet.
What most of us watched closely was the U.S. team, and we may or may not have been surprised by their choice of sweaters at the opening ceremony. The U.S.A. team wore red, white, and blue hand-knit sweaters designed by Ralph Lauren. Many took to twitter to criticize the sweater, calling it an “ugly Christmas sweater”. That criticisms did not seem to stop the sweater from being advertised. The sweater was selling for $595, with a matching pant set selling for $195. Both are all sold old, but some are still around on eBay selling for more than $3000. I guess not everybody thought of the uniform as an “ugly Christmas sweater”.
From crazy pants to controversial uniforms, the opening ceremony delivered some interesting outfit choices. Some, like the Japanese, chose to go down the easy route with a simple button down. Others, like the Germans, went for more of a daring and colorful look. Overall, the outfits seen at the 2014 Sochi Olympics were very impressive.
