At a time when what it means to be American is fraught with heavy political and cultural shifts and growing divisiveness, Ralph Lauren has the unenviable task of outfitting Team USA for the upcoming Milan Olympic Games and, at least visually, presenting to the world a unified snapshot of America today.
“We kept coming back to accenting everything in white,” says David Lauren, chief branding and innovation officer at Ralph Lauren Corporation. “We felt the purity and simplicity feels fresh, and is much needed at a time when there is so much complication and so many challenges and so much going on in the world. White seems to resonate.”
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Team USA will march into the Opening Ceremonies in mid-length white wool toggle coats, paired with tailored wool pants and a classic American flag sweater topped with a tasseled knit beanie. Lauren says the designers focused not just on how the outfit looked on its own, but the impact that several hundred of the uniforms seen together would have. “You have to imagine not just one look but several hundred athletes and coaches and staff walking together, and the power of white and what that says,” he says.
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The Closing Ceremonies look is more casual, following tradition, but maintains an anchor in white with white barrel pants under a red ski jacket.
The Village wear, always popular with athletes as their daily wardrobe during the Games, this year reflects unusual feedback from athletes—while in previous years, they haven’t been enamored of turtlenecks, this year, “they said they loved it and wanted more, so we did more of them,” says Lauren.
The wardrobe also features a sheepskin bomber jacket reminiscent of the flight jackets first made by the U.S. Army Aviation Clothing Board to keep pilots in open-air cockpits warm during World War I. “We try to look at iconic products and pieces that are part of American culture,” says Lauren. “We wanted to balance these iconic products with being fashion forward and making them accessible.” The bomber style is especially nostalgic since it was his father’s signature look when he started the company, selling men’s ties door to door.
It was not lost on Lauren that with the Games occurring in Milan, one of the major fashion capitals of the world, all eyes will be on how Team USA presents itself. “Yes, we felt we had to raise our game,” he says. Rather than attempting to follow the example of Italian couture, he says the team found inspiration in well-known fashion pieces or silhouettes, such as the toggle coat (from the British military) and well-tailored Italian trousers, and gave them a uniquely American style. “We are an amalgam, a melting pot of global styles, which go through American culture and become refreshed and refined and take on a very American lens,” he says. “It’s a style that appeals to people around the world but it’s distinctively and iconically American.”
Not only will Team USA’s uniforms look sharp, but they will boast new technology as well. Nike is outfitting medal-winners with ThermaFIT Air Milano jackets, which come with an air pumping system that adds air for insulation if athletes want to feel warmer. The technology allows athletes to wear the same jacket and adjust the warmth level they need without having to dress in layers.