Canada’s Olympic Outfits An Eyesore… Website Rips Off Lost
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Posted by James Wilson
Who needs medals when you can paint Beijing red…-der (forgive me!) in the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games wearing your very own paisley-inspired jumpsuit?
Alright, so in all honesty, I’ve seen worse fashion designs (we all remember the Kristen McMenemy catwalk catastrophe… - on second thoughts maybe that’s just me…). But I can’t help but think whoever was in charge of design simply used the upcoming Olympics as an excuse to take their obsession with Lost to a new level..
It’s not so much the resource-hungry, flash-based HBC website - nor the repetition of the number ‘8‘ in every freakin’ place they can put it - nor the countdown timer. It isn’t even the ‘Design Inspiration’, which I can’t help feeling is an excuse to whack a couple of Dharma logos on the back of someone’s shirt (and pretending you’re actually taking the Chinese elements seriously). No, it’s something truly Lost-esque. That feeling, that needs to reveal the mystery that will never be solved: Why for the love of Dionne Warwick did they put red, blue, and green together?
Numero uno on my list of ‘Colour themes that should never be seen… ever’ is red, blue, and green. I’d love to figure out why some designers feel the overwhelming need to slap primary colours together like a cheap Sunday brunch… I guess combining them to create a tasteful colour palette didn’t cross their minds? That point and the fact that they took some cool action shots and turned them into creepy images of the Bronze People of Nabatea kinda turned me off.
The last few games have been pretty schmick; Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, and Torino? Great stuff, all of these had some pretty good branding happening, and all the countries seemed to put together some hot getups. This Canada Camo doesn’t really stand up, but I’ll give the Bay one thing; they certainly are energetic. So energetic that we’ve been treated to snaps of people doing active things in them, and looking half decent (albeit the poor fellow that was apparently told to do a curious mix of the ballet/hakka for the photo shoot).
I’m looking forward to the overall reaction to these … ‘unique’ outfits in the coming months, but I’m also curious and slightly afraid that if this is what we get for Beijing, what on Earth can we expect to see for London, 2012..
Peace all.
Jimzip 
May 1st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I don’t watch Lost but yeah, these things just look… “odd”. Kind of like a nice coat turned inside out to reveal a hideous lining.
Would you be able to add a link to a site where I can get a better look at the apparel? Pls n thanks
May 1st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Its pretty odd of the design team to look to a mysterious corporate entity on a cult TV show for inspiration in designing internationally marketed active apparel associated with the Canadian athletes. No? Truly WTF?
May 1st, 2008 at 3:56 pm
oy.
ignorance.
o.k. You got it a little backwards. The dharma initiative logos are inspired by the bagua, which is an ancient daoist octagonal chart containing 8 symbols. It has to do with I ching (a famous book), bagua zhang/ tai chi ch’uan (martial arts),some healing arts, and tons of other ancient chinese things. google it, dude.
but hell yeah, them is ugly colours
May 1st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
They look similar because they both take from the Taoist Bahgua.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
If you are seriously talking more about what the athletes are wearing than what they are doing, then you are all yourselves LOST. Training for years and giving your life to your sport pretty much negates what you wear when you get there.
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 am
Ok, I’m Lost…. cuz I don’t watch the show, so can’t relate to the reference. However, the clothing is not: WOW! Awesomeness!! nor is it: WOW! Hideousness! it’s more like: WOW! Weirdness! From the description I just heard on the radio, I was not expecting to see a Maple Leaf anywhere in sight. At least it is there. It could have been much, much better than this though. *Le Sigh* Not sure whether to be embarrassed for our Olympic athletes or not.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
For camo, it hardly makes them sink into the background foliage. This is, unless, they are hiding in a forest of hideous.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
Just to be totally clear: these are not uniforms, they are outfits intended to be sold to the general public.
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
[...] You can find the story here. [...]
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
The rest of the clothing line isn’t too bad, but man…this camo “Tapestry” print is damn ugly. Damn DAMN ugly. Maybe if it was the para(medic)-Olympics they could at least pass for hospital scrubs. Tacky hospital scrubs.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Ever since the Bay got the contract for the clothing, the look and quality has slid downhill. This is bar none the worst outfits to be placed on Canadians yet. Are we trying to get medals by distracting the other athletes?