OPINION
Dan Ahwa is Viva’s fashion and creative director and a senior premium lifestyle journalist for the New Zealand Herald, specialising in fashion, luxury, arts and culture.
Ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics kicking off this month, our best athletes will once again be dressed in a quintessential kit
Every four years I’m asked what I think about the New Zealand Olympic uniforms, and not since London 2012 has there been much to say. Since that year’s throwback of black blazers with white piping by Rodd & Gunn — a nod to the New Zealand uniforms worn to the London Summer Olympics of 1948 — we’ve seen a parade of black tracksuits walk past our screens at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. But even those uniforms from 2012 felt like cosplay, garments better suited to flight attendants than world-class athletes, costumes from a bygone era inconsistent with the dynamic and cutting-edge evolution of modern sports stars.
The last uniform I thought provided the perfect balance of practicality, patriotism and sense of style were the uniforms from Athens 2004, featuring a stylised silver fern motif printed on black Henley tops — visually impactful en-masse and immediately identifiable as New Zealand.
However, little fanfare was made about this year’s kit. The uniforms almost always have their moment as part of the Olympic campaign rollout — a press conference, a photo shoot, an awkward runway show with athletes more accustomed to performing on a track or field as opposed to stalking down a makeshift runway. Instead, 400 black suitcases for 190 athletes and support staff were flown to Paris at the start of this month. There are barely any comms about the kit on the official New Zealand Olympic website, and most of what we can gather about the uniforms has come from a handful of athletes themselves across social media from the likes of swimmers Hazel Ouwehand, Lewis Clareburt and surfer Billy Stairmand. The kit includes a “styley” reversible bucket hat that looks “fresh” according to Stairmand, loose track pants, a pair of beige sneakers, and workout singlets with a subtle koru motif running across them.
Of course, we shouldn’t deny our athletes absolute comfort off-duty, and I’m a fan of comfort over style, a way of dressing New Zealanders are experts at. But it’s the formal numbers that could do with a bit more effort if we’re being particular. After all, this is part of an Olympian’s wardrobe that has the most visibility, worn during the opening and closing ceremonies and used by every participating country at the start of their respective campaigns to corralle public support.
In the case of the New Zealand camp, it is a simple black single-breasted blazer for all genders featuring embroidery of the NZ Team Paris 2024 emblem with a silver fern stitched in white at the left-hand side of the chest. A single teal pocket square adds an interesting flourish of contrasting colour that is also repeated in the blazer’s lining and a welcome flash of unexpected colour.
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Advertise with NZME.How our top-performing athletes progress in their competitions is the main priority, of course.
But how we present ourselves as a nation does have an impact on our national psyche and ultimately, our sense of pride. Who doesn’t feel moved when seeing the All Blacks unified by their black kits performing the haka? Who can recall the time when a pair of red socks helped us get behind the late and great Sir Peter Blake for Team New Zealand’s victorious 1995 America’s Cup? Uniforms and clothing can aid in our desire to win. For the Olympics, dressed in a sea of black can either be intimidating when worn right or at worst, forgettable.
But the colour does serve an important purpose for New Zealand’s visual representation.
“For many, the All Blacks represent an idealised incarnation of New Zealand’s physical prowess; however our other sporting codes are also framed in black: in the team names, in the colour of their uniforms, and even by the colour of their boats,” wrote New Zealand Fashion Museum founder Doris de Pont in her 2011 exhibition book Black: The History of Black in Fashion, Society and Culture in New Zealand. “The black singlet for the Olympic athlete; the Black Caps, the Tall Blacks, the Black Sticks and ‘Black Magic’ are apellations that engender great pride — and sometimes great shame — and they all speak for our collective New Zealand sporting identity.”
While this year’s kit might appear safe, it brings a little progress in making black feel more interesting with the addition of the teal.
Another item that feels current is a classic black cotton rugby jersey with a contrasting white collar, a welcome surprise that’s in sync with this year’s nostalgia for the Canterbury All-Black rugby jersey’s pre-2000. Emblazoned across the back of the jersey are the words Nouvelle-Zélande (New Zealand in French) above the number 24 (2024). It’s the sort of garment that feels smart and on-brand.
The uniform is manufactured by Peak Sports, a Chinese manufacturing company of sportswear and footwear based in Quanzhou, responsible for our Olympic kit contract. Peak is also an official partner, providing apparel for the New Zealand Basketball Association (Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns) along with the New Zealand Olympic Committee and the Olympic Team.
READ: Swimwear We Swear By: Olympian Lewis Clareburt, Dancer Shona Wilson & More Stylish Aquaphiles
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Advertise with NZME.Yet while the team kit has made a concerted effort to ensure our athletes are representing New Zealand for every occasion on- and off-duty while in Paris, the overall concept behind the gear is another example of how we’re adept at flying under the radar. Our preference for not drawing too much attention to ourselves can sometimes be unbearable, especially when we’re up against the very best athletes in the world.
It’s a humble-pie attitude we’ve discussed previously with choreographer and Viva cover star Parris Goebel — the artistic director and choreographer for Vogue’s international Vogue World event last month, which helped to kick off the Paris Olympic celebrations with a choreographed runway show in the historic Place Vendôme. When offering her insights to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on her appointment as the entertainment and cultural curator for New Zealand at Expo 2020, she said, “I told her our youth have the talent, but we don’t have the confidence to put ourselves out there. They’re following in our footsteps of tall poppy syndrome, of being too cool and not wanting to stand out. That’s always been an issue for us Kiwis. We’re trying to be humble all the time when actually, you can still put yourself out there and chase your dreams.”
Last November, we announced that London-based New Zealand fashion designer Emila Wickstead was successful in her campaign to win the contract for updating the uniforms of our national carrier, Air New Zealand. To have someone with her global reputation creating the uniforms is a major coup for the airline and New Zealand fashion. No doubt it will be a shift away from the “blow on the pie” illustrations rendered on the back of Trelise Cooper’s existing Air New Zealand uniforms.
While there are logistical and resource constraints around creating an Olympic uniform that has to serve a range of body shapes and a multitude of occasions for athletes during the Olympic Games, it might be worth taking a leaf out of Air New Zealand’s book and coming up with a better strategy around our Olympic uniforms of the future, tapping into a new way of thinking about how our national identity is dressed on the world stage.
What if we were able to look at other colours that could work within the framework of our collective clinging to black? Colours that might represent other aspects of what it means to be a New Zealander and making these prominent, like blue the colour of the surrounding Pacific Ocean, or an all-white ensemble representative of Aotearoa as the land of the long of white cloud; how about a uniform made entirely of metallic silver in honour of our favourite fern?
One highlight of this year’s kit is a gifted pounamu only found on the Cascade Plateau, south of Haast. Featuring a rich and intense greenstone with a striking white snowflake effect, the jewellery item is said to help connect our athletes to Aotearoa while they are competing at the Olympic Games in Paris. Those multiple shades of green could also provide plenty of inspiration for a colour outside of black. It’s been a while since these uniforms felt memorable and unique.
There are cross-pollinating opportunities to be had if the kit was designed by a brand with some sense of design edge or that has a highly engaged audience outside of sports — a New Zealand Olympic uniform designed in collaboration with Entire Studios, for example, would be a progressive yet interesting consideration. Maggie Marilyn, a designer with a strong sense of both formal and casual wear would be a good consideration given her global reputation. How about a household name like Huffer, whose expertise in technical sportswear with a fashion twist might be just enough balance to create a uniform people might actually want to collect and keep?
Internationally, we’ve seen some impressive examples of how nations can tap into their creative industries to truly design a uniform that brings people together.
From France’s stylish Berlutti-designed number ones to Ralph Lauren’s smart blazer and denim combinations for the US team, it’s not impossible to create a strong and dynamic uniform that’s inspiring. This year, breakdancing is officially an Olympic sport and the Netherlands dance team has a futuristic-inspired uniform to turn heads rendered in bright orange in collaboration with The New Originals. Perfectly slouchy, these are tracksuits that look good and have a wide appeal, the kind of uniforms that can be worn beyond sporting events.
A personal favourite is Haiti’s homage to its cultural roots, working with Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean on number ones that consist of field jackets and sleeveless chambray vests worn with patterned bottoms featuring the artwork of Haitian painter Philippe Dodard, whose artwork titled Passage is incorporated in the uniforms.
These are uniforms that provide a visual cue. In challenging times, it can help boost a nation’s low morale and help foster a sense of pride, while expertly collaborating with and involving the expertise of its creative industries — industries that crucially need support and visibility right now.
One point of progress this year is how local wool brand Honest Wolf is an official licensee, collaborating with the New Zealand Olympic team on an exclusive line of luggage and accessories, made with Papanui Estate Wool and sustainable New Zealand leather, and embossed with the official Olympic rings. Founders Sam and Sophie Hurley are former rowers, with Sophie winning a gold medal in the junior world champs when she was 18. Launched in June 2020, Sophie says it’s an example of how the New Zealand Olympic team is making an effort to get behind small businesses with a sustainable focus.
“For our small business being selected to represent on the world stage was and is a remarkable honour,” says Sophie.
“Our challenge was to create a range that would be well-received in the market and suitable for various uses. This led to the development of six unique items, each designed with a distinctive touch for branding that subtly incorporates the words ‘We are the New Zealand Team’.”
Hopefully, this sentiment will continue for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles with a uniform that might surprise us and do more than dry quickly and pack down into a suitcase easily (design factors that are still vital). It’s time to unite the talents of our creative industries and create a uniform that people will remember.
A uniform that still honours the importance of our humble Kiwi sportsmanship, but can also tap into the confidence, unapologetic pride and slight bravado required to compete on a global level — not only in sport, but life in general.
It’s time to start dressing like we’ve already won.
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