Sochi 2014: Opening Ceremony Parade Uniform

Alright! Without further ado, I'm proud to unveil my designs for the Sochi 2014 Opening Ceremony Parade Uniform. Take a look below; details on each piece after the jump!

Sochi 2014: Logotype and maple leaf pattern

In advance of launching the Sochi collection with the Opening Ceremony parade uniform, I wanted to introduce you to some of the fundamental elements of the brand that will inform every piece I design for Sochi going forward. Here’s a look at the logotype and maple leaf pattern.

As mentioned in my previous post, the Canadian uniforms for each Olympic and Paralympic Games have taken on their own design aesthetic, which informs not only the clothing pieces, but the logos and typefaces used on merchandise and branding.  I’m sure you’ll recall the retro-futuristic look of the typeface and podium jackets for Vancouver 2010, and the summer in the Muskokas slash 70s varsity team pieces the Canadian team donned for London 2012.

To brand the Canadian team for 2014, I also decided to reach back to the 70s for inspiration, specifically, the last time a Canadian team went to Russia carrying the weight of a country’s expectations: the 1972 Summit Series.

Canadian players celebrate Paul
Henderson's famous goal in Game 8
of the 1972 Summit Series.

Photo courtesy of NHL.com

Although the NHL wouldn’t adopt namebars until the late-70s, the Canadian uniforms had something of a pre-cursor: on the back of each uniform, CANADA was worn above the player’s number.

This is something I’ve paid tribute to in the parade uniform and elsewhere, and it puts a spin on the old hockey adage about playing for the crest on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back; here the front and the back represent the same thing: our country.

 

 

On outwear, each letter in the logotype will be stitched on individual, and contrast the colour of the piece on which it appears.

One of the challenges when trying to represent Canada through clothing or uniforms is you
essentially only have only colour to work with: red. This doesn’t allow for a great deal of variety nor does it break up the look of an outfit particularly well, and I find can sometimes border on monochromatic.

To counter this, I took inspiration by the England Football Association’s current home kit. England’s colours are also red and white, but England’s kit designer, Umbro, has used multiple shades of red throughout the kit with a distinct stripe/cross pattern as accents.

Building on this notion, I’ve not only included both a lighter and a darker red in the colour scheme for the uniforms, but also created a distinct maple leaf pattern. Taking inspiration from streetwear brands like Supreme and i love ugly, the repeating maple leaves will be used on accessories and layering pieces to add subtle variety to each look.

Up next: the parade uniform! Stay tuned!

Sochi 2014: The Logo

In advance of launching the Sochi collection with the Opening Ceremony parade uniform, I wanted to introduce you to some of the fundamental elements of the brand that will inform every piece I design for Sochi going forward. First up, the logo!

It is something of an unwritten rule that the Canadian uniforms for each Olympic and Paralympic Games must have their own design aesthetic. To brand the Canadian team for Sochi 2014, I placed an emphasis on simplicity in order to maximize the possible brand applications.

 

The logo is comprised of three circles surrounding a maple leaf, each circle representing the bronze, silver and gold medals our athletes aspire to win. The maple leaf is variation on the one which appears on our national flag, but still retains 13 points, one for each province and territory.

As the official languages of both Canada and the International Olympic Committee, Canadian Olympic Team is written in both French and English, with Équipe Olympique Canadienne placed at the top to reflect international protocol and the order in which the team is announced during the parade of nations.

The logotype, which I will cover in a future post, recalls the simplified typeface used on hockey jerseys and other sports gear in years past. For my designs for Sochi, I tried to straddle the line between a mark that was timeless but could meet the demands of the many more applications called for in modern branding.

Ideally, the logo wouldn’t look out of place on the hockey sweaters of our gold medal-winning team at Oslo in 1952, or sewn onto a backpack my Dad took on a camping trip in the ‘70s. However, most importantly, it needed to work with today’s trends. This couldn’t be a mark for the nylon-golf-shirt and pleated khaki crowd; it needed to look at home at a skate park in Vancouver, at a bar on College Street in Toronto, and at a hole-in-the-wall café in Montréal.

The logo is used prominently, but subtly, throughout the Sochi 2014 collection. I’m excited about the logo and the rest of the Sochi 2014 collection and exploring new and exciting ways to project Canada on the world stage.