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USA Unveils Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremony Uniforms

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The Paris Olympic Games are about a month away. Opening ceremonies will be taking place on Friday, July 26th, and will conclude with the closing ceremony a couple weeks later, on Sunday, August 11th.

This morning, Team USA unveiled the uniforms/outfits they will be wearing for both the opening and closing ceremonies.

The opening ceremony, in which the “Parade of Nations” takes place, is expected to feature more than 10,000 athletes. Hundreds of thousands will watch along the parade route, with thousands more inside Jardins du Trocadéro, where the olympic flame will officially be lit.

The 2024 Olympics will mark the first time since 2016 with spectators permitted for the opening ceremony, as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were delayed until 2021 due to COVID. Here’s how team USA looked in 2021.

Here’s what Team USA will be wearing for this year’s opening ceremony.

USA athletes will be attired in blue blazers, blue striped white dress shirts, and … blue jeans. The blazer features a bright red-white striping pattern on the lapels, as well as the pockets and on the sleeves.

Men will be given blue ties to wear with their outfits, while ladies will sport an open collar look, and the outfits will have cream suede buck lace-up shoes.

For the closing ceremony, Team USA will wear white zipperfront jackets with a red/navy blue/royal blue striping pattern and “USA” across the front. And while that will have the appearance of a white track suit, athletes will be wearing white jeans with “TEAM USA” running down the pant legs.

The white jackets will have several patches, including the USOC logo and a specific patch for the athlete’s discipline. Paraolympic athletes will be similarly attired. The athletes will also have a USA cap option. Here’s a close up of the closing ceremony jacket.

And here’s a handy-dandy explainer video, if you want a bit more information:

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I’ve always loved the opening ceremony for each olympics, and of course the goal for the opening ceremony outfit is to convey a sense of “USA” to the world. Unfortunately, the designs for those outfits over the years has often seemed like a clichéd or stereotypical image of American “dress,” such as when the team sported cowboy hats or fedoras or even berets. Seriously.

I’ll be taking a more in-depth look at opening/closing ceremony outfits over the decades as we get closer to the Olympics.

Speaking of the Olympics: I’ll soon be putting out a call for “Olympic Correspondents” — so if you’d like to cover a specific discipline (either a preview of the upcoming uniforms or an historical look at past uniforms), think about what sport you’d like to cover. I hope to run these throughout the durating of the upcoming summer games.

 
  
 
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Comments (38)

    The closing ceremony outfits looked like they are getting ready to turn left on a Sunday

    And the other outfit makes me think they are either going yachting, or are about to head off to the political convention (as soon as they find their styrofoam hats).

    Same reaction.

    In both cases the polo logo is the largest of all, nothing says USA like an elite British sport

    The closing ceremony outfit is trash in my opinion. The NASCAR jacket and white jeans are not a complimentary look and I get that it’s an American aesthetic, but it’s kind of lazy. The baseball hat is garbage! Just get a regular old hat, slap the US Olympic logo on there or switch them out with the patches for their individual disciplines. I like the blazers. I think khakis would have been the better choice, but jeans are ok. Maybe just a tad too informal for this major sporting event.

    Nope. I’d rather not draw any more attention to it than is necessary.

    With the exception of the boating blazer for the opening ceremony (and even that is ruined by logo creep), these look like utter shit. Lazy stereotype of Americans.

    Most Olympic ceremony outfits are “lazy stereotypes of [insert country here].”

    What’s even worse are the costumes of Miss America Pageant contestants. Makes the Met Gala look like the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

    I get that the navy blazer is just kinda the US’ look for the Opening Ceremonies now, so I’m moving past that to say that the jeans are an ugly look. I get that jeans and a blazer is more and more acceptable in fashion these days, but it just looks like they forget to finish the outfit.

    As for the closing ceremonies…. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t really like the jacket. Does it look like they should be 25 beers deep in the infield at Talladega? Maybe, but I think it looks good, and feels less forced than the Openers somehow.

    Didn’t Levis used to do this outfitting? Interesting that RL puts them in jeans when Levis never did. Am I misremembering.

    I think the opening ceremony uniform looks great. The closing ceremony uniform is less my cup of tea but is okay. If there’s a potential bump in the road, it could be the breathability of the fabric, especially at the opening ceremony, if the temperature is high.

    With record temperatures expected for the Paris Olympics, those closing-ceremony NASCAR jackets look like a misgauge.

    Per my wife, during the bar-going days of her early 20s, dudes in jeans with a blazer were an automatic “Nope.”

    The closing ceremony outfits almost suggest NASCAR suits. Which is also appropriate.

    At least this year we’re not pretending all Americans are spoiled rich kids with mid-Atlantic accents on their way to play polo.

    We have got to get out of this contract with Ralph Lauren. It’s been really bad for several Olympics now. Is there even a contract in place? Does RL even try? This is Paris! Denim? White denim? Just stop.

    Well, the word “denim” itself comes from the French: de nimes (from Nimes). And it appears to be a lightweight denim, so it might be okay for a Parisian summer.

    But to your complaint. Whoever outfits the U.S. team has to be able to:

    1) Manufacture clothing using American materials and made by American labor (recall the stink when PRL got caught using Chinese labor to make the London 2012 parade wear)
    2) Tailor it for a huge variance in body types — from petite coxswains to hammer throwers to basketball players — on relatively short notice
    3) manufacture at a high volume (about 1,000-1,500 people on the team and staff)
    4) and at a higher volume still for retail (where you can get away with using foreign labor).

    Not many companies can do that. The athletes seem to like what they’ve been getting. Maybe a Tommy Hillfinger could pull it off as well.

    Guessing the flag bearer(s) will wear red or white jackets in a similar style?

    Apparently during the Opening Ceremony, the flag bearer will wear a cream-colored blazer; they’ll wear a navy jacket at the Closing Ceremony. The items are on sale at Ralph Lauren’s website

    Love everything but the jeans. Whoever chose this was trying too hard to be hip and came off being lame. The rest of the outfits are really nice.

    Wow. I thought Nike had hit the bottom of the style barrel, but RL has managed to lower the bar. Those jeans are hideous. Yup, nothing says summer like heavy jeans. I know Americans have an iffy style reputation throughout the world, but this look cements that rep. Ugh.

    Would have been great with a pair of White Pants or a White Skirt. Even Red Pants or a Red Skirt would have looked better than blue jeans.

    link

    Blue jeans and a neck-tie worn together isn’t a good look. The closing outfit is fine, outside of the cap! A red, white and blue 59/50 would be much better if a cap must be worn.

    I’m gonna take the minority opinion here and say that I dig the blue jeans.

    I didn’t know they had auto racing in the Olympics this time around. Those closing ceremony outfits gives me Talladega Nights vibes.

    I’m a volunteer at the United States Olympic and Paralympic museum in Colorado Springs. Would you be interested in an article about uni-focused exhibits there?

    Blue jeans are the global uniform of mediocrity. Olympic athletes are not supposed to be mediocre.

    Navy slacks with the coat and tie would be perfect. Red slacks would work as well.

Comments are closed.