Haiti's Winter Olympics Kit Redesigned at Last Minute to Fit IOC Guidelines
The designer behind the Haitian team's uniform for the 2026 Winter Olympics has revealed she was forced to redesign their ski suits for the opening ceremony after being told they did not comply with the International Olympic Committee's guidelines on athlete expression.
Stella Jean, a Haitian-Italian designer, had based the original uniforms on a 2006 painting by Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié depicting the formerly enslaved revolutionary Toussaint Louverture riding a horse. Louverture, who led the successful revolt that established the world's first Black republic in 1804, was central to Jean's initial vision.
Swift Response to IOC Ruling
The IOC guidelines strictly state: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious, or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas." This ruling came shortly after skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was barred from the games due to his "helmet of memory" honouring Ukraine's war dead.
Jean and her team received the uniforms the night before the opening ceremony, having arrived directly from a workshop where Italian artisans had worked around the clock to hand-paint the design onto technical sports fabric. Rather than abandoning the concept, they quickly repainted the garments to reference the painting minus Louverture, leaving only a riderless horse and a bright blue sky.
"For 24 hours, I was in total despair – we had no budget, no time and this was our only chance to show Haiti in a positive light," Jean said. "His absence spoke louder than his presence." The IOC approved the revised design just in time.
Symbolism and Cultural Pride
The uniforms are believed to be the only fully hand-painted ensemble at this year's games. Other unique features include:
- The tignon, a women's headwrap originating in West Africa that references how enslaved women were forced by colonisers to cover their hair.
- Jewellery based on Creole earrings, which were among the few personal items enslaved people were permitted to carry from Africa.
- Large pockets nodding to Haiti's merchant culture, where markets are the backbone of the economy.
Jean emphasised that the uniforms were not just an exercise of style but an exercise of responsibility, aiming to concentrate positive messages about Haiti's art, culture, and history within a few metres of fabric.
Reactions and Reflections
Images of the uniform spread quickly online, prompting messages of pride from the Haitian diaspora. Cross-country skier Stevenson Savart expressed immense pride, saying walking in the clothes in front of the world to represent his small country was amazing.
Jean refused to be downbeat about the IOC's decision, stating: "The IOC did not lower the bar, it raised it and changed everything. If it wasn't for the rules, we would not have applied a higher degree of creativity or resilience."
With rain forecast on the night of the ceremony, there were concerns about the paint holding. "We truly feared that during the ceremony, the paint might dissolve and reveal Toussaint's face beneath, which made us laugh, but also made us reflect on the idea of our ancestors making themselves heard," Jean added.
A Broader Message
Jean highlighted the broader significance, noting that when people talk about Haiti, it's often immediately about poverty. "We want to tell the world that we still exist, behind the earthquake, behind the disaster and the crisis that we are living in. We are so much more than this," she said. Now, searching Haiti on the internet yields images of their athletes and art rather than violent imagery.
For Jean, the symbolism of Haiti's presence at the Olympics outweighed the results. "In the Olympic arena, we were all equal," she said. "Haiti was no longer the poorest nation. That night, we stood with our heads held high, side by side with the giants of the world."
