Winter Olympics: Fila designer’s pride at working on Hong Kong uniforms, calls it ‘more meaningful than Milan Fashion Week collection’
- Angela Ooi, the Italian sportswear brand’s design director, says her team felt a ‘sense of pride’ over the project
- The uniforms incorporate elements of Hong Kong and Fila’s classical ski wear to create a modern and effortless look
Hong Kong’s approach to clothing its Winter Olympians has changed a lot since the first time the city’s athletes stepped out onto the ice in Salt Lake City 20 years ago.
Then, Cordia Tsoi Po-Yee, Christy Ren, and the rest of the delegation shivered their way through the opening ceremony in “thin down jackets” they had bought with a limited budget, and sewn on the Hong Kong patch themselves.
Two decades later, the largest delegation the city has sent to the Games will take to the ski slopes and the ice in uniforms from Italian sportswear brand Fila, that design director Angela Ooi said it had been an “honour” to work on.
“To actually design something for the Olympics, I would say is more meaningful than if you have a collection designed for Milan Fashion Week,” Ooi said. “We feel that sense of pride, and we feel that it’s an honour for us to work on this project.”
Fila has a proud history of involvement in the Winter Olympics, and Ooi said she had drawn inspiration from designs worn by Italian great Alberto Tomba, as well as from Hong Kong.
“Modern classics and elegance in motion remained important for us when we worked on the designs,” Ooi said. “Functionality comes first for the Olympians, but we also wanted to create a modern and effortless look.”
The team has designed eight pieces for Hong Kong athletes Sidney Chu, Audrey King and Adrian Yung, as well as accessories such as shoes, beanies, backpacks and socks.