For sports fans, there are many reasons to be thankful that the Tokyo Olympics look like they will take place – a year late – despite concerns about coronavirus: the chance to see supreme athletes compete at the highest level, an opportunity to deliver your definitive opinion on the Montenegro water polo team and marvel at the proxy superpower struggle at the top of the medal table. But the biggest treat of all could happen on the final night of the Games when the Canadian team walk out for the closing ceremony.
The athletes will be clad in graffiti-splashed denim jackets that would have been very current at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona or on Degrassi Junior High at its peak, but haven’t quite passed muster among 21st-century critics on social media.
“I am screaming. This is Canada’s closing ceremony fit. Cancel the Olympics,” noted one user on Twitter before conceding the denim explosion was “badass”. Another user noted: “Jean Jackets. I wish I was joking.”
New York Times culture writer Dave Itzkoff, meanwhile, was reminded of another Canadian phenomenon. “This is the gang that comes after you if you say you tried watching Schitt’s Creek but couldn’t get into it,” he tweeted.
The Canadian uniforms were released in August last year but they have been picked up in all their glory this week as Team USA released its rather more conservative Ralph Lauren effort.
The design team behind the uniforms, Hudson Bay, explained the thinking around the jean…
