The Winter Olympics bring together 93 countries and more than 3,500 athletes—and with so many different teams represented, not every outfit can be a hit.
Friday’s three-hour-long opening ceremony of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games in Milan’s San Siro Stadium featured a Mariah Carey performance in Italian, 60,000 spectators, and Vice President JD Vance receiving an unenthusiastic welcome. It also featured a slew of questionable sartorial choices.
Among the most eyebrow-raising were the escorts who accompanied the athletes into the San Siro, holding a sign bearing their country’s name while wearing a full-body puffer monstrosity and large reflective ski goggles. The silver igloo was an equal opportunity fashion faux pas, as most nations had one of these shiny attendants.
Below are some of the ceremony’s puzzling choices.
Team Germany
Team Germany wore an oversized, Adidas-designed poncho featuring its national colors. The massive jackets are knee-length and waterproof—perfect for weathering the elements in the Dolomites—or for a tour of Niagara Falls. Factor in those bucket hats, and these top competitors seem ready for vacation.
Team Canada
Canada turned heads for the wrong reason in Milan, wearing Lululemon-designed jackets with an oversized maple-leaf motif. The departure from its red-and-white solids of previous games has been controversial north of the border, and for good reason.
Team Czechia
Czechia’s opening ceremony outfits featured arguably the night’s busiest—and edgiest, as USA Today put it—design, but not the best. They were designed by Alpine Pro, continuing its tradition of featuring Czech artists. However, this retro look, which did not feature the red, white, and blue of its national flag, was dizzying to look at for too long.
Team Great Britain
Great Britain’s sweaters, featuring a repeat print of the Union Jack, are somehow both busy and boring. The threads—buried under giant scarves emblazoned with “GREAT BRITAIN,” in case the flags weren’t clear enough—would be a shoo-in winner at an ugly sweater party. Just please, don’t make Princess Anne don one of the scratchy-looking jumpers.
Team Italy
The host nation did not quite stun as expected. Despite wearing Giorgio Armani-designed uniforms, some members of Team Italy entered the San Siro wearing “ITALIA” headbands that look more like vacation souvenirs than the gear for world-class competitors.
Team Slovenia
Although green is not part of its flag, Team Slovenia typically incorporates the color to symbolize the country’s lush natural landscapes. On Friday, the athletes’ long coats in navy, bright green, and white resembled Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear. To infinity and different color-blocking!
Team Switzerland
Swiss athletes walked out repping their nation’s colors, but the squiggle-patterned red-and-white coats verged too close to wonky. The retailer Ochsner Sport’s private label Albright, which designed the look, was perhaps going for a pasta look, but that’s Italy’s dish!
Team Netherlands
Team Netherlands turned up in their typical bright orange but did little to break up the color compared to past games. They appeared more like a giant caution sign than a nation’s elite athletes.
Team Finland
Finland’s accessorizing went beyond the needs of winter’s top athletes and instead veered into the cinematic territory of the Parker family. Channeling the Christmas Story’s iconic mitten accessories is fun, but not the best fit for the world’s stage.
Team Lithuania
The green pants just did not work for Team Lithuania. It’s hard not to evoke Christmas imagery during such a snowy affair—and where the Queen of Christmas is in attendance no less—but green trousers instantly call to mind Will Ferrell in Elf.
