The Czech Republic Has Unveiled Olympic Its Uniforms

The Czech Republic has unveiled its uniforms for the rescheduled Olympic and Paralympic closing ceremonies, which are due to take place in Tokyo later this year.

The women will wear blue jumpsuits and white strapless dresses, while the men will march under the Czech flag in a blue vest, white shirt and trousers. The collection was designed by Zuzana Osako in collaboration with ALPINE PRO.

“According to several sources, blueprint came to the Czech Republic from Japan and is still a popular dyeing technique there,” said Osako.

She was inspired by the boarding collection from Tokyo in 1964, which also included a combination of the blue upper part of the clothing and the white lower part. “With this collection, I wanted to reflect on the beauty of the silhouette of our costumes, the significant difference between the figure of a woman and a man,” added Osako.

In November 2018, the Centre for Folk Art Production participated in the inclusion of the Blueprint into the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritages.

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO approved the registration of the multinational nomination, “Blueprint”, which was submitted by the Slovak Republic together with Germany, Austria, Czechia, and Hungary.

Blueprint, however, is not a type of pattern, but a technique for decorating fabrics where a reserve is applied onto a woven fabric to provide chemical and mechanical protection in the patterned areas during the subsequent dyeing .

The reserve is traditionally applied with printing blocks, but other means (brush, stencil) can also be used. The printed fabric is then immersed into the cold indigo dyeing solution. A final wash in weak acid removes the reserve and reveals a hidden pattern.