Beijing designer Wang Li is proud this summer's Chinese Olympic medalists accept their awards clad in outfits she designed.
Wang's suits fuse the traditional Chinese colors of red and yellow with imagery of the national flag and the "auspicious clouds" that adorn the Olympic relay torch.
The outfits were unveiled by the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the official Beijing 2008 sportswear partner adidas Tuesday.
Wang led a team from the Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology in developing the design, which was selected from 2,000 submissions from home and abroad during the Presentation Suit Design Competition last year.
Models display the outfits Chinese Olympic medalists will wear in the upcoming Games. [Xinhua] |
"When the design competition kicked off in February 2007, I thought of it as an opportunity to make a contribution to the Olympics as a clothing designer," Wang said. "It took nearly a year to finalize the design, and I'm very happy and very proud our submission won." In previous Games, the task rested solely in the hands of the General Administration of Sport.
"This is the first time the clothing design for China's Olympic athletes has come from the Chinese people, and consequently, these outfits are the most representative of them ever," Ma Jilong, director of the equipment center under the General Administration of Sport, said.
"These outfits provide a great opportunity for China to show its national pride and its true character to the world.
"Our hope is that the country's Olympic athletes will be proud to step onto the Olympic podium wearing these suits, because they are representative of China's elegance and spirit."
Wang explained the designs embodied those things that make China unique and capture its present state.
"We hope to convey the vigorous spirit of Chinese athletes through these colors and images," she told China Daily. "The gradual change of the colors creates a sense of flowing, while the 'lucky cloud' images represent the idea that the country has entered some of its luckiest times."
Production of the suits took more than half a year, because the team needed to make sets for all possible body types. Adidas then tailored the suits - one for every competing Chinese athlete - manufacturing a record-breaking 17 sizes, ranging from 1.40 m to 2.26 m.
"The fact that every suit is made to measure, rather than mass produced, makes the process very complicated," Wang said.
"It makes it impossible to reuse any printing plate, so every one must be constructed separately and then every suit must be printed separately. Also, the colors and designs are added layer by layer using specialized, hi-tech digital printing methods."
To date, 613 Chinese athletes have qualified for this summer's Games, and the final delegation list will be announced by COC later this month.
