Against the stunning backdrop of the Alps and the Dolomites in northern Italy, the opening ceremonies at the Milano San Siro Stadium will unite athletes, spectators, and dignitaries from around the world to honour diversity, sportsmanship, and the Olympic spirit. 

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Fashion on the world stage

With Italian design heritage and major luxury fashion brands supporting their national teams, the six Olympic Villages, which will host around 2,900 athletes across the region, will be the place to be seen. Olympic team uniforms now appear appropriate on international fashion runways as well as on the podium.

As the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics arrive in Europe’s snowy playground from February 6 to 22, the 116 events on the ice and on the slopes are becoming a major style showcase.

The Olympic team kits blend sporty and cultural styles, with opening-ceremony outfits reflecting national heritage. Many are designed by luxury fashion houses, including Ralph Lauren for Team USA, Emporio Armani for the Italian Team, and Ben Sherman for the British Team. 

Team Canada to take on the Games in performance and style

Watch for performance apparel from Lululemon, made for Team Canada and designed to excel on ice and at high altitudes, functional and stylish. 

Available for purchase at Lululemon, Team Canada jackets and accessories tell Canada’s story by drawing on the country’s landscapes and environment. They feature topographic map prints, bold maple leaf designs, and colours ranging from deep red to iceberg-inspired greens and blues.

Performance tailoring blends with modern silhouettes to create head-to-toe looks inspired by city style, using fabrics such as Merino Wool, Jacquard, and Translucent Glyde to elevate the Olympic & Paralympic uniform.

Lululemon’s Team Canada accessories are popular

The most popular Lululemon Team Canada items are accessories, especially scarves and toques, which are almost sold out.

Whether elaborate and symbolic or sleek and technical, each uniform is a symbol of national identity. For this year’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes, practicality is as important as appearance, if not more so.

Milano Cortina Opening Ceremonies

The opening ceremony features highlights including the parade of nations, artistic performances celebrating Italian heritage, and the much-anticipated lighting of the Olympic cauldron. 

The 2026 Milano Cortina Opening Ceremonies are scheduled to be broadcast live on CBC on Friday, February 6^th, at 10:30 AM PST. 

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However, while some may grumble, others celebrate American luxe sportswear’s turn towards minimalism. While Paris Fashion Week is about sophistication and Milan Fashion Week is about stylishness, New York Fashion Week is defined by subtlety and restraint. 

Luxury fashion brands will always emphasize quality and exclusivity, but labels are now taking a backseat as a more sophisticated clientele – one that knows personal style is more important than any logo – takes centre stage. American fashion designers are now focused on individuality, allowing their customer to be the star.

Ralph Lauren’s A/W 2019 collection is a perfect example of New York’s understated luxury. In particular, an all-black ensemble with a sleek metallic gold coat is pure opulence for any woman at any age.

In his couture-like collection, Marc Jacobs presented a leopard print cape, worn over a muted printed blouse in and simple brown striped trousers, which would make any woman look and feel like a movie star fleeing the paparazzi.  

Deveaux gave us modern luxury for real life with sharp but not restrictive tailoring, including comfortable and absolutely effortless jackets for New Yorkers.

Designers at New York fashion week brought a ‘less is more’ attitude to the season, shifting their focus from gaudy decorative details to understated shapes and subdued palettes. 

Gone are the complicated and messy layered looks, athleisure wear and exorbitantly priced sneakers of past seasons. This season we are seeing more timeless looks, quality tailoring and monochrome palettes and fewer busy prints and fussy patterns.

Viewing these collections brings me back to a time during my youth when my parents referred to our neighbours, who were never flashy and never talked about their wealth, as ‘old money’.

The clientele that NYFW designers are catering to with their A/W collections is the old money crowd and those that choose to emulate them. To put it more simply, these are clothes for those that understand that while money talks, wealth whispers.

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