Haiti’s Winter Olympics uniform is a puffer set with designer Stella Jean’s signature: flare and bold color. A forest of green vegetation rises from the athletes’ feet, wrapping all around their legs and torsos, contrasting sharply with the bright red figure of a horse at the center. The women’s uniform features this animal on a quilted skirt that balloons out from the wearer’s waist; the same animal sits front and center on the jacket of the men’s uniform. While this horse has a saddle, the rider is noticeably absent.
Originally, the uniform, which is based on a painting by Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié, featured the revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture mounted on a horse and would have had him gracing the Olympic stage as an ode to Haiti’s history and burning national spirit. Louverture led the movement for freedom from French colonial rule so that the enslaved people on the island could govern themselves.
However, on Jan. 4, the International Olympics Committee decided that the inclusion of the political figure violated a rule against political and religious symbols on uniforms. The uniform was adapted to exclude Louverture but keep the charging horse, and Jean turned the unfortunate situation into something positive, stating in an email to Artnet News, “We did not erase the spirit of the General. … His absence speaks louder than his presence ever could.”
There are more loaded symbols hidden in the stitches of the uniforms. The women’s green headwrap is a tignon, a reference to the forced practice of enslaved women covering their hair in colonial Saint-Domingue, modern day Haiti. The large pockets on the skirt and pants symbolize Haiti’s merchant culture by referencing the large baskets women used in marketplaces.
Jean committed herself to conveying a message to the world with her design. She wanted Haiti to have equal footing with the rest of the global participants in the Games. She told The Guardian that on the night of the opening ceremony, “Haiti was no longer the poorest nation. That night, we stood with our heads held high, side by side with the giants of the world.”
Haiti’s appearance at the Winter Games is rare: This year is only the second time the country has participated — their other appearance was in 2022. Two male athletes represented Haiti this year: Richardson Viano, an alpine skier, and Stevenson Savart, a cross-country skier. The two, despite growing up abroad, decided to represent their ancestral home and be part of something that has been sparking positive buzz for their country.
Haiti has been embroiled in a political and economic crisis that reached a tipping point in 2021 following the assassination of then-president Jovenel Moïse in his home. What followed almost immediately after was a 7.2 magnitude earthquake and the gradual rise of gang violence, particularly in the capital city, Port-au-Prince. By 2023, 80% of the city was under gang control. The violence has since spread far beyond Port-au-Prince, compounding existing concerns over food insecurity and economic and political instability.
If you were to look up Haiti in the news today, you would likely find dozens of articles about this very topic. Jean, Savart, Viano and the entire creative team behind this year’s uniform wanted to highlight something different in their design — something that reflects their pride in their Haitian heritage and honors the values of the Haitian Revolution. Something that shows, as Jean stated in an interview with Dazed, that, in spite of the turmoil, “[Haiti] still exists and resists.”