Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jean is lending her talents to Haiti’s Olympic team in support of her mother’s home country.
Jean, who has made waves as one Italy’s few Afro-European designers, is known for her unique collaborations. Over the past few years, she’s collaborated with artisans from Haiti, Mali, Peru, and Pakiston, among other locales. This time, she joins forces with Haitian painter Philippe Dodard, whose artwork titled “Passage” will be incorporated in the uniforms.
The fifteen athletes competing for Haiti will sport skirts for the women, and pants for the men, both bearing Dodard’s original artwork.
At time of unrest and uncertainty for Haiti, Jean said in a statement that Team Haiti will serve as “standard bearers of peace [who] will have an even more demanding task than arriving to the podium as medal recipients. They are 15 living symbols of rebirth and renewal that extend beyond what is usually shown.”