Four years ago in London, the Czech Olympic team scored fashion points for sporting Wellington rain boots and umbrellas at the opening ceremony of the thirtieth games.
In Rio in 2016, it was the blazers worn by Czech athletes at Friday’s kick-off to Olympiad XXXI that had Twitter tittering – and not in a good way.
Across social media throughout the weekend, the striped suit jackets drew comparisons to the one worn by Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice character in the 1988 Tim Burton film of the same name.
The pinstriped ensemble with accompanying Panama hat was designed by Czech outerwear brand Alpine Pro. Unlike Beetlejuice, whose jacket was memorably black and white, the Czech team’s stripes were blue and white with red accents to reflect the colors of the Czech flag.
The entire Czech Olympic wardrobe, inspired by legendary distance runner Emil Zátopek, has already drawn criticism at home with one Czech fashion editor commenting that while countries such as Britain are wearing Stella McCartney designs in Rio, the Czech uniform is comparable to something you’d buy at a Vietnamese shop.