Every Olympic Games, Team Canada’s apparel is as hotly anticipated as the announcement of the national hockey team’s starting lineup. For Vancouver 2010, Canada’s oldest retail chain, the Bay, applied its familiarity with Canada’s hardy climate in order to create the line, which was introduced in October along with the slogan “We Were Made For This.”

Patrick Dickinson, the Bay’s vice-president of marketing, knows his team was perfectly suited to the task of suiting Canada’s finest. “We’ve been experiencing, as a company, what a Canadian winter is for a very long time. Who better to design for winter than the Hudson’s Bay Company?” Lifestyle spoke with Dickinson and designer Adrian Aitcheson to find the story behind the threads that will adorn athletes and civilians alike for the months to come.

“The buffalo check plaid is something that has been with us since the early part of the century. It’s like a second skin when you’re out in the woods and it’s a piece of the national character.”- Patrick Dickinson Pairs figure skater Craig Buntin in Lumberjack Henley, $30

“Of course as Canadians we like to disagree and have different opinions about whether it is good clothing or bad clothing; too fashion-y or not fashion-y enough. People who love that sweater, love it. Some people think it’s dated but personally, when I saw that piece I thought, ‘That is going to be a hit.’” – PD Lamb’s Wool Sweater, $100

“We had to work very closely with [the athletes] so they would feel it was comfortable, that it was fashionable, that it was stuff that they wanted to wear and that there was enough variety in the line that they could pick and choose.” – PD Short track speed skaters Marc-André Monet & Anne Maltais in Full Zip Hoodie, $50; Skull Toque, $15

“They have a lot of patches, from our inspiration period of the ‘70s. We also liked [patches] because they have a story — whether it’s a jean jacket that you have and you’ve travelled and picked up patches from the different places that you’ve gone, or you’re a boy scout and you have patches from the things you have done. They have people’s stories and the stories of Canada.” –Adrian Aitcheson Curler Carter Rycroft in Lightweight Quilted Jacket $100

Bright Idea
You’ve got the clothing. But how to polish off your look?

Lucky for Olymp-aholic ladies, Vasanti’s created a makeup palette specifically for the 2010 Games. Three eye shadows (gold, silver and bronze), and a Canadian flag-evoking white highlighter powder and red lipstick will definitely land you on the podium in the all-important Olympic contest: Best Dressed. Go Canada Eye Palette, $40, vasanticosmetics.ca