New York-based Irish designer Laura Weber’s Olympics 2024 designs
A century after Ireland’s first Olympic athletes made their debut in 1924, Team Ireland is poised to return to the Games this June in unmistakeable style.
As part of the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games, Ireland’s Olympians will sail down the river Seine dressed in shimmering white.
Evoking Ireland's style evolution
The groundbreaking custom-couture outfits are the work of New York-based Irish designer Laura Weber, who has designed the garments to evoke Ireland’s style evolution.
It is a big moment for the designer, who arrived to New York from Dublin in 2013 with little more than a suitcase, skills and determination.
Originally trained in textile design at Ireland’s National College of Art and Design, she has since forged a design studio collaborating with the likes of Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren and dressing icons like Beyoncé and Dr Jill Biden.
Athlete-focussed designs
Now, her goal is to use design to help Ireland’s greatest athletes perform at their very best: “It’s always been about the athletes.
I want to give them what they deserve, and make them feel special in that moment. That’s what clothing is for, to make you feel like your best self,” she explains.
A bold Olympic design proposal
After three-time Olympian and friend Natalia Coyle showed Weber her previous uniforms, the designer worked on a bold proposal for Ireland’s Olympic committee. She offered to not only design the uniform, but to also personally oversee their custom manufacturing from her studio in Manhattan's renowned garment district.
After months of negotiations, she got the job: “I was walking on 6th avenue and through Bryant Park one morning when I got the email – I stopped in my tracks and said to myself – ‘Oh my God, it’s really happening - all the work had paid off.’”
Embroidering Irish heritage into Olympic uniforms
From her studio in New York City’s Garment District, Weber designs and embroiders garments of every type.
In designing the Team Ireland Olympic uniform, a project nearly three years in the making, Laura sees more than just fabric and threads however. To her, these kits are about Irish heritage, global recognition, and the power of design to empower people.
A departure from omnipresent green
Her most radical design choice was departing from omnipresent green and instead clothing the athletes in tailored, radiant white garments.
The crisp white fabric is offset by the intricate embroidery that is her trademark. The Irish flag is subtly woven into the pant piping; painstakingly hand-embroidered emerald shamrock brooches adorn the lapels of each jacket; and hand-tufted green lettering evokes Ireland's lush fields.
“I really pushed for the uniforms to be white, just to honour what it represents – the Greeks wore white in the ancient ceremony in honour of hope for the future. I can’t think of a more fitting theme for today’s Games,” she says.
Representing home counties
An entirely new feature of the design is the tailor-made patch representing each athlete’s home county as part of their kit.
Every Olympian will have an individually embroidered county patch, underlining how she places each athlete at the centre of the design process.
Ireland’s place in the world of fashion
Beyond the 2024 Games themselves, Laura is hopeful the project can send a strong message about Ireland’s place in the world of fashion and design.
“Ireland is doing great things with wool and tweed. By doing full end-to-end manufacturing we can continue to grow and enhance awareness of where these clothes are coming from, how they are made and who is making them,” she says.
“We are having a global moment in everything right now – in terms of film, music, sport, and culture. People know Irish talent, and that is huge for a small island nation to be globally recognised.”
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