{"id":9452,"date":"2022-02-13T08:15:12","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T08:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=9452"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:44:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:44:26","slug":"how-the-winter-olympics-offered-an-unlikely-boost-to-british-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/how-the-winter-olympics-offered-an-unlikely-boost-to-british-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Winter Olympics offered an unlikely boost to British fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unlikely star of Team GB\u2019s Winter Olympic showing so far isn\u2019t an athlete \u2014 it\u2019s the outfits from the opening ceremony, which attracted thousands of positive comments from Weibo and WeChat users in China, writes Robynne Tindall<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With the amount of media attention directed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, it has been hard to predict what the top news headlines would be in advance. However, perhaps no one expected Team GB\u2019s outfits to be the breakout star of the opening ceremony.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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For their National Stadium look, Team GB wore duffle coats and roll-neck jumpers emblazoned with the Union Jack designed by British brand Ben Sherman, paired with leather Chelsea boots. The woollen coat in particular stood out among the down jackets worn by most of the other teams, with many posts on WeChat Moments appreciating the \u2018gentlemanly\u2019\u00a0<\/span>style (a concept long associated with Britain in China).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thousands of internet users in China apparently appreciated the getup\u2019s quintessential \u2018Britishness,\u2019 and according to The Guardian<\/em>, reaction to the outfits briefly reached number eight on the Weibo Hot Topic ranking. \u201cIt was exciting to see British fashion make a dramatic splash at the Olympics, and indeed many of us have been hunting for our own Team GB Ben Sherman sweater ever since the opening ceremony,\u201d says Sohail Shaikh, Director of Consumer, Learning, Food and Agritech at the Department of International Trade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n