One of One: Haiti’s Team Outfits at the 2026 Winter Olympics

How a Caribbean nation insisted on telling its independence story through art.

Photo Credit: Stella Jean

Olympic ceremonies have a history of rewarding symbolism, but they rarely reward risk. Most teams arrive wrapped in national colors and abstract flag cues. Haiti arrived with legacy.

The original uniform design featured Toussaint Louverture on horseback, a direct reference to revolution and liberation. Haiti remains the first nation in the Western Hemisphere to win independence from European colonial rule, an event that reshaped global politics and Black sovereignty. That image was ultimately rejected by the Olympic committee. Toussaint could not appear.

The idea did.

Designed by Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, the revised uniforms carried the same meaning without the portrait. Drawing inspiration from Haitian painter and sculptor Édouard Duval-Carrié, the looks featured a red horse set against saturated tropical colors.

The data point “1” was used for this GGD story because of the design method used. Haiti was the only team wearing hand-painted uniforms, turning each athlete into a moving artwork rather than a branded surface. Mainstream outlets including Essence, NYT, and the BBC highlighted the designs and what they stood for, while images of the uniforms circulated heavily online.

Other teams leaned on safe aesthetics. Haiti instead adjusted its strategy without abandoning its point of view. Their heritage and visual story survived the edit. As Jean told the Miami Herald, “This uniform is the very symbol of the Haitian spirit.”

On Threads alone, posts of the team’s outfits sparked a global discussion for their fearless design and political meaning, generating a level of engagement that rivaled conversation around the opening ceremony itself. In a field of visual sameness, Haiti provoked debate and admiration.

Jean put it more plainly on her Instagram, stating, “Two athletes. One nation that refuses to disappear… What you see is not decoration. It is visibility as a form of survival.”