In just a few hours, Team Haiti will step into the spotlight at the Winter Olympics’ Opening Ceremony in Milan. The designer behind their uniforms, Stella Jean, is praying that it doesn’t rain. “We don’t know how the paint will react to the rain,” she admits. Team Haiti’s uniforms are the only ones at this year’s Games that have been completely hand-painted by Italian artisans. Though beautiful, Jean is yet to discover if the paintings are waterproof: “If something happens, it will be our ancestors showing their will to be there.”

The weather isn’t the only barrier that the Haitian-Italian fashion designer has had to face. Since unveiling Team Haiti’s Olympic kit earlier this week, the designs have gone viral on two counts – firstly for their striking design, and secondly, because they had to be partially redesigned.

The uniforms are based on a painting by Haitian artist, Edouard Duval-Carrié, showing Toussaint Louverture riding a red horse – the former slave who became the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution, creating the world’s first Black republic in 1804. Jean’s original sketches included the image of Louverture, as it is shown in the painting, though the design did not comply with the International Olympic Committee’s rules.

Jean then redesigned the uniforms, removing Louverture. The red horse remains, as can be seen on the jacket and skirt, though it is now riderless. We reached out to the International Olympics Committee for comment: “The IOC approved the team uniform which was provided by the NOC of Haiti after their arrival in Milano in accordance with the IOC applicable rules, which all NOCs were made aware of ahead of the Games,” they said.

Having already designed Haiti’s uniforms for the Summer Olympics 2024, Jean began designing for the Winter Olympics outfits just over a year ago. Milano-Cortina 2026 marks the second time that Haiti will compete in the Winter Olympics, having made its debut with alpine skier Richardson Viano in Beijing in 2022. Viano competes again this year, alongside cross-country skier Stevenson Savart. While Team Haiti’s two athletes are both male, Jean also designed a uniform for the women in the delegation.

Every inch of the kit has been designed with Haiti’s rich history and culture in mind. At a time when the country is in turmoil and 90 per cent of its capital is controlled by gangs, the Winter Olympics brings a moment of pride and celebration for the nation. Haiti’s participation in the Games speaks to its resilience – and the team’s kit shouts even louder.

Below, we meet Stella Jean, a designer known for her political activism – she undertook a ten-day hunger strike in 2023 to protest the lack of Black designers in the Italian fashion industry. For her upcoming collection, which will be shown during Milan Fashion Week in three weeks, she plans to show the uncensored version of what she initially had planned for Team Haiti. Here, she unpacks the political, historic and cultural meaning of the kit.

Hi Stella! How are you?

Stella Jean: I’m a bit stressed! In a few hours my work will be out there.

Because the athletes will be wearing the kit at the Opening Ceremony today?

Stella Jean: Exactly.

But your work has already been going viral overnight – how does that feel?

Stella Jean: It’s completely unexpected. We were the last delegation to deliver the uniform, the athletes only saw it for the first time yesterday (February 5). I hope that it all fits! I’m sure you’ve seen that there were some problems with completing this project, but we’ve managed to pull off a miracle.

As well as the Winter Olympics, you also designed Haiti’s Olympics kit for Paris 2024. How did your relationship with Team Haiti begin? 

Stella Jean: The General Secretary of the Haitian committee contacted me for Paris 2024. He said: ‘We have a chance to show Haiti in a positive light,’ and my immediate answer was yes, without knowing what we would be doing.

In fashion, as a designer, you are completely free to create whatever you want. But in this case, there are limitations. For example, tonight at the Opening Ceremony, Haiti will have nine seconds to show the world that it still exists, despite everything that is happening right now. The nation still exists and resists.

In just a few metres of fabric, we have included so many symbols and meanings. Every single detail of the uniform has a specific social, cultural and historic meaning for Haiti. The tignon [the turban worn in the women’s uniform] references how colonisers would force enslaved women to cover their hair, so their beauty couldn’t compete with the coloniser’s wives. They were made to cover their beauty, but instead of accepting it, they turned it into a work of art. Haiti is a laboratory of resistance.

The Creole earrings, these were the only jewels that enslaved women were allowed to carry with them. The big pockets represent the baskets that the women of the market used – they are the symbols of the Haitian economy. Haiti is so much more than the crisis, it’s more than all the problems, and it’s more than the earthquake.

We are one of the smallest, poorest delegations, but in this Olympic arena, we will be equal to all the others. We are so much more than the tragedy that we are living right now

Can you talk me through what happened with the International Olympics Committee? You submitted your designs for approval, but then they had to be changed? 

Stella Jean: Yes. On January 4, I was informed that the sketch we submitted did not comply with Olympic regulations. For 24 hours, I was in total despair. We had no budget, no time and this was our only chance in years to showcase Haiti in a positive light. We all worked for free for this project. The athletes have just one uniform, there is no second uniform – they have to keep it clean until the end of the Olympics.

Then I remembered the words of my Haitian mother: ‘In moments of challenge, don’t focus on what is missing, look at what you already have.’ We probably have the smallest budget of all the Olympic delegations, but we might have the most humanity.

It’s thanks to this barrier from the IOC that I was able to create the first Winter Olympics uniform that is completely handpainted. It was born from a barrier, but from it we’ve been able to create a cultural record. The world is talking about us – without a press office. It’s a miracle. There is no wall that can’t be turned into a door.

Did you feel disappointed in the International Olympic Committee?

Stella Jean: No. Rules are rules and we should have been more aware. When you accept to adhere and to produce something, you should be aware of the rules. We should really be thanking them, because all of this buzz is partly because the General [Toussaint Louverture] is not present. His absence speaks louder than his presence would have.

You’ve said that you wanted to concentrate hundreds of years of history into just a few metres of fabric and to convey a message through these uniforms. What is that main message?

Stella Jean: We are one of the smallest, poorest delegations, but in this Olympic arena, we will be equal to all the others. We are so much more than the tragedy that we are living right now.

Will you be showing a collection during Milan Fashion Week in a few weeks? 

Stella Jean: Yes, but it won’t be a traditional fashion show like we did in September. The Olympic kit will be part of the collection – maybe you will see the General for the first time then, the full painting with no restrictions.