SCORING THE OLYMPICS | THE OLYMPIC CATWALK

For anyone expecting the spectacle and precision seen at the Bird"s Nest in Beijing in 2008, the scene at BC Place Stadium Friday night was positively underwhelming. If Beijing was Michael Bay, Vancouver is Yasujiro Ozu, as understated as Beijing was flashy.
There were, however, some fashion kicks to be had, especially during the parade of athletes. The Germans eschewed red and black, opting instead for cheery Easter-egg pinks and blues. Finland chose white Keith Haringesque down jackets, while Bermuda chose - surprise! - Bermuda shorts. But the most elegant of all nations were the Italians, whose team of 109 athletes emerged in white pants with charcoal gray, waist-length, single-breasted high-buttoned coats, worn over silver down vests and cream turtlenecks. The outfits, designed by Freddy, were molto elegante - a marked contrast to the techie posturing of nations like France or the strange airline-steward formality of Austria.
If the Italians won gold, the Americans took home the silver. Though their uniforms, designed by Ralph Lauren, were unwisely hidden under navy puffer jackets, the Aran knit cream sweaters (cable-knit and turtleneck) were things of beauty, slightly yellower than the lily-white trim-fitting fleece trousers with which they created so subtle and pleasing a contrast. With a few minor adjustments - one wonders what the I.O.C. would have made of Shaun White"s flowing red locks 80 years ago - the team could have emerged from a 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics poster. This, of course, is much what Lauren intended.
The last place on the podium goes to Azerbaijan. For a country that has never won a gold during the winter Games and is fielding only two athletes, the fashion statement made by the team was disproportionately bold. When the tiny entourage emerged, led by Fuad Guliyev, the party of five sported paisley pants - a print no doubt making its Olympic debut - in, blue, red and green, which mirrored the national flag - a nice, if not particularly subtle touch. It makes one wonder what thrilling, trippy theater an Azerbaijani opening ceremony might be if the country were ever to host the Games.