The focus of the Olympics is, obviously, the incredible physical feats going down in Rio right now, on land, on horse, in water, and mid air. We're not looking that closely at the outfits. (Still, this year's U.S. women's gymnastics team's leotards, with 5,000 Swarovski crystals apiece, are a sight to behold.) But the sports these superhuman athletes play haven't changed much over the years — it's their competition clothing that really evolves with the times.
Now that the 2016 games are in full swing, we're taking a look back at some amazing fashion moments from past Olympics. "Logically, fashion and sport should have very little to do with each other," Matthew Butson, vice president of the Getty Images Archive, told Refinery29, as we scrolled the vast collection for standout shots. "If fashion is often about adornment, decoration, or even standing out and being individual, sport surely demands the opposite, especially at the absolute highest Olympic level." Butson points out that that the point of performance garb is to "help, not hinder, the athlete going faster, further or as high as possible," in addition to flaunting team spirit and national pride, of course.
Ahead, check out 12 Olympic looks from the past century that highlight the supporting, but often still quite important, role that fashion has played in the Games.
Check out this colorblocked bodysuit Australian runner Cathy Freeman wore while scoring the gold medal for the 400-meter race in 2000. Freeman's getup nailed it in terms of function (by "reducing drag," per Butson) and form, thanks to the sleek, one-piece look that "almost submerges the athlete [in] her colors." And the piece's impact was felt far beyond the Olympics: 15 years later, a space suit inspired by it was worn by by Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen during a 10-day mission.
Photo: Billy Stickland/Getty Images.
Behold, this 1976 Winter Olympics shot of silver medalist Dianne DeLeeuw, from the Netherlands, U.S.A.'s Dorothy Hamill, decked out in her gold medal, and Germany's Christine Errath, who won the bronze that year. Suddenly, we have the urge to buy an embellished skate dress ASAP...
Photo: Tony Duffy/Getty Images.
Each time the Olympics roll around, different designers whip up gear for their home countries. This year's opening ceremony outfits, designed by Ralph Lauren, were criticized for involving boat shoes (and resembling the Russian flag, per some tweets).
Back in 1984, Levi's was the chosen designer for Team USA. These are opening ceremony getups worn for the Games, which were held in L.A. that year. They don't really look their age (they're from 32 years ago), considering the tracksuit is back and all.
Photo: Ted Thai/Getty Images.
Russian runner Lyudmila Kondratyeva makes another compelling case for the tracksuit. This shot was snapped after Kondratyeva won the 100-meter race at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, which are perhaps best remembered for President Carter's failed U.S. boycott of the Games.
Photo: Mandadori Portfolio/Getty Images.
German figure skater Katarina Witt went with a full-fledged Western theme, cowboy hat and all, at the 1988 Winter Olympics in East Germany.
Photo: Bob Thomas/Getty Images.
Here's another excellently over-the-top look that Witt donned on ice in '88. Why not pair Grover-hued feathered epaulets with exposed shoulders?
Photo: Bob Thomas/Getty Images.
British archer Queenie Newall won gold at the 1908 Olympics in London. "[Newall is] not exactly sporting the most practical outfit, but that's probably about as far into comfort as prevailing Edwardian values might have allowed for women competing in that era," Butson said. Yeah, that looks like a lot of clothing for an outdoor summertime competition.
Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
On the other end of the clothed-versus-basically-naked spectrum, check out swimmer Mark Spitz wearing his many, many medals (and not much else) at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. "He conveys the whole 1970s aesthetic in nothing more than trunks, medals, and a glorious Tom Selleck-type ‘stache, and quite possibly a dab of body lotion," Butson said.
At the time, Spitz was, quite literally, the gold standard: No other athlete had won as many gold medals at one Olympic Games.
Photo: Terry O'Neill/Getty Images.
Before Beyoncé made us want to go all maximalist on the beach with long-sleeved one-piece swimsuits, there were these glorified bike shorts/tank top swim combos meant to get wet in (and somehow swim fast while wearing so much clothing). Women wore these for the freestyle 100-meter race at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.
Photo: Popperfoto/Getty Images.
Interesting fashion moments at the Olympics are about "trying to find those subtle touches that convey the individual message or look without getting in the way of an athlete’s performance," per Butson. For example, these spiffy gold Nike running shoes worn by gold medal-winning sprinter Michael Johnson in the 400-meter race at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Photo: Popperfoto/Getty Images.
Another slick, ultra-futuristic running accessory? These bizarre, forehead-hugging silver specs worn by Trinidad and Tobago's Niconner Alexander in the Sydney Games in 2000.
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images.
This year, team Great Britain lucked out in the uniform department: Stella McCartney was the selected designer, and the pieces look as chic as McCartney's Adidas line (a.k.a. the stuff athleisure dreams are made of). "It's a meeting of two well-known British heavyweights, and further illustrates the ever-growing relationship between fashion and sport," Butson said of McCartney's Olympic designs.
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