When the images of Team China's 2026 Winter Olympics uniforms landed, it was immediately clear they weren't playing by the usual rules of Olympic photography.
They were shot by Win Tam for Vogue China, and instead of leading with performance, movement, or ceremony, the work focused on something far more considered. Identity.
Win Tam approached the uniforms the way he would a fashion story, not a sporting brief. Olympic campaigns typically prioritise action, patriotism, and spectacle. These images did the opposite. They slowed everything down. Ironically. Athletes became subjects and the uniforms were treated as designed objects vs. the usual ‘tech gear’.
This is where Win Tam's background shows. His work has always lived at the intersection of fashion, portraiture, and cultural identity. Bringing that lens into the Winter Olympics reframed the event as something to be interpreted.. Snow, skin, texture, and stillness replaced speed and spectacle.
The result felt closer to a fashion editorial than an official campaign, and that's precisely why it cut through. By stripping away venue, context, and action, the images allowed the uniforms and the athletes to speak without distraction.
For Team China. The uniforms came across as contemporary and globally fluent. For the Winter Olympics more broadly, it signalled a shift in perception. Coverage didn't have to sit in the familiar language of sport photography. It could live comfortably in the world of fashion, art, and modern image-making.
What Win Tam demonstrated here was simple but significant. One photographer, applying a fashion-trained eye to a sporting institution, was enough to open that door.
Shot of the good stuff.
