Canadian athletes sport a bit of Fifth Avenue flair

Tu Ly isn't just here to watch the Olympics unfold. The designer of the Olympic uniforms for Team Canada is also here to see how his Canadian Olympic uniforms match up against the preferences of international audiences at the Beijing Games.

Tu, who designed the northern country's award-winning uniforms for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, says he used a Chinese-Canadian approach this year. "We really thought intelligently about this collection and wanted the collection to make sense in Beijing," Tu says. "We really tried to fuse Canada and China together in many ways, through art and symbolism."

Inspiration for the coloration of the designs was drawn from Canada's national flag and the five Chinese elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Green and blue are emphasized in the design to incorporate earth and water.