Jeanne Douglass Diaz ’10 is design director behind Olympics gymnastics uniforms
As the design director for GK Elite Sportswear, Jeanne Douglass Diaz ’10 spearheaded creation of the uniforms for Team USA gymnastics—arguably the most prominent such gig in the athletic world.
After all, women’s gymnastics is the most popular sport at any summer Olympics. This one will be held in the global capital of haute couture—where all eyes will be on superstar Simonw Biles and her teammates.
“For a designer, it’s a dream,” says Diaz. “This was such a great opportunity to showcase our range. How do we merge two things—Parisian fashion and iconic Americana—that are so different? I think we did a great job mixing the two themes.”
An aspiring clothing designer since childhood, Diaz majored in textiles and apparel on the Hill—where, she says, she was particularly grateful for her professors’ emphasis on function as well as form.
Her junior year, she studied abroad in Florence, Italy.
Diaz was active in the Cornell Fashion Collective and had her designs featured at its annual runway show her senior year.
(That collection, titled “Vixen,” was inspired in part by Victoria’s Secret lingerie and the musical Cabaret; it was, she recalls with a laugh, “a little risqué.”)
Diaz was hired by the Pennsylvania-based GK Elite right out of college, rose to design director in July 2023, and now has three Olympics to her credit, having also worked on the Rio and Tokyo Games.