Significant praise! Czech opening ceremony uniforms for the Paris Games scored points

He wanted to strike the heart of Paris, but he succeeded in other parts of the world as well. The ceremony uniforms and outfits for Czech athletes at the Olympic Games in Paris by fashion designer Jan Černý certainly did not fit in with the crowd and garnered much praise.

A blend of national pride, innovative design and cutting-edge fashion – that's how the International Olympic Committee rated the seven best outfits for the opening ceremony on its Instagram – and the Czech collection was amongst them.

TIME magazine even selected it among the top three. "This is an incredible achievement for me. First and foremost, I wanted to be relevant on a global scale and prove that my design compares favourably with competition from all over the world. And now we're in the top three in the Time magazine, selected from over 200 countries," said Černý.

Czech athletes presented themselves in their national colours, but in an unconventional way – with lots of interesting details on their capes, shoes and scarves evoking their home country. And the trench coat also linked the Czech Republic with France, the organizing country. The cape with its ink pattern, which was a tribute to the work of Czech artist Vladimír Boudník, caught the eye of the BBC, to take one example.

Sports Illustrated ranked the Czechs eighth in its list of the eleven best-dressed Olympic teams from around the world. The Bleacher Report website also placed the Czech outfit collection in the top eight. In the Independent magazine, the Czech Republic ranked in the top six. It was also praised by Euroitalia or Les Actualités.