Selma Zukić Popović

It was indeed a great pride and honour to work for the Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games! I was chosen to create the official uniforms for everyone who was employed during the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. About two years before the start of the Olympic Games, I was asked if I would design official uniforms for the employees of the Olympics. At that time, I worked for the "Ključ-Šik" Textile Factory and, although I was a young fashion designer, I had already won several awards, including the "Golden Doe", the biggest fashion award in the former Yugoslavia. As it was a large-scale job, the proposal was to invite someone else to work with me. So, I invited Ingrid Nikolić, a young creator from Belgrade who, at the time, worked for the Alhos Textile Factory.
Creating uniforms for the Olympics was a very big and responsible task. How to find inspiration when the very word "uniform" automatically associates with the army, police, firemen. The inspiration came from the love for the city where I was born, the city I love and I am proud of. So, eager to do my best for the success of the Games, wishing to make the most beautiful uniforms for my city, nothing was difficult.
The uniforms for the Olympics were fantastic, we surpassed ourselves. The work on the uniforms had many stages. Mostly, all the initiatives on the division by employment groups came as the result of countless meetings with the Olympic Committee. They had to approve every idea and were present when contracts for the realization of the gear were signed.
I designed different uniforms for employees who worked outside, and for those who worked indoors. Then we differentiated groups according to their duties.
Very few uniforms were made for the top management, Mr. Samaran included.
The creative part I started with sketches, probably putting hundreds of drawings and ideas on paper. After the conceptual sketches, I chose the materials from which the clothes would be made, then the colour groups that had to be in accordance with the official colours of the Games, upon which we had to find who would execute and manufacture all those uniforms. The design of the Olympic uniforms was fantastic! I drew hundreds of sketches to find the balance between sporty, elegant, modern and comfortable. When we adopted some basic ideas, it was necessary to unite all the uniforms so that they are similar and yet different. It was necessary to think about the manufacturing of uniforms and the technical possibilities of making them.
Of course, we wanted the best quality in the production of uniforms, so we engaged the best textile companies throughout Yugoslavia.
The sketches for manufacturing had to be very precise, with detailed instructions on how to sew them and how to combine colours and materials we chose.
For example, one part of the sweaters was produced in Foča, and the other in Rašica, one part of the jackets in Alhos, the other in Kluz, it all had to be balanced.
The Olympic Committee monitored a lot of practical work, but we, designers who worked for the Olympics, were the greatest support for each other, teamwork was essential to achieve our goal: the success of the Sarajevo Olympics. Well, when I finally breathed a sigh of relief and thought it was all over, the late prof. Kolobarić told me: You still have to produce technical drawings of uniforms, so that visitors would know who is who among the employees. These are the drawings that were found in the Official Guide to the Sarajevo 1984 Olympic Games.