Uni Watch: Red, white and caviar, anyone?

ByPAUL LUKAS
July 29, 2016, 1:00 PM

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Meet you later in the Hamptons?

That's one possible response to Team USA's uniforms for the opening ceremonies at the Rio Olympics, which were unveiled by American clothing giant Ralph Lauren on Friday morning.

The basic design is handsome enough, but the Skippy and Muffy factor is off the charts. It's like, "Yeah, we can have drinks at Daddy's club, and then James can bring the car around and we'll drive down to the water and watch the sunset from Mummy's yacht."

The reality, of course, is that it's difficult for any outfit to capture the spirit or identity of a nation as big and diverse as the United States -- and even more difficult to have to keep repeating that trick every four years. Still, 2016 feels like a rather late date to be taking fashion cues from " The Preppy Handbook."

Meanwhile, here's an interesting wrinkle: Because of the way the blazers are buttoned in the publicity photo, the striped shirts the models are wearing look like the Russian flag.

That was unintentional, obviously -- unless the Russians have been hacking into the Ralph Lauren computer system.

Paul Lukas writes about uniforms for ESPN.com. If you liked this column, you'll probably like his Uni Watch Blog, plus you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Want to learn about his Uni Watch Membership Program, be added to his mailing list so you'll always know when a new column has been posted or just ask him a question? Contact him here.