The story behind the leo: Illinois gymnastics seniors channel wedding couture with floral design

Every week this season Gymnastics Now will be highlighting one NCAA team’s competition leotard and sharing the story behind the design and creation of the garment.

The Illinois gymnastics debuted a gorgeous and elegant new competition leotard in Week 10 as they faced off against Kentucky and Illinois State. The all-white GK Elite leo with floral designs and pops of Fighting Illini colors is drastically different than the normal blue and orange-focused leotards we see the Big Ten team wear.

Head Coach Nadalie Walsh said this gracefully-designed leo stemmed from a team tradition where that year’s seniors collaborate with her to create a competition leo for the team to wear.

“As the head coach of this program, it is my favorite thing to empower my student-athletes to make contributions and participate in as many decisions for the program as possible,” Walsh said. “We have built a culture of trust, respect, and tradition.”

It’s a tradition and sentiment that only makes the meaning behind this distinguished garment even greater. So where did the inspiration for this lacy, floral, fabulous design come from? I guarantee you the answer will surprise you, and make so much sense, all at once… wedding pictures.

“We decided we have a lot of blue and orange powerful leotards, so we wanted to go in a different direction. We looked up a lot of inspirational wedding pictures and wanted to include floral, lace, a full length sleeve and more elegant details,” Walsh explained. “University athletics reintroduced the cursive, script ‘Illinois’ logo, which we thought fit with this leotard and wanted to incorporate. We love how our design came out and are so proud that something we designed will be a part of Illinois for years to come.”

We’d also like to add it’s not easy to use blue and orange less boldly and more elegantly, and somehow they did it so perfectly by incorporating the color scheme into the floral design that also features intricate detailing on the back. Coach Walsh said it best: these athletes created a leo that is as “intrinsically beautiful” as the senior class who designed it.

We’re not crying, you are!