Disclaimer: This concept theme is not based on any kind of exhaustive/extensive research into the hockey history of each country during the war. There were no fabric samples or forensics involved in getting these designs to be historically accurate. Quite simply, this is an American perspective on how hockey jerseys should have looked if WWII was fought strictly on the ice.
Today's Totally WWII jersey concept is Team Soviet Union. I originally planned to unveil Team Canada today, but I'm having a bear of a time coming up with something I like. (By that I mean I want to design something that Canadians won't hate.) I may open it up and design by committee on that one.
But today is the unveiling of Team Soviet Union.
I'll say this, all of the design inspiration for these jerseys came from Soviet uniforms and medals. I haven't started on Great Britain yet, but out of all the research I've done, the Soviets seem to have the widest variety in terms of color and style. (However, the Soviets may have the most variety in terms of color and style, the Nazi uniforms are hands-down style winners)
Right away, the Soviet uniforms jumped out at me when I started the research and there was no need to look anywhere else, for anything else. Also, I wanted to stray from the fighter plane inspiration.
After the break, you'll see some of the uniforms I used as a "palette model" for my jersey design.
I found these uniforms pictured above to have the most visual interest and picked them as a way to style my jerseys after. Since there was such a color variety, I decided that a special third jersey was in order.
Next up, the Team Canada design by committee project!
These are by far my favorite jerseys in this series
Posted by: Link | July 13, 2009 at 07:05 AM
Ok, if it's not supposed to be sport-history accurate... then the 3rd jersey is brilliant.
Posted by: untvar | July 13, 2009 at 07:08 AM
Yeah, ya ever see a movie and they say that it's "LOOSELY" based off of a true story? Well that's how you can look at the jerseys in this WWII concept. haha.
Posted by: johnny griswold | July 13, 2009 at 08:26 AM
I love the away jersey! Overall, it might be my favorite so far. Maybe second or third after the two US jerseys - something about their stars bothers me though...
Posted by: Adam | July 13, 2009 at 10:28 AM
All three are awesome, can't wait to see Great Britain and most importantly Canada, I'm sure both will great.
Posted by: Iain Childerhose | July 13, 2009 at 11:32 AM
Do you think the cream colored uniform was actually a stark white (i.e. such as the current US Navy dress) and became dingy through the years?
The arm stripes are misleading as they look like the German flag.
The green is off, appearing like US Army green instead of the cold, steel color of the Russian green.
Posted by: Combest | July 13, 2009 at 12:07 PM
As stated above though, third jersey is great and is my favorite.
Posted by: Combest | July 13, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Well, done, these are one of the best of the series so far.
Posted by: paploo | July 13, 2009 at 12:26 PM
WOW! Awesome.
Posted by: Koho | July 13, 2009 at 01:00 PM
I may tweak some of the colors. I agree with Combest comments.
Posted by: johnny griswold | July 13, 2009 at 01:30 PM
I may be the only one who cares, but how would names and numbers look on all four so far?
Posted by: Max | July 13, 2009 at 08:07 PM
First off, nice job with these, I wish I would've thought of something like that. I'd seriously buy the green one if it existed.
To answer Max's question, it would be a little difficult to say.
First off, there would be no names, that was tested once by the New York Americans and then abandoned until the 1970s by all of hockey.
Second, it would hard to display any numbers, as sleeve numbers didn't exist anywhere at that point. A full back-of-the-sweater mockup would be needed, and it would be a waste of space.
The easy answer would be to imagine very simple two-color-at-most numerals in the colors of the striping.
that's just my two cents though.
Posted by: Hockey Week | July 14, 2009 at 10:34 AM
I love the jerseys, especially the third and the logo on it! However, one minor detail that I am amazed none of the sharp eyes here picked up on. The home jersey is sporting a (unintentional) rbk half sleeve.
Also, if you tweak the colours do you think you could throw the alternate logo onto the home/away?
Posted by: bw | July 14, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Nice catch, bw. I didn't even notice that those two pieces were missing!
Posted by: johnny griswold | July 14, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Updated: fixed the missing stripes on right sleeve of home jersey.
Also altered the shading for the stripes on the left sleeve to match the shading of the entire sleeve.
Posted by: johnny griswold | July 14, 2009 at 01:36 PM
::applause::
So far my favorite of the set. I especially like the logo and the striping on the blue alternate.
Posted by: Dave | July 14, 2009 at 04:13 PM
An idea for the canada jerseys, drop the circle and just use the leaf.
Posted by: paploo | July 14, 2009 at 07:10 PM
Actually, that 3rd jersey is really appropriate. At the end of the war, the Soviets issued the 1945 parade or victory uniforms. That 3rd jersey would be perfect for the glorious heroes skating through Red Square.
Posted by: Adam Gresek | August 13, 2009 at 07:15 PM