The fashion Olympics

22 Jul 2012

London 2012 is already being billed as the most stylish Olympic Games everStella McCartney, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Hermès and Salvatore Ferragamo are designer names associated with the catwalks of Paris, Milan and New York. But later this week, these prestigious fashion brands will be competing against each other in a different arena – the Olympic one in east London.

Giorgio Armani, who has designed the Italian Olympic team’s official kit, recently declared that London 2012 would be “the most fashionable Olympic Games ever”. And it wasn’t mere stylish hyperbole: this Games has already seen internationally renowned designers flocking to clothe their national team and put their names to key elements of a country’s official kit. So much so that the opening ceremony on Friday, when thousands of athletes will march around the Olympic Stadium, may feel more like the red-carpet parade before an Academy Awards than a traditional sporting event.

And it’s all Britain’s fault. As host country, we fired the starting gun on the style stakes a year ago when it was announced that Stella McCartney would create the official range of garments for Team GB. Produced by the German sports giant Adidas, for which McCartney has designed a successful womens’ sportswear range since 2004, McCartney’s kit would cater for 900 British Olympic and Paralympic athletes competing in 46 sports, from gymnastics to BMX.

This massive commitment encouraged other major players in the fashion industry to get in on the act. “Hugely successful names getting involved early on sparked a trend with other designers,” says Dolly Jones, editor of Vogue.com, which has been updating its users on a surprising amount of fashion related Olympics news ever since.

Style-watchers, then, should prepare to be stunned by the outfits strutting around the Olympic Village from this week. Team GB, of course will be wearing streamlined, hi-tech McCartney, a look inspired by a 'modernised’ version of the Union flag, which redrew it in two shades of blue, and without the colour red.Meanwhile, the American team will be proudly sporting Ralph Lauren’s signature 'preppy’ look for formal ceremonies and in downtime between events, lending the US corner of the Olympic canteen the atmosphere of a WASPy country club. This kit has not been without its controversy, either. After it was discovered that its blazers had been manufactured in China, questions were raised in the Senate; majority leader Harry Reid called for the garments to be piled up and burned. Lauren, who retains the kit contract until 2020, has guaranteed that for the 2016 Games all garments will be made in the USA.

Italian athletes, meanwhile, will be swanning around in slick Giorgio Armani designs, produced through the brand’s sportswear off-shoot, Emporio Armani EA7, with the national sailing team decked out in another of the country’s most stylish labels, Prada.

Hermès, which started out selling saddlery almost two hundred years ago and is now one of the most luxurious brands in the world, has stepped up to fit out the lucky French equestrian team in riding jackets – which will doubtless coin a small fortune on eBay afterwards. The athletes from the tiny republic of San Marino, meanwhile, can hold their heads up high in blue linen blazers and crêpe de Chine shirts by the luxury Italian fashion house, Salvatore Ferragamo. Italian styling has been in demand elsewhere, with Ermanno Scervino creating the kit for the Azerbaijan Republic.

Jamaica, meanwhile, has kept its national team uniforms appropriately and cheerfully patriotic. Cedella Marley, the fashion designer daughter of reggae star Bob Marley, has created a brilliant green and yellow kit with sportwear brand Puma. Expect this go-faster look to become influential beyond athletics tracks when superstar Usain Bolt races in it to retain his title of fastest man on two legs.

Rather less fashion-forward is the New Zealand team’s look. In an apparent homage to the 1948 London Games, casual menswear label Rodd & Gunn has kitted the Kiwis out in retro black blazers with white piping, and A-line dresses for the women. The uniform has enjoyed a mixed reaction at home: “Will the team be lauded for their fashion nous, or mistaken for time travellers from half a century ago?” asked one style commentator.

But perhaps the worst of all the official outfits unveiled so far is Spain’s, which has been described as a cross between flamenco dancer and McDonald’s worker. The hideous design is the fault of Bosco, a Russian sportswear company, which also provided the similarly nauseating “ethnic carpet” designs worn by the Russian delegation. Any fashion commentator could have pointed the Spanish in the direction of Loewe, their leading luxury clothing and accessories brand, or even towards its stylish high street chains, Zara or Mango. Britain’s own high street giant, Next, will be providing the formalwear for Team GB.

In providing the Spanish kit for free, Bosco has saved Madrid an estimated £1.2million. But in unpatriotically outsourcing its official uniform, Spain has missed a trick, particularly at this difficult time in its economy. The Olympics offer designers an opportunity to expand brand awareness on a global scale and, ultimately, to make money, from the official merchandising of these uniforms and kit. “Sportswear is a chance for designers to reach a new audience,” says Neringa Stoskute, curatorial assistant for Designed To Win, an exhibition about sporting fashions that opens this week [CHK] at London’s Design Museum. “It’s more accessible than high fashion. Everyone has a bit of sportswear, even if it’s just the jogging bottoms you put on when you get home at night.”

For the competitors who have to wear these outfits, there can be a psychological advantage in creating a team aesthetic. With split-second differences in athletic performances, even the slightest perceived advantage can be the difference between gold, silver and bronze. Stella McCartney said that when she launched the Team GB kit, athletes told her: “If I feel that I look good, it will enhance the way I perform.” They wanted to look the part – not just on the track, but in the village as well. One British athlete reported that the Australians had the best village kit at the Beijing Olympics, and it had given them a psychological edge.

Not this time, perhaps. After the team’s Olympic team uniforms were unveiled – a riot of teal and gold, with acid-green “buzz” trim – Australian Vogue editor Kirstie Clements gave her thumbs-down: “It’s a bit of a mash-up. I don’t mind the bright fluro, it’s just that there’s too much going on with the fluro touches. I think a bit more of a streamlined style wouldn’t have gone astray.”

Ultimately, though, what every nation is striving for at these Games isn’t fashion kudos, but medals. The only place that Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani are really going to look their best is up on a podium.