Team GB Olympic kit revealed, looks nothing like GB
50 replies, posted
Source: [URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17457729[/URL]
[quote]Team GB's athletes will step out in a dark indigo blue kit, inspired by the union flag, with red shoes, when they compete at the 2012 London Olympics.
Leading designer Stella McCartney, who collaborated with Adidas, said it combined style with performance.
She was at the Tower of London launch where athletes modelling the technical kit said it had the "wow" factor.
But some people have criticised the outfits as "too blue" and looking more Scottish than British.
McCartney, Team GB creative director at Adidas, has designed the Olympic and Paralympic athletes' clothing for competition time, training, medal ceremonies and relaxation time - known as 'Village wear'.
Team GB Olympic kit launch
She said the kit was designed to bring the athletes under one look and feel, with British competitors in all 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports wearing part of the same 590-piece collection.
The "untraditionally British" design features a contemporary take on the union flag, she said.
"Something that was very important to me was to try and use that very iconic image but to dismantle it and try to soften it, break it down and make it more fashionable in a sense."
Andrew Groves, Fashion Design course leader, University of Westminster says:
Where Stella McCartney has excelled in her collaboration is in understanding how to create the perfect mix of sportswear functionality with fashion edge.
Her approach to design is so successful because she understands the demands and desires of the modern market, underpinning this by addressing both the practical and the desirable.
The beauty of the union flag is that it gets reinterpreted every generation.
From the Mods in the 1960s to Geri Halliwell in the '90s Britpop era and to Alexander McQueen's torn and tattered fin de siècle tailcoat for David Bowie.
By deconstructing the union flag and using this as a motif for the construction and design of the Team GB kit, Stella has reinvigorated it for the 21st Century and made it have a fashionable dynamism that is both relevant and modern as contemporary sportswear.
But Scottish Paralympic pentathlete Mhairi Spence and some commentators on Twitter have criticised the deconstructed flag, which features pale and dark blue instead of the traditional red.
Twitter:
Spence wrote: "Little disappointed! Doesn't look very GB!! It just needs more RED!"
While @donaldjdonald, said: "Turquoise, white and blue is the new red, white and blue apparently. Did someone forget to order the red dye for the Team GB Olympic kit?"
Asked about the criticism, McCartney told the BBC: "I wanted to start with the union flag, but I'm really aware the reds, whites and blues are in other nations' flags and sometimes you can feel quite confused when you are watching the Games... is that American, is that French?
"I wanted to make it slightly more delicate and have more texture.
"It's very recognisable still, I've represented all the parts of Great Britain. There's a lot of red in there, but in a non-traditional way."
The designer said the athletes' performance was key in creating the kit as well as ensuring it gave them confidence.
"You have to make the athletes feel like they are in the height of their performance. That they are wearing technical gear that is absolutely going to shave off the tiniest part of a second.
"Something that came across early on was that they want to feel and look like they are a team and there is such power in that.
"When I talked to the athletes I asked them: 'Do you feel different when you look good, do you think it enhances your performance?' and they all said 'yes'.
"You shouldn't have to sacrifice style for sport."
While German-owned Adidas had the technology to make the outfits breathable, footwear lighter and form streamlined, McCartney's role was different.
"I spoke to Sir Chris Hoy and said, 'what can I do to help in any way?' And he said, 'I just want to look cool'."
Stella McCartney: "It is like nothing I have ever worked on before"
Speaking at the launch, team GB BMX rider Shanaze Reade told the BBC when athletes "pulled the kits out of the packets we just thought 'Wow!'"
She said putting on the kit for the first time enhanced the feeling that the Games were "on the doorstep now".
Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, who worked with the designers on the kit, said he was delighted with the outcome and suspected other nations would be envious of their look.
He said: "It's very important that you feel confident in your kit and you feel good in it because you don't want to be thinking about it when you're competing.
"To know that you've got the fit correct, it's aero-dynamic, it's efficient when you're on the bike, that's a big part of your performance."
The four-time Olympian said the kit was also crucial to team unity.
"You want to step out there looking the same as a unit. If you're all wearing exactly the same kit, you all look smart and you all look together, it's quite intimidating to other countries.
"The kit looks fantastic and a bit of a twist to have the union flag incorporated in it but not in an obvious way.
Sir Chris Hoy told Stella McCartney the athletes wanted to 'look cool'
"I think it's really classy... and one I think we will all enjoy wearing."
Across all sports, the kit will comprise up to 175,000 items of clothing for up to 500 Olympic and 350 Paralympic athletes and includes 38 types of footwear.
Triathlete Alistair Brownlee, who is fighting back to fitness after tearing his Achilles, said the tri-suit was a "fantastic" piece of kit considering that "it's notoriously difficult to get it right, because it has to be not too baggy for the swim, but tighter for the cycle and the run".
"Standing here in London, wearing the kit, it's definitely creeping up on us now," he said.
And gymnast Louis Smith said his pale blue trousers and Union Jack vest were "comfortable, nice to wear, professional and sexy".
"With gymnastics, it's important because you're being judged on how you look," he said.
"I'll be performing the hardest routine in the world. With great risk comes great reward, and I've got to pull it off."
LONDON 2012 TEAM SPONSORS
USA - Nike
Russia - Bosco
Germany - Bogner, Adidas and Sioux
Australia - Adidas
China - Anta for the formal uniform, various sponsors for sports kit
The daughter of former Beatle Paul and the late Linda McCartney, Stella McCartney heads up her own fashion house, launched in 2001.
She graduated from Central St Martins, London, in 1995, was creative director at Parisian label Chloe from 1997 and has worked with Adidas on sportswear since 2004.
While Adidas is the official kit sponsor, it has been reported some British athletes may have to step on to the podium barefoot due to a row with the British Olympic Association (BOA) over marketing rights.
Agents of top competitors sponsored by Nike have told the BOA their athletes would be in breach of contract if forced to wear Team GB's official presentation outfit.
But the BOA has said it is a "non issue" and athletes would wear the footwear that is provided as part of their presentation kit, as with previous Games. [/quote]
[IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59239000/jpg/_59239991_team_gb_straight_getty.jpg[/IMG]
The proper colours of the British flag:
[IMG]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRQJlTjzHaryzcp16qqGeyZxnZ7Xad37IpxU0wsqsIYffEhlmilOw[/IMG]
From the comments:
[quote]"McCartney said she came up with an "untraditionally British" design which features a contemporary take on the union flag."
You mean the colours are wrong.[/quote]
[quote]Navy blue, light blue and turquoise. Which Union Flag has she been looking at?[/quote]
[quote]Awful. Blue body, red socks and shoes (looks like a blue chicken), 'X' on his body looks like he is representing Simon Cowel not the UK.
On both - Union Jack NOT prominent enough
On Hoy - all I see is blue and the zipper down the front (it should be on the back!).
I would like to know - how much did we, the taxpayer, spent on this?[/quote]
Is that a fucking dwarf!
I dunno, looks pretty awesome to me. We've seen the contemporary flag colours so many times, it's interesting to have a change.
[QUOTE=jaykray;35249267]Is that a fucking dwarf![/QUOTE]
I thought the same thing.
I never seen an event with them but it will make the Olympics a hell of a lot more interesting.
[QUOTE=Cmx;35249308]I thought the same thing.
I never seen an event with them but it will make the Olympics a hell of a lot more interesting.[/QUOTE]
That's not fair though, dwarfs are notoriously faster than humans because of their height. They shouldn't be allowed in the running contests.
Why is our country so bad at the olympics?
Our mascots suck, our stadium sucks and now our kit sucks.
[QUOTE=The mouse;35249516]Why is our country so bad at the olympics?
Our mascots suck, our stadium sucks and now our kit sucks.[/QUOTE]
What? Olympics is like the one thing that we actually do well at
[QUOTE=jaykray;35249330]That's not fair though, dwarfs are notoriously faster than humans because of their height. They shouldn't be allowed in the running contests.[/QUOTE]
I'm fairly certain it'll be a dwarf only match.
[QUOTE=Coffee;35249546]I'm fairly certain it'll be a dwarf only match.[/QUOTE]
Good. Pointless though.
I like it
EDIT: I am pretty sure 'dwarves' are humans too
[QUOTE=jaykray;35249574]Good. Pointless though.[/QUOTE]
They do it so North Korea can compete.
[QUOTE=Arsonist;35249199][IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59239000/jpg/_59239991_team_gb_straight_getty.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
is this the fellowship of the fucking olympic rings or what
[QUOTE=jaykray;35249330]That's not fair though, dwarfs are notoriously faster than humans because of their height. They shouldn't be allowed in the running contests.[/QUOTE]
Are you saying dwarfs are subhuman?
I just noticed there's a guy in the picture with one leg and one flipper. I don't see how this is fair either.
[editline]22nd March 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=OvB;35249614]Are you saying dwarfs are subhuman?[/QUOTE]
No, they're better.
[QUOTE=Gareth;35249540]What? Olympics is like the one thing that we actually do well at[/QUOTE]
What. Since when was this? We rarely win anything.
[QUOTE=jaykray;35249615]I just noticed there's a guy in the picture with one leg and one flipper. I don't see how this is fair either.
[editline]22nd March 2012[/editline]
No, they're better.[/QUOTE]
It only really gives a boost if both your legs have them.
[QUOTE=Cmx;35249308]I thought the same thing.
I never seen an event with them but it will make the Olympics a hell of a lot more interesting.[/QUOTE]
Paralympics. She's a gold medallist if I remember correctly.
[QUOTE=jaykray;35249615]I just noticed there's a guy in the picture with one leg and one flipper. I don't see how this is fair either.
[editline]22nd March 2012[/editline]
No, they're better.[/QUOTE]
You realise that isn't a flipper right?
[QUOTE=kill3r;35249708]You realise that isn't a flipper right?[/QUOTE]
I can't think of a better word for it, I meant to put "flipper like thing"
is she from a parallel universe or something
britain has a paralympic team, you know
[QUOTE=jaykray;35249267]Is that a fucking dwarf![/QUOTE]
I read that as "IZ DAT A FOOCKING DWORF?"
But really... A dwarf? Whats the deal with that?
Jessica Ennis looks pretty good in that.
Also, laughing at Paralympic competitors is fucking cunty. Shame on you all.
So nobody in the entire thread knows of the paralympics?
And how much did this cost, hopefully less than the simpsons blowjob of a logo.
Yeah, that must mean that the outfit is also the same format for the Paralympics, which is kind of cool. I didn't know that kind of coordination existed.
The more you know.
i think it looks kinda cool
but then we all know how cynical fp gets!
I'm perfectly fine with the design, but maybe some more colour just to make it a bit less monotone.
Also everyone making dwarf jokes need to be shot in front of their families and then forced to watch the entirety of the paralympics without any pain relief
I'm pretty sure the dwarf got a gold medal
[editline]22nd March 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=leach139;35250183]I'm perfectly fine with the design, but maybe some more colour just to make it a bit less monotone.
Also everyone making dwarf jokes need to be shot in front of their families and then forced to watch the entirety of the paralympics without any pain relief[/QUOTE]
hi jeremy clarkson
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