How Top Designers Made Their Mark on the Olympics

Most people who tuned into the Olympics last year mainly did so for its sporting spectacles. However, if you look deeper into the Games, fashion was one of the key issues and top designers were vying for years to attempt to get their name and design for each country’s clothing. Unsurprisingly, it was mainly the worldwide designers that came up trumps and you would be hard pushed to find any local or specialist designers who made their mark on the competition.

With most of these designers targeting standard sizes with their closing, there was some debate if they would struggle to accommodate teams such as North Korea who were deemed one of the shortest teams in the games with an average height of 1.62m. In the end, specialist size designers such as Jeetly Petite were not required and the major brands well and truly took over. Here, we take a look at some of the top teams and their kit designers.

Team GB – Stella McCartney

Some describe Stella McCartney as the epiphany of British fashion, so there weren’t too many raised eyebrows when she was handed the contract to design the kit for Team GB. Away from her designer roots, McCartney is an individual who splits opinion in the UK anyway so it again wasn’t a surprise to see that her design had caused the same effect. Some absolutely hated it and criticised the way she had dismantled the Union Jack flag, while others complimented her in the way she had taken the flag and made it more neutral and arguably, more stylish.

USA – Ralph Lauren

The USA team’s kit also received plenty of attention and again, a lot of it was mixed. We’ll concentrate on the uniform worn for the opening and closing ceremonies, which was described as “preppy” by some sources while others wondered just why the athletes were forced to don a beret. The answer appears to revolve around the berets that the U.S. Special Forces wear and this has made many believe that Ralph Lauren was responsible for one of the most elegant kits in the Games.

Spain – Bosco

While Bosco isn’t exactly one of the most reputable and established designers in the industry (they’re actually Russian, for those that don’t know), we just had to mention Spain’s kit as it became such a big talking point through the Games. To say it was vibrant is something, while others will probably just deem it ugly. It focussed on the reds and yellows that are so prevalent in the Spanish flag, but pulled this off in such a way that has surely damaged the Bosco brand for many years to come!

Italy – Giorgio Armani

Back onto the elite designers, and there were plenty of excited faces when Italy announced that Giorgio Armani would be their designer. However, again there was disappointment associated with these designs, with Armani opting for a simplistic look that really didn’t embrace the culture of Italy. Black and white were the main colours used and while there were some night touches, such as a line from the national anthem in the inside of jackets, many were expecting more from arguably the biggest designer that was associated with the Games.

Brazil – Nike

Out of all of the top designers, Nike are probably one of the least innovative in terms of design, but most practical for sport. They have been responsible for countless kits over the years and while their clothing for the Brazil team was hardly anything new, everybody recognised exactly which team the athletes were part of and this was the part that many others missed. Nike utilised the traditional yellows, greens and blues to create kits that painted Brazil in the traditional sporting sense that everybody knows and for this reason, they probably received the most positive feedback.