The London 2012 Olympics Become the World’s Biggest Fashion Show as Major Designers Join the Spectacle
The list of fashion luminaries showing new collections this week includes Giorgio Armani, Prada, Stella McCartney, Hermes, and Ralph Lauren.
But for all the flashy names, the occasion is not a star-studded fashion show in New York or Paris, but the London 2012 Olympics. The Games have turned into the latest, and perhaps largest, runway for some of the world’s biggest designers hoping to reach a new audience and extend their brands.
When athletes pour into the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremonies Friday, many will do so in uniforms created by designers better known for eveningwear than sportswear.
“The Olympics are one of the last places where designers haven’t aggressively worked to get their name out there,” says Rhode Island School of Design fashion historian and author Kathleen McDermott. “So of course fashion is storming in there. Here’s all these fabulous athletes we can idolize, while we admire the designs.”
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Stella McCartney, daughter of Paul McCartney and one of the UK’s most prominent designers, has created swimwear, gymnastics uniforms, and other gear for this year’s British teams, in collaboration with Adidas. Italian athletes will sweep into the opening ceremonies in uniforms by Giorgio Armani. Preppy fashion icon Ralph Lauren, meanwhile, created red, white, and blue opening-ceremony ensembles for US athletes, but set off a storm of controversy this month by producing them in China.
While there has long been a connection between sports and fashion, the joining of these two worlds has never been as prominent — or as brand heavy — as it will be at the London Games, said Sam Hamadeh, chief executive of PrivCo, a New York market research firm.
“It all comes down to money,” says Hamadeh. “Ralph Lauren will make tens of millions of dollars selling Olympic-themed merchandise. Yes, there’s also the patriotism, but it’s money.”