Olympic Influenced Fashion

Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, Adidas, Giorgio Armani and Prada are among a few designers who have helped develop the sportswear we see on the athletes in the Olympic Games this year. With a basis of white and navy and featuring a strong patriotic British flag in an array of blue shades and red trim, the colour balance on the designs work well to only look aesthetically strong but also make our British athletes stand out and allow them to be proud to wear the English flag.

Another designer to get involved with the 2012 Olympics was Karl Lagerfeld.  On the 25^th July he revealed his Olympic inspired collection that would be sold in Selfridges. The collection features numerous simple womens t-shirts featuring prints and motifs of Olympic related objects such as medals and the Olympic torch. Also featuring in the collection are three separate collars heavily sequinned and being sold in gold, silver and bronze, perfect to add a little sparkle to the simple t-shirts. There is white biker style leather jackets splattered with gold and black skinny trousers with the same print, also another biker style jacket but in an almost army camouflage like print. The collection is quite simple and far from the design Lagerfeld produces for Chanel, the simple t-shirts are fitting to the sportswear feel of the Olympics and it’s something new and fresh for the London Olympics.        

Another designer that has used the colours gold, silver and bronze is Mui Mui, these special edition bags are sold only in London boutiques, and they are quite large and have both handles and a longer strap for carrying across the body. They have a slight shine almost like a metallic foil but also look slightly quilted which enhanced the metallic.

House of Holland and Markus Lupfer are two other designers to created Olympic garments, The Jumper by Markus Lupfer is a simple sweatshirt style, its grey and has medals printed on it and then embellished with sequins, the colours are gold and silver medals with blue and red ribbons, perfectly fitting the British colour scheme. The Red, White and Blue scheme has also been used on the House of Holland dress, the gemometric shapes that the colours in remind me of the olympic motif. This dress is a perfect example of olympic inspired fashion, its on trend and fashionable, as well as being patriotic and sporty.  

Designers began designs influenced by fashion at least a year ago, in some cases the Spring/Summer 2012 collections were designed with the Olympics in mind, and I think Jil Sanders S/S 2012 collection captures a good feel for sport. What with Wimbledon and the Olympics this summer, the dress shown below gives a real sense of tennis inspiration. The white dress which is made from a shirt white fabric also has a sharp collar. It’s crisp and simple like an old style tennis dress, however a longer fuller skirt has been used for the Jil Sander garment. Ashish for Topshop has created a very nineties tracksuit, loose thick tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt both pieces are completely matching and are covered in flags from all countries competing in this year’s Olympic. Prada Resort 2013 also had Olympic inspired aspects, even though it’s designed for next year. The first outfit from the collection features a sweatband and the whole outfit is blue and white, again very fitting to the Olympic colours. The shape of this Prada outfit is quite loose fitting and easy, it’s an outfit you can move in, but without it looking like sportswear.

Another trend that has been spreading rapidly across the country is nail art and everyone seems to have gone all out for the Olympics, and it’s great because anyone can do it. Nail art. Females everywhere have been using Olympic coloured nail polish to decorate their nails to express the support for their country.

I think fashion is a great way for people to express their support for their country and it’s perfect for people who enjoy expressing themselves with clothes. The Olympics seem to have inspired pretty much everything around us, allowing everyone to get involved, which brings the whole country together to celebrate the best of British sport.

Written by Emily McSharry