Loved this article found on The Business of Fashion and felt it was worth reproducing for the benefit of Fashion Bloggers followers. Made me LOL:
But what of British fashion’s role
in these London Olympic Games?
Stella McCartney created the kit for
Team GB. And Tom Ford and Thom Sweeney dressed Daniel Craig and David Beckham, respectively,
in tuxedos for their James Bond cameos in the Opening Ceremony. But apart from
that, British fashion was noticeably absent…until the Closing Ceremony.
Along with appearances from more
than thirty artists from the past 50 years of British pop music, a gaggle of
British supermodels, including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and David Gandy, the
famous face of Dolce & Gabbana’s Blue fragrance, appeared in a brief
segment showcasing British fashion brands including Alexander McQueen,
Burberry, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Erdem, Paul Smith, Victoria
Beckham and Vivienne Westwood. To the soundtrack of ‘Fashion’ by David Bowie,
who reportedly declined to participate in the event, huge trailers rolled onto
the Olympic stadium track, covered in giant billboard-sized fashion images shot
by Nick Knight for the pages of British Vogue’s
September issue, which then dropped to reveal the models themselves, who
strutted their way to the centre of the massive set, and then promptly turned around
and walked off.
“What was that about?” asked my
seatmate. I shrugged my shoulders. Ostensibly, the intention was to show the
inextricable links between British fashion and music. But while it may have
made for powerful imagery in the pages of Vogue, on the global stage of the Olympic
stadium, it simply wasn’t impactful.
“The segment seemed to be stuck in a
generic timewarped view of fashion that didn’t seem to connect with what’s
actually going on in fashion today,” wrote Susie Bubble.
“Oh, strutty models. Oh, strike a fierce pose at end of catwalk. Oh, credits
read out loud in manner of a catwalk show at The Clothes Show
at NEC Birmingham.”
The clothing itself was stunning and
there were name checks for all of the designers involved, which certainly
amounts to some well-deserved publicity for British fashion. But this was
surely a missed opportunity to make an indelible and truly modern statement
about the role of fashion in global culture and the walk-up-and-down,
catwalk-like presentation was just not enough. Indeed, if fashion is going to
communicate on a global stage this size, this format needs a rethink. Perhaps
the organizers would have done well to study Burberry World Live,
an immersive media experience the brand launched in Taipei earlier this year.
Ultimately, I agree with Hadley
Freeman who wrote in The
Guardian: “Seeing models strut in six-inch heels looked a little
less impressive after a fortnight of watching extraordinary athletic feats, not
least because those who performed them had to stand on the sidelines and watch
some women walk about in clothes.”
Will anyone remember the fashion
segment 20 years from now? Not likely. But we will always remember the
athletes. Or maybe, I’m just a sucker for the Olympics.
Imran Amed is founder and
editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion
