‘Atrocious, artless’ Olympic uniforms upset fashionistas

They’re atrocious.

At least that’s the verdict of one of London’s dedicated followers of fashion on the uniforms doled out to more than 90,000 staff of the Olympic Games.

For the tsars and tsaritsas of British fashion, the outfits — either a juxtaposition of purple and red on sports jackets or constellations of pink and magenta diamonds on unfitted t-shirts — are an insult to London’s reputation as the hippest city on earth.

“Atrocious, artless, cynical,” is how Stephen Bayley, one of Britain’s leading voices on style, described the uniforms.

“Look as though they were made for a Sacha Baron Cohen parody,” said Bayley.

Bayley, co-founder of London’s Design Museum, added that the Olympic logo, advertisements, and car designs were also design failures that would be unlikely to get a gold in any Olympian design contest.

“In all the areas where we are thought to excel, the Olympics show weakness, lame thinking, and lack of enterprise,” Bayley said.

He is not alone: Members of the British public took to Twitter to air their dismay too.

“Seen a few Olympic volunteers, the outfits they have to wear are awful, purple shell suit, chinos and chunky trainers anyone?” said one Twitter user, Steven Joyce, after noticing a volunteer on the street.

“The shirts the Olympic volunteers have to wear are tragic,” said Matt Page.

The purple and red uniforms, worn by 70,000 volunteers, 6,000 staff, and 4,500 technical officials, were produced by sportswear label Adidas and designed by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog).

The pink and magenta creations, for 11,000 Olympics ambassadors charged with helping visitors make the most of their time at the Games were designed to stand out and reflect Britain’s sporting heritage.

“What we’ve come up with is a uniform which celebrates the best of Britain’s heritage in a modern and sustainable way,” said Paul Deighton, the CEO of Locog.

“They will be high profile in London and in our venues across the UK at Games time, and so it’s important they look the part,” he said.