Closing Ceremony Street Style

It’s been an incredible two weeks for Team GB and with some 23.2 million viewers worldwide our show certainly won the gold medal for its celebrity cameos and remarkable set, but the fashion on display has faced much criticism from industry experts. Now I consider myself to be the Spice Girls’ No. 1 fan – or wannabe – so it truly does sadden me to say their outfits screamed tacky. From Geri Halliwells’ red strapless dress with a tail made of flags (a messy version of the trademark union jack dress that I loved so much in the 90s), to Scary Spice’s very scary, and not-so-forgiving, Zuhair Murad sequin bodysuit, even my favourite British girl band made my heart sink.

The catwalk itself, featuring the likes of Kate Moss, Lily Cole and Naomi Campbell was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise oddly dressed arena. Nonetheless, this blessing was short lived and was followed with more badly designed costumes, athletes’ sportswear and participants. What some of the volunteers and dancer’s outfits did have, however, was comedy factor. They stood out from the crowd in their neon shirts and spandex unitards and ultimately this did the job- and I imagine they would have been a real treat to wear, despite lacking any form of aesthetic attractiveness. I was lucky enough to attend the ceremony in Stratford, and so decided to make a short escape from the show to search for something better.

Hoping to find the public making up for the lack of style on stage, I took to the food stalls in the Olympic Park to see what Closing Ceremony goers had chosen to wear to watch the show. I came across a range of outfits that fully embraced Olympic dress code; from the good to the bad to the shamelessly patriotic. The public gave me fashion from every angle. In fact what I realised was that part of the fun of the entire event was not at all about having this season’s most popular trends on the stage, but about embracing the weird and wonderful British sense of style. We have no boundaries and we’re proud of it. Over time, London has seen every side to fashion possible: from Alexa Chung and Alexander McQueen to Katie Price, Primark and the bum bag. Clearly our capital city isn’t perfect, but we sure do know how to have fun.