Debbie Phelps, Fashion Icon?

..asks hollyscoop.com,so Michael earned the Gold medals and she will become a fashion icon

This should make moms around the country rejoice! The roomy, lightweight ensembles that appear on the menopausal mannequins at Chico’s are also being worn by a superstar! Well, not exactly, but Debbie Phelps is a star in her own right.

The “fashion” house dressed Deb for all her spotlight appearances while rooting on Michael in Beijing, and now they’re coming out with an exclusive Debbie Phelps Collection!

Of course, there wasn’t a deal set in place prior to the Olympics, but Deb made it clear to the press that Chico’s is the one and only brand for her, even saying to the Pittsburgh Gazette, “I knew I was going to need to be prepared for a variety of events, activities and climates, so I picked key pieces that I could mix and match, dress up and dress down.”

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Coca-Cola Debuts Sustainable Fashion For Olympic Games

again, more olympic related fashion:

During August and September, The Coca-Cola Company’s is making a visible commitment to environmental stewardship through T-shirts being worn by the world’s greatest athletes at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Coca-Cola is providing every 2008 Olympian and Paralympian arriving in Beijing with a unique item from its new line of “sustainable fashion”: Coca-Cola T-shirts or visors made from a blend of cotton and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the material widely used for plastic beverage bottles.

The innovative apparel items have been produced exclusively for the competitors and attending staff from all participating national teams: T-shirts for the approximately 15,000 athletes, coaches and other team officials participating in the Olympic Games August 8-24, and visors for the estimated 7,000 athletes and coaches who will take part in the Paralympic Games September 6-17.

The front of the T-shirts and bill of the visors are imprinted with the proclamation, “I’m from Earth.” The slogan signifies both the effort to conserve the planet’s resources and the message of unity as the world comes together for its greatest sporting spectacles.

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Olympic fever hits world of designer fashion

more olympic fashion

Athleticism won’t be the only thing on display in Beijing. The world’s top designers, from Polo Ralph Lauren to Gucci to Alexander McQueen, are getting involved in the Games, taking advantage of the opportunity to kick-start or expand their business in the booming Chinese market.

The designers will also be able to attract attention from people of several other nations, as the Summer Olympics are expected to draw over 4 billion viewers worldwide, the largest audience ever to watch the Games. And about 3 million domestic and overseas visitors are expected to be traveling to Beijing. This creates an enormous global outlet for designers to showcase their work.

In Pictures: Gold-Medal Fashion
In Pictures: Beijing’s Top Shops
In Pictures: World’s Best Malls
In Pictures: Shopper’s Guide
In Pictures: Shops In Hotspots “This is a different kind of Olympics,” says Tony Alcindor, vice president of public relations and marketing at Ports 1961, which is outfitting four of NBC’s Olympic commentators. “It has become a global mission for sports and fashion to come together to do something good, despite the political drama surrounding the game

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Which Olympians Could Be Anna Wintour’s New Arm Candy?

i really had to laugh when i read this article

The looming dawn of another September Fashion Week means one important thing: ‘Tis the season for Anna Wintour to widely grin while squiring her tennis crush Roger Federer around town. We fully support her fascination with the dreamy Swiss ace, but can’t help wondering if Anna’s love is real, or whether her affections will drift thanks to Olympics mania and all its attendant delectable man-torsos. In this first week alone, we’ve spotted tons of spry, decorated — or soon-to-medal — athletes who’d make stellar Fashion Week arm candy. So pay heed, A-Dubs: If Roger cancels on you, or you’re just feeling frisky, here are some excellent potential heirs to his throne.

James Blake, tennis: If Lady Bobbington wants to swap one ace for another, what better candidate than super-hot, Harvard-educated Blake — who surprisingly knocked off Federer in the quarterfinals today? And who cares about a gold medal when front-row seats to Oscar De La Renta are on the line?

Jonathan Horton, gymnastics: The U.S. team’s surprise bronze came mostly thanks to his inspiring routines and enthusiasm. Anna could use that kind of fire in her life. Or her purse — if she can’t score wee Jon a seat, A-Dubs could just tuck him away in her handbag. He wouldn’t even need a makeover: The way menswear is going, Horton’s regulation elastic-waist stirrup pants are probably runway-bound.

Park Tae-Hwan, swimming: The Korean suffered an embarrassing disqualification at the Athens games when he just 14, but has already won a silver and a gold in Beijing. Clearly, someone with such capacity to bounce back after adversity can handle Anna’s slings and arrows. Also, he’s deliciously buff and barely legal, which ought to get her some column inches in “Page Six.”

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Olympic-sized fashion

I love “castro” !

Castro’s latest collection has just had its unveiling – all sharp white suits and natty striped polos teamed with specially designed trainers. Not quite what you’d expect from a major fashion house gearing up for the winter season, but this is not an ordinary launch – this is the Castro Olympic Collection.

The Olympic delegation’s official uniform.
Photo: Courtesy/Dudi Hason

The pieces – white suits for both men and women, with the option of a three-quarter-length pant – have the dignity “of something that has to represent a nation” but at the same the flavor of the house of Castro. “It’s all about the cut and how it looks,” says designer Assaf Biton. “The colors were inspired by the national flag.”

The process of producing the uniform is the antithesis of how the company works to produce the fashion collections that are sold through its 130-plus retail outlets. Sportsmen by nature have non-standard physiques, and as such every athlete has to be fitted and tailored individually, resulting in a process that takes up to 18 months. In some senses, this detailed kind of work has more in common with the humble beginnings of the company which lay in the dressmaking business belonging to the mother of founder Aharon Castro.

But the business has changed dramatically in its almost 60 year history. The Castro of 2008 is a lean, mean fashion producing machine with state of the art logistic centers in both Israel and Holland, a global manufacturing base and a sophisticated retail and marketing team adept at tapping the pulse of the fashion forward Israeli shopper.

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Olympic (high)fashion

Thanks to bandelle.com for the pictures and the post:

Twelve fashion designers were commissioned by Lane Crawford, the Chinese luxury retailer, to design a uniform of their favorite sport. While they’re not exactly sport-friendly and aero-dynamic, these garments sure are beautiful. Perhaps a little on the fantasy side too like our Project Runwayers showed us last week. ‘‘The Collective: Synergy in Fashion’’ will be on display at Lane Crawford’s Beijing store and will be auctioned off after the conclusion of the Olympics (read more about the exhibition here — photography by Chad Pitman).

read more at bandelle.com

Luxury Menswear Brand CANALI to Provide Attire for NBC’s Coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games

Again olympics and fashion

Italian luxury menswear design label, CANALI, has partnered with NBC Sports to outfit the on-camera talent for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The CANALI/NBC partnership was spearheaded by 19-time Emmy Award-winner, Bob Costas, who returns for his 7th Olympics as the Primetime Host. CANALI, known for offering refined and sophisticated, tailored items worked with each sportscaster at individual fittings to compose both customized and camera-ready wardrobes.

NBC personalities each received several complete outfits including suits, sportswear, and accessories. Items range from custom made suits to ready to wear separates.

“We are proud and excited to have been selected by NBC Sports and the Olympic Games,” said Elisabetta Canali, Global Director of Communications. “We worked closely with NBC and each Olympic broadcast anchor to find the right fabrics and styles that would make them feel comfortable and pleasing to the eye.”

CANALI will outfit sportscasters including Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Jim Lampley, Bela Karolyi, Matt Vasgersian, Bill Patrick, Fred Roggin, Jimmy Roberts, Al Trautwig, and Tim Daggett. The on air talent will wear CANALI for the entirety of the three weeks of Olympics coverage

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Next In (Olympic)Fashion, The Masked Look

More Olympic news…

What do Rachel Ray, stylish residents of the “inner city,” and the United States Olympic cycling team have in common? That’s right, they’re all at the forefront of a tenuously conceived fashion trend, unbeknownst to them! Many people—such as outraged Chinese authorities—believed that the US cyclists showing up to Beijing wearing anti-smog masks was a grievous insult predicated on the notion that China, despite its charms, is a toxic hellhole. But really the image-conscious Americans were just trying to get in Vogue.

“That image is in the air,” said Jason Christopher, editor of the J.C. Report, a fashion blog that has followed the games closely. “Given the publicity [from athletes wearing the masks], I think it’s likely we’ll see brands rolling these out in multiple colors.”

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The Olympics of Fashion: Canada vs USA

I know you want to see more olypmpic fashion,here we go :

Since I recapped the style on parade of the Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday, over the weekend I’ve been tracking fashion writers around the globe as they weigh in on Parade of Nations style (so far, the French stand atop the podium). In his own audio slide show discussing the fashion hits and misses, New York Times style writer Eric Wilson’s singles out Team Canada, because he was “most startled” by our attire. “It’s hard to look at the images of athletes wearing ball caps and messenger bags and, uh, jackets and shorts and to not think that someone is trying to sell something here,” Wilson elaborates. Hit tacit implication being that with that much merch, Canada sold out.

Right. Because virtuous Polo Ralph Lauren, the first-time Team USA licensee, is only trying to sell Olympic spirit, not stuff. (Not here, nor here, nor in its choose-your-own-country and Big Pony collections.) Even amidst the red, white and navy blue, Polo’s signature brand shorthand of player and pony is hard to miss on most articles of its preppy Olympic Games Collection, especially when in some cases it’s supersized–by several inches. It’s been buzzed about elsewhere for being writ vulgarly large, especially on the otherwise dapper navy blazers American athletes wore on Friday (made available as a replica to consumers for the sum of $695 but alas, already sold out – not that they’re selling anything).

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Fashion Makes Few Waves At Olympic Opening Ceremony

That´s what i expected when i saw the first pictures:

At the Olympics, countries rise and fall, athletes smash world records and progress, generally, is made. Not so, when it comes to the fashions that are trotted out during the opening ceremony’s Parade of the Nations.

Year after year, the look of many of these national uniforms seems to fall in one of three categories: 1. Festive national costumes. 2. Suits with a flight-attendant flair. 3. Tracksuits.

It’s curious that more memorable fashion statements aren’t made. Friday’s event drew an estimated live global audience of at least two billion people, making it possibly the most-watched event in television history. And although many delegations flash across the screen in just a few seconds, those seconds can have great impact . Viewers have taken style cues from the looks they see during the ceremony. In 2002, shoppers stormed the flagship stores of Roots, which outfitted the U.S. team for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, clamoring for the $19.95 fleece berets the athletes wore. (The retailer ended up selling more than a million of them.)

So, why not seize upon this moment to make a memorable, fashion statement?

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