Doug Mills/The New York Times  Making their entrance at the London Olympics on Friday night, members of the United States team, wearing their controversial blazers and berets by Ralph Lauren, invited comparisons to a wayward flock of paratroopers sent on a mission from Gatsby country. While their outfits had been roundly criticized for appearing militaristic, and for having been made in China, the sight of the 500 athletes in their spiffy dress uniforms ultimately gave them an advantage when seen on television: they looked really intimidating.  With shirttails untucked, the Danish team looked a bit casual on a Friday. More Photos »  The Brazilians sported long scarves with their lemon and lime colors. More Photos »  The Czech Republic athletes wore squiggle-printed rubber wellies that matched their umbrellas. More Photos »  But this was a subtle message when compared with the blunt one sent by the British athletes who closed the parade of athletes in outfits that had been kept secret until the event, probably for the best. They wore white jackets by the retail chain Next that looked like the tops of spacesuits, trimmed in shiny gold, as if their medal ambitions were not yet clear to the world. It seemed a bit over the top when some of them raised their arms, the gold trim extended to their armpits.  The opening ceremony long ago devolved into a bizarre runway show for international fashion, where hot bodies in designer duds walk in circles to sell clothes as much as national pride. This has increasingly been the case over the last decade, since many national organizing committees began licensing their ceremonial wear to help finance their teams. Hence, in London, Lauren’s polo-player logo appeared on the American uniforms with more prominence than the American flag, and there were enough designer names there to give credence to the point of Giorgio Armani, the designer of the Italian team’s monochromatic dark suits and striped ties, who recently described these as “the most fashionable Olympic Games ever.”  That may be debatable. It would be difficult to describe the baggy chinos and red track jackets worn by the Canadian team as appropriate for a sport more taxing than channel surfing. And the male athletes from Denmark were also clad in chinos and sloppy white shirts, which they wore untucked, the very picture of what not to wear on casual Fridays.  But there were some real fashion moments, especially those with humorous nods to the host country. The team from the Czech Republic wore squiggle-printed rubber wellies that matched their umbrellas, and the Brazilians paired their lemon and lime trousers with long striped scarves that could have been a tribute to Harry Potter. Athletes from the Netherlands, dressed by Suitsupply, seemed to have had the most options presented to them, with women in vivid orange trench coats and men in cobalt blue.  Fashion brands have certainly been eager to exploit the global exposure of the Games since Roots, the Canadian sportswear company, made a killing on its berets designed for the United States team in 2002. But their presence has never been as obvious as at it was in London, nor as it will likely be right up until the closing ceremony that will reportedly include appearances by Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, and a catwalk of British fashion. Stella McCartney is designing Adidas performance gear for British athletes, the Italian sailing team will wear Prada, and the outfits to be worn by Jamaica’s track and field team are a result of a collaboration between Puma and Cedella Marley, a daughter of Bob Marley.  Before the subjects of designer labels, globalized manufacturing and even knockoff Nike sportswear became part of the Olympics conversation, it might have seemed unsportsmanlike to complain about a few logos appearing here and there. The Olympians needed the money, after all. Egypt’s team almost had to compete in black-market apparel bought in China this year until Nike donated products after the athletes complained on Twitter.  But the outrage following an ABC News report this month that brought wide attention to the fact the Ralph Lauren uniforms were being produced in China (as they have been since the company took over the sponsorship in 2008 from Roots) suggests that commercializing the ceremonial moments of the Games has also come at a cost to their image.  The classic jacket and tie worn by Western athletes of the 20th-century Olympics is now, at best, in a minority. Many of the athletes in London, carrying backpacks, wearing scarves or dressed in polo or rugby shirts, appeared as if they had stepped out of a back-to-school sales flier. There’s a reason: Many of the designers, including those from Australia, Canada, Britain and the United States, also sell versions of their uniforms to the public. For Ralph Lauren, that $55 beret is big business.
The opening ceremony looks varied from untucked shirts to trench coats, from scarves to tops that looked like spacesuits.