Stella creates Villagewear for off-duty athletes

Stella McCartney has designed a range of Adidas ‘Villagewear’ for British athletes to wear during Olympics downtime.

McCartney extended the same deconstructed Union Jack motif from her performance-wear to the relaxed Villagewear separates. Muted versions of powerful Olympic blues and reds run across the sweatshirts, t-shirts, leggings, joggers and shorts in the collection, ensuring consistency of visual identity for Team GB on and off the field of play.

‘The inspiration for the Villagewear collection was to create a more relaxed collection that remained stylish yet comfortable for the athletes,’ McCartney told us.

‘It was also important to unify the team, as the one piece of information that really stuck with me when I talked to the athletes about this project, was how they want to feel as a team in the village, to feel like they are one voice and one nation.’

Athletes contributed ideas for the downtime designs. As well as requesting cotton and natural fibres rather than the manmade materials deployed in competition garments, athletes asked designers to use a wider cut on the leg to accommodate more muscular frames.

The garments complement the most comprehensive Olympic kit ever supplied to a national team. Covering performance-wear, training gear, presentation suits, Villagewear, accessories and footwear, the kit spans 590 pieces for a total of 175,000 items of clothing.

Find Villagewear in Adidas stores and online from 18 May

Read more about McCartney's Olympic designs