London 2012 unveils Olympic medal bearers' costumes and bouquets - The Guardian
The final piece of the London Olympics design jigsaw has been unveiled, with the first appearance of the Games podiums, the costumes worn by medal bearers and the bouquets presented at medal ceremonies.
In a distinct break with previous events, all but the floral arrangements have been created by students, a decision organisers say highlights the intention to provide a legacy to the city's young people.
Similarly unprecedented is the fact that the majority of the designers are not British nationals. Of the five co-creators of the "royal purple" podiums, which feature a zigzag edge to mimic the jagged lines of the official 2012 logo, two are South Korean, one from China, one is French and the other is a US national. All were Royal College of Art (RCA) students when Olympic officials launched a design contest.
The designer of the two outfits for female medal bearers and athlete escorts, fitted one-piece creations in the same colour, is another overseas RCA student, Trine Hav Christensen, from Denmark, whose final MA show at the college opened this week. The accompanying hat was created by a Briton, Zara Gorman, who left RCA in 2010.
For the first time at an Olympics, some of the medal bearers – all of whom are volunteers – will be male. Their sharply cut purple suit was designed by another recent RCA graduate, Tom Crisp from Kent.
London 2012 bouquets by Jane Packer The only established designers were used for the flowers, created by the studio of celebrated London-based florist Jane Packer, who died part-way through the process late last year.
Niccy Hallifax, who is organising victory ceremonies at London 2012, said the decision to use students was based on London's promise at the bidding process for the event to use the Games to help the city's young.
"The designs are very contemporary, very British, but also take on board our brand and/or stories," she said. "It was really important for us that, certainly with the podium and the costumes, we're launching the next generation of designers."
Once the decision was taken to use RCA students, Hallifax said, it was inevitable that those involved would come from the range of backgrounds. "We are a multicultural country and the RCA in particular draws people from all over the world. The creative industry is very strong in the UK, and the art colleges in particular.
"It was very important to us that we were truly inclusive. It's about bringing the world to London. The designers reflect that."
The bulk of the attention is likely to be focused on the volunteers' outfits, which Hallifax described as having "a very fresh look, which doesn't overpower the athletes".
Medal-bearer outfits have had a chequered history at previous Olympics, with designers generally opting for a variant, or pastiche, of the national outfits, such as the close-fitted cheongsam-type dresses used in Beijing in 2008, or the traditional, rural-style outfits seen in Athens four years before.
This can have its perils for nations where the national outfit is less clear – for example the awkward-looking bushranger coats and hats seen in Sydney in 2000.
The 2012 outfits have opted for a modern look, albeit one that, at first glance, veers closely towards the sort of clothes usually seen on airline cabin crew.
The designers said they had attempted to incorporate British elements: Christensen said the zips dotted around her women's outfits referenced punk; Crisp said he was inspired by Savile Row. Gorman said her sleekly cut hats were influenced by the lines of Olympic buildings such as the velodrome.
London 2012: Sarah Stevenson leads GB taekwondo team - BBC News
World champion Sarah Stevenson is among three taekwondo athletes named in Team GB, with Aaron Cook and Lutalo Muhammad vying for the last place.
Stevenson (-67kg), Jade Jones (-57kg) and Martin Stamper (-68kg) have had their places at London 2012 confirmed.
The British Olympic Association (BOA) vetoed GB Taekwondo's nomination of Muhammad ahead of world number one Cook, with a final decision imminent.
Stevenson, who won bronze in Beijing, is recovering from a cruciate injury.
The 29-year-old Doncaster-born athlete is the reigning world champion having regained her title in South Korea last year.
"This will be my fourth Olympics and me and the sport have come a long way since my first Games," said Stevenson. "When I went to Sydney in 2000, I was only 17 and hardly anyone knew what taekwondo was. But that's all changed and I don't even think you can class it as a so-called minority sport any more.
"If I win gold that will top everything I have ever achieved, but that might not happen because that's the way sport is. Just because you are the best doesn't mean you are going to win, but of course I will try like mad to win gold."
Jones, 19, won European Championships bronze in 2010 and took silver at the 2011 World Championships.
"I'm buzzing," said the Welsh athlete.
Sarah Stevenson's whirlwind 2011
"I had a big disappointment at the European Championships when I didn't win a medal, but I think it was a blessing in disguise. I have things to work on now and make sure I am 100% right for the Olympics."
Liverpudlian Stamper, 25, is an eight-time British champion and took World Championships bronze last year.
"If I fight my own game and fight to the best of my potential then I can achieve anything," he said.
"I don't want to put pressure on myself but I could get gold if I have four fights at my best and things go my way. It could happen."
London's Kenwood House collection comes to US - Huffington Post
HOUSTON — A collection of paintings including works by Rembrandt, Anthony van Dyck and Thomas Gainsborough has left its home at London's Kenwood House and will travel to museums around the U.S. while the stately home undergoes renovations, marking the first time many of the works have been seen outside of the neoclassical villa on Hampstead Heath.
The collection's first stop will be at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where the exhibit "Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House" opens Sunday, running through Sept. 3 before going on to the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum and the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.
"The draw will be big-name artists, sumptuous paintings and a nice trip through history," said Suzanne Ramljak, curator of exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts, which organized the traveling exhibition.
Almost all of the 48 works in the exhibit were given to England by Irish brewery heir Edward Cecil Guinness, the first Earl of Iveagh, who also bequeathed Kenwood House to the nation.
Lord Iveagh acquired most of the works in the exhibit in a short span – from about 1887 to 1891 – focusing on portraits, landscapes and 17th century Dutch and Flemish works characteristic of English aristocratic collections.
"It's a wonderful selection of masterpieces," said Susan Jenkins, senior curator for English Heritage, which oversees historic sites across the nation, including Kenwood.
One particularly notable work is a Rembrandt self-portrait called "Portrait of the Artist" from about 1665 – one of his last self-portraits.
"For me, this whole exhibition is really about painting. Every picture here is a winner, but so many of them are just tour de forces of the act," said Edgar Peters Bowron, the Houston museum's curator of European art.
One room in the exhibition is devoted to full-length portraits of elegantly dressed women including Gainsborough's "Mary, Countess Howe" from 1764 with the subject clad in a pink gown as she walks down a path with an overcast sky behind her and Joshua Reynolds' "Mrs. Tollemache as `Miranda,'" portraying the subject as a character in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest."
"(Lord Iveagh) obviously just loved their elegance, loved the way they were painted," Jenkins said.
She said Iveagh, a father himself, was also drawn to pictures of children. The exhibit includes Sir Thomas Lawrence's "Miss Murray" from the 1820s, which shows a beautifully dressed little girl in ringlets.
"She's sort of between a hop and a skip and a curtsy," said Bowron, who added that it was one of the post popular paintings of the 19th century, with the image reproduced on everything from boxes of chocolates to biscuit tins.
A handful of paintings in the exhibit were not part of the Iveagh Bequest but were added to the collection because of an association with the house, for instance "Three Long-Horned Cattle at Kenwood" by Julius Caesar Ibbetson from 1797 depicts cattle in the field near the home's dairy building on a lovely day, with fluffy clouds billowing in the sky.
Kenwood House, built in the early 17th century, was remodeled by the architect Robert Adam in the 18th century. Lord Iveagh bought Kenwood in 1925, planning to move his art collection there, but he died two years later, never living at Kenwood or placing the works of art there.
Jenkins said that she hopes those who see the exhibit in the U.S. are inspired to visit Kenwood House when it reopens in the fall of 2013, not only to view the paintings in their home setting but to also see some of the additional paintings that are part of the Iveagh Bequest but that did not travel with the show.
"On a sunny day, it is incredibly beautiful. It's on the edge of Hampstead Heath, which is this gorgeous, gorgeous, quintessential English parkland," Jenkins said.
Kenwood may also familiar to movie-goers for its cameo "Notting Hill," its white exterior appearing in the background in the scenes when Hugh Grant's character visits the character played by Julia Roberts on a movie set.
"The house itself is a star in its own right," Jenkins said.
___
If You Go...
EXHIBIT SCHEDULE: After Houston, the exhibit goes to the Milwaukee Art Museum from Oct. 4 through Jan. 6, 2013; the Seattle Art Museum from Feb. 14, 2013 through May 19, 2013, and the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock from June 6, 2013, through Sept. 8, 2013.
(This version lower cases v in first reference to van Dyck, with capital V in show title correct. Deletes garble in If You Go. Recasts 1st paragraph. With AP Photos.)
VAUXHALL MOTORS LAUNCHES NEW ENGLAND TV ADVERT - 3d-car-shows.com
Today, Vauxhall Motors launched the sequel to their Home Nations football TV advert. ’Supporting a Nation’ features current members of the England Football Squad, football fans and Vauxhall staff from the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port production facility in Merseyside, the home of the Vauxhall Astra.
This new TV advert will air before the England versus Belgium friendly on 2nd June 2012 and subsequently around key fixture dates during the summer. The soundtrack ‘What a Life’ by Noel Gallagher’s band, ‘High Flying Birds’ is used again, a track which has become synonymous with football and was first used exclusively by Vauxhall Motors in the original Home Nations TV advert aired in September 2011.
The new advert focuses on the England team as they prepare for a major fixture. It reflects on how fans stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the players, supporting the team and bringing the nation together.
Ex-Liverpool and England legend John Barnes features in the Vauxhall advert and said; “As an England fan I share the same excitement that all fans feel before a big game. I really enjoyed standing alongside other England fans in the Vauxhall TV ad and can’t wait to support the boys this summer in Poland and the Ukraine.”
The England players prepare to leave the dressing room ahead of a big match, Steven Gerrard pulls on his England shirt, a fan follows the same routine as he puts on his ‘Gerrard’ shirt and joins the line-up of fans. Joe Hart ties his boots as he sits – headphones on – listening to music. The line-up extends into a pub where fans meet their friends to watch the England match. The fan line-up extends into the tunnel where the players exit the dressing room to stand together with fans, all united. Scott Parker acknowledges the fans as the team turn and walk down the tunnel.
Commenting on the inspiration of the new Vauxhall Motors advert, Peter Hope, Marketing Director stated; “We wanted the advert to reflect the unity of the nation getting behind the England team and bring the players and the fans together”
“During a major tournament we all become football fans and as the England Team sponsor, we wanted to capture the emotion just before a major England fixture. “
McCann Erickson Birmingham developed the campaign for Vauxhall Motors under the creative direction of James Cross and Tim Jones. Explaining the premise behind the advert, James said, “The advertisement captures the excitement and anticipation a nation feels heading into an international football tournament, but it’s not about being a die-hard football fanatic, it’s about people everywhere showing support for their nation. This advertisement is a celebration of that. And it’s this message of wide-ranging support that’s true of Vauxhall as a brand.”
To view the new Vauxhall England TV ad, visit vauxhallfootball.co.uk/england2012
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