1948 Olympics: A chance to be fashion forward

This year's Team GB kit for the Olympics has been designed by Stella McCartney, and has been examined as much for its fashion as for its sporting credentials. 2012 is the first time that a leading designer has been so closely involved with the Olympics - yet it is an idea that Observer fashion editor Alison Settle was championing back in 1948. In the article below, published in the Observer on 25 April 1948, Settle sees the 1948 Olympic kit for women as a missed chance for British design. She writes that "every leading designer in the country should have competed in submitting designs....to give Britain the greatest advertisement she could have as the world leader in the design of clothes for the active life." Click here to see Stella McCartney's designs for the 2012 Team GB Olympics kit.