As we come to the last few days of the London Olympics, dedicated followers of fashion may have winced at the sight of 90,000 volunteer staff donning garish uniforms in bold colour palettes like purple and red or pink and magenta. While the distinctive uniforms will definitely help tourists to identify the army of volunteers involved in helping the 2012 Games, members of the fashion glitterati have argued that Olympic fashion has damaged the capital's otherwise impeccable fashion track record.
Speaking to Reuters, Stephen Bayley, one of Britain's leading authorities on style, taste and contemporary design and co-founder of London's Design Museum, called the designs "atrocious, artless, cynical" and said that they "look as though they were made for a Sacha Baron Cohen parody".

Bayley's barrage of criticism also extended to the Olympic logo, advertisements and car designs. He argued that these were all design flops and would fail to bring home any gold medals in an Olympian design contest.

"In all the areas where we are thought to excel, the Olympics shows weakness, lame thinking and lack of enterprise," Bayley added.

Londoners are known for their innovative style, from the alternative grunge scene of Camden market to the mock-40s look favoured by the Shoreditch set. So it is no surprise that Bayley and members of the British public are dismayed by the Olympic designs that they feel haven't reached the high London standard.

Social media users have also taken to Twitter in their droves to express their surprise at the less than up-to-the-minute Olympic designs.

Twitter user, Steven Joyce said: "The outfits they have to wear are awful, purple shell suit, chinos and chunky trainers anyone?" while another, Matt Page, added "The shirts the Olympic volunteers have to wear are tragic."

So who's behind the Olympic fashion faux pas?

The purple and red uniforms, worn by 70,000 volunteers, 6,000 staff and 4,500 technical officials, were designed by London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and produced by cutting edge sportswear label Adidas.

In a statement, Paul Deighton, chief executive of LOCOG, defended the uniforms saying that they were a testament to Britain's sporting heritage.

"What we've come up with is a uniform which celebrates the best of Britain's heritage in a modern and sustainable way.

"They will be high profile in London and in our venues across the UK at Games time and so it's important they look the part."

However, the verdict from Olympic volunteers was a little more mixed. One said they were: "Not very nice at all. Let's just put it this way: I wouldn't wear this garment to go anywhere outside these Olympics," while another added that "Red and purple is a bit of a fashion clash but it is quite comfortable to wear".

Londoners' weren't alone in their bemusement over design choices for Olympic fashion. Tweeting about Spain's red and yellow patterned outfit Spanish canoe sprinter Saul Craviotto, said: "At home trying on my Olympics clothes. It's best if I don't give an opinion, I will leave it up to you".

The swirling cherry red lines featured on the Russian uniform were so unsightly that they featured on Time magazine's "ugly" list.

Olympics fashion: Where it went right

While staff uniforms largely got the thumbs down at the Olympics, Team GB's medley of blue, white and red created by leading designer Stella McCartney certainly got the public seal of approval.

Based on the Union Jack, the design hasn't overstepped the fashion boundaries. However, Gold medal winner Bradley Wiggins tweeted that the designs may have been a little experimental: "Stella was a bit Lucy in the Sky when she knocked this one up."