Work on paper - Women's Village/Travel Uniform Design Drawings, Wendy Powitt, c. 1992

Historical information

A set of laminated A3 sketchbook pages depicting designs for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Women's Village/Travel Uniform designed by Wendy Powitt.

On the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games donor Doug Pleasance wrote-

The 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games saw an evolutionary change in designer selection. A Declaration of Interest Form was communicated to over forty potential designers. The task and especially tight timelines that were involved deterred many aspirants, however, there remained eight designers with the potential we were seeking. These eight designers were paid $3,000 per submission and the winning designer, Wendy Powitt, was paid $15,000. For the first time the judging panel included two athletes, one male swimmer and one female basketballer, their influence was pivotal.

The village clothing was designed to be a highly visible garment meaning that it was easy to "Spot the Aussies" and helped to contribute to a good team spirit. Blocks of contrasting colours were a feature of the pure wool shirts. A newly developed stretch 50:50 wool/cotton fabric by Bradmill was made into shorts and jeans by Fletcher Jones.

Physical description

8118.1- A laminated A3 sketchbook page depicting a design for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic women's Village/Travel Wear Uniform. The main drawing shows the design for a pair of yellow shorts with a yellow and green printed, striped shirt, cinched at the waist by a brown woven belt. At the bottom of the page is a detailed drawing of the weave of the belt with an Australia shaped belt buckle. A small drawing to the right of the main image also details a small bag/pouch that attaches to the belt.

8118.2- A laminated A3 sketchbook page depicting a design for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic women's Village/Travel Wear Uniform. The main drawing shows the design for a pair of yellow shorts paired with a block colour shirt in green, red, white and yellow with a symbol in the shape of Australia on the right side of the shirt. There are small detail images of shorts and a skirt to the left of the main image and a detail drawing of a brown leather shoe to the right.

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