Deconstructing (Destroying) The Union Jack

Stella McCartney (Paul McCartney's daughter) has successfully worked in fashion for a number of years now, and has become one of those avant-garde designers that people rave about. Her reward finally came when she was asked to design the Olympic clothing of the British team. Her design is: "A deconstructed Union flag in blue..." according to the BBC. Here's what she says about her design:

"For me, it's one of the most beautiful flags in the world and it was important for me to stay true to that iconic design but also to modernize it and present it in a complementary way. Ultimately, we wanted the athletes to feel like a team and be proud with the identity we created."

Stella McCartney and her Olympics uniform design on a f"multicultural"
group of athletes

Here is the history of the Union Jack:

In 1603, James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones, thereby uniting the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1606, a new flag to represent this regal union was specified in a royal decree, according to which the flag of England and Scotland would be joined together, forming the flag of Great Britain and first union flag.

The current and second Union Flag dates from 1801 with the Act of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The new design added a red saltire, the 'cross of Saint Patrick', for Ireland. The three component crosses that make up the Union Flag are: - The red St. George's Cross, which represents England - The white diagonal St. Andrew's Cross, representing Scotland - The red diagonal St. Patrick's Cross, representing Ireland

Here are some comments on McCartney's Olympic design by ordinary Brits:

The new looks were unveiled on Facebook today, prompting users to express their anger.

One member commented: 'Massive fail!!!! These are not our national colours!!!! Did someone not get the memo.'

Another wrote: 'Needs a LOT more RED !!! - Change it quickly PLEASE!!!'

One member agreed: 'Oh dear! Stella, Stella - did you not think of asking ANYONE on a UK street if they thought it was reasonable for you to take the red off our Union Jack?'

Of course, what McCartney is primarily "deconstructing" from the flag is the red cross.

Left: Union Jack over the years
Right: Stella McCartney with her design on an athlete

Four years ago, the Canadian Olympics team had the same "deconstructed" but ingeniously "reconstructed" uniform. This is what I said at my blog post "When National Symbols are Lacking." The post has images and background of this uniform:

I've always said that if there is no concerted effort at keeping national symbols alive and well, something else will come along and take up the space.

Stella McCartney and her design/cultural team haven't come up with their own unique, un-British version of the an English icon. But cutting up the Union Jack is such a bad enough enterprise that they probably didn't have energy to do any more destruction.

Below is a sample from McCartney's Fall 2010 collection. Look and judge: