Artefacts

London 2012, costume worn by a 'petal girl' at the opening ceremony.

Physical description

Child wearing a costume petal copper used to form the Olympic cauldron, consisting of a vaporous empire dress, a pair of gloves and a pair of shoes.

Created

Created: Tahra ZAFAR

Materials

cotton, synthetic material, rubber, leather, textile

Colors

gold, white

Dimension

107 x 30 cm

Literature

BROOKS, Xan. "London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony – as it happened". In: The Guardian, 27 July, BARKER, Philip. "Happy and Glorious - London's Olympic Ceremonies in 2012". In: Jounal of Olympic History, 2012, Vol. 20, N° 3, pp. 8-9.

Type of item

Clothes and Accessories -> costume

Reference number

203767

Ensemble

Keywords

Opening ceremony Lighting of the Olympic Cauldron Opening parade of delegations London 2012, Olympic Games Female child

Notes

The petal girl costume was used during the athletes’ parade and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. As the national delegations arrived in London, they each received a copper petal, inscribed with their country’s name. These were carried into the Stadium during the parade and laid down. The petals were brought together to form the Olympic cauldron, designed by Thomas Heatherwick. With the arrival of the Olympic flame, all 200 petals were lit, and the cauldron’s long, elegant stems gently rose towards each other and converged to form one great flame of unity and peace.