Nobody likes Stella McCartney’s design for Great Britain’s Olympic uniforms

British fashion designer Stella McCartney was on hand at a ceremony this week to reveal the uniforms she created for the 2012 British Olympic team. McCartney, the daughter of Paul McCartney, is in the middle of the picture above. People had about as good a reaction to the uniforms as you're likely having to Stella's paisley jumpsuit.

The kit will dress the 500 athletes who will compete in this summer's Olympics and Paralympics in London. McCartney said she was inspired by the union flag, but wanted to make the design "untraditional."

"Something that was very important to me was to try and use that very iconic image but to dismantle it and try to soften it, break it down and make it more fashionable in a sense," she told reporters at this week's launch at the Tower of London.

Many Brits wished the design had stayed behind lock and key at the infamous 17th century prison. Most of the criticism had to do with the lack of red in McCartney's design. Others thought there was too much Scottish blue. A number of athletes tweeted their disappointment and general consensus ran equally negative.

Here's the thing: Nobody is going to care what the athletes are wearing so long as they're winning medals. The design isn't particularly wowing, but it says "Great Britain," has all the national colors and is not so ugly that any athlete should be embarrassed to wear it. Frankly, unless you have really cool national colors, like Jamaica, it's hard to make a memorable Olympic design. Do you remember what any American track star has worn at the past few Games?

So, cheer up, mates. Compared to the cult-like uniforms that will be worn by Olympic torchbearers (also released this week), these are downright glamorous.