Tahra Zafar is the Head of Costume for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She oversees teams that are creating 26,000 costumes for the Opening Ceremonies. Some of her responsibilities include planning costumes well in advance and ensuring the right costumes are delivered to the right performers at the right time. After the Games, selected iconic costumes will be displayed in museums while most costumes will be given to performers or sold.

1. Opening Ceremony
Costume
As part of
Delivered by the
Youth Sport Trust

2. The Opening Ceremonies of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games
The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic and
Paralympic Games mark the moment where the
Games begin and the eyes of the world focus on
London and the United Kingdom. It is our chance
to welcome the world to our Games and to show
the world what we, as a nation, can do.
The Opening Ceremonies will be a wonderful
mix of celebration, national pride, formalities
and friendship. All the different parts will
combine to form the Opening Ceremony and
one of the most important ways to get across the
excitement of this mix is through costume.
Opening Ceremonies rely enormously on visual
impact for their success and the combination
of colours in the costumes of the thousands of
performers, alongside the way those performers
move or dance, will create a stunning impact for
spectators in the stadium and watching
on television.
‘Costume is really important because we
have 15,000 volunteers taking part in our
Ceremonies and we want them to look
their best; over six months we’re going to
make about 26,000 costumes for people to
wear. Apart from the big sets that we build,
everybody will be looking to the costumes to
bring colour, lightness and excitement into
the show.’
Martin Green,
Head of Ceremonies for the London 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games

3. Your opening ceremony
Did yo u know?
– London 2012 the costume
For
department is producing so many
costumes you could wear a new
costume every day for 63 years.
Coincidentally, this is the number of
years difference in age between the
youngest performers in the Opening
Ceremony, who are seven, and the
oldest, aged 70.
–
There are enough costumes to fill 75
Once you have the format of your opening containers, which is equivalent to one
ceremony you need to decide about costumes. third of a container ship that sails
You may want to put someone in charge of around the world’s oceans.
costumes who, in turn, could look after a team of One mile of costume rails is required
–
people to help create the costumes. to store the costumes.
Tahra Zafar, Head of Costume for London 2012, has many different teams producing the thousands
of costumes needed for the Opening Ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games, but you’ll just need the one team. One of the advantages of working as a team is not only
in the creation of the costumes but also in the ideas that can flow through creative discussions.
When deciding about costumes here are 10 things to think about:
1. Theme – what is the main theme of your opening ceremony and how can the costumes
reflect that?
2. Planning – talk to one another and work out a plan: start with a ‘creative brief’ that reflects your
own environment and something about who you are and where you live.
3. Variety – costumes should be appropriate to the individual and their role in the ceremony.
4. Groups – a group of people combined in the right costume can have a big visual impact.
5. Ideas – throw all your ideas into the ring. Something that may seem crazy and brilliant but
impossible may be doable when the whole team thinks about how you might achieve it if you
really want to.
6. History – costume can very quickly portray a moment in history.
7. Colour – colours are unlimited. But always keep in mind the overall theme.
8. Material – it doesn’t always have to be cloth; you could use all sorts of materials from plastic to
paper. Think about the impact of texture and
sound, as well as colour.
9. One picture – try and imagine the one
picture you want everyone watching your
ceremony to take away with them – how will
the costumes bring this picture to life?
10. mile – your performers’ faces will set the
S
costume off (they may even be a part of
the costume if painted) so make sure
they’re smiling.

4. Costume wisdom from Tahra Zafar
Think about placard bearers – in the Opening Ceremony they get the most time on TV so what
they wear is very important. Try to think who might have that role in your ceremony: what type of
person and what should they wear? ‘See if you can produce a spectacular costume for your placard
bearer(s) with a placard to match. Use the internet to research what Host Nations for the Olympic
and Paralympic Games have done in the past. Let your ideas run free and remember that complex
ideas can often be created from simple resources paired up with a few volunteers.’
3-11 years 11-19 years
Acti vity idea Acti vity idea
–
Just by using children in different There could be all sorts of different elements
coloured T-shirts create a set of costumes in your Opening Ceremony, for example:
so that, when grouped together, they
create an image. What else could you 1. Athletes’ Parade
add to the T-shirts to give the image a 2. Nations’ flags
greater impact? 3. Speeches
–
Ask everyone in the class to think of five 4. Dance
individual words or phrases that sum up 5. Music
the Olympic and Paralympic Games to
them, the school and the local community. –
What is the purpose of each of these
Ask them to pick one of those words or different elements and how might you use
phrases and design a costume based on it. costume to reinforce their purpose?
–
Look at the years in which the Olympic Think about combining two or more of
–
Games have been hosted in the UK – how these elements in a specific
has what athletes and people in general costume design.
wear changed over the years? –
Think about how you might design
–
One colourful and important element of costumes for a group of people so they
the Opening Ceremonies is the Athletes’ combine to create a maximum impact.
Parade where you see all the athletes –
Ask everyone in the class to think of 10
walking behind a placard bearer and individual words or phrases that sum up
a flag carrier. Try and design a set of the Olympics and Paralympics to them, the
costumes based on the theme of ‘flags’ school and the local community. Then ask
that could be used in your opening them to pick one of those words or phrases
ceremony. They could be used in an and design a costume based on it.
athletes’ parade or elsewhere in the –
Look at the 1908 London Olympics – what
ceremony. Have a look at the Fun with was the Opening Ceremony like and did
Flags resource from the World Sport Day they use costume at all? How do you think
website to help you. it will be different in 2012 and why?
Tahra’s challenge for
Tahra’s challenge for
primary schools
secondary schools
Try and incorporate recycled materials
Try to create something that involves
into your costumes. Produce your design
different departments or subjects working
first then agree which recycled products
together, for example art, design and
you could use in the design. It may not be
technology, English and history.
the whole costume, just parts of it.

5. An interview with…
Tahra Zafar,
Head of Costume for the London 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games
What did you do before this job?
I started my career in theatre and opera. I then went to TV working with puppets including working with Jim
Henson, which was wonderful. I was Head of Costume for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Do you have a favourite moment in a previous Opening Ceremony?
Athens – ‘cube man’: a huge classical sculpture of a head emerges from a placid lake and then
breaks up to reveal a Greek statue in the middle. The different parts of the broken up sculpture then
rotate about the lake around a central cube over which a man is moving. Beautiful and inspiring!
Do you have a favourite ‘lighting of the Olympic Cauldron’ moment?
Two stick out for me, firstly Muhammad Ali at the Atlanta Olympics: truly inspiring. The other one
was the arrow being fired to light the flame at Barcelona, which was visually stunning.
This document and the official Emblems of the London 2012 Games are © London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited 2007–2012. All rights reserved. LOC2012_IEP_1928
In your job role, what will you make happen?
I manage different teams producing the thousands of different costumes needed for the Olympic and
Paralympic Ceremonies.
What happens to the costumes after the London 2012 Games?
Three main things, firstly a selected group of the more iconic ones are given to exhibitors, so some
costumes will be displayed by the International Olympic Committee, and others by museums around
the UK. Most are given to the performers, and some will be sold.
How do you plan for one of the biggest televised moments in the world?
It takes a long time to plan and it must be done meticulously. For example, to put one person in one
costume at the right time involves hundreds of people along the way, including the design of the
costume, measuring up the individual, making the costume and getting the right costume to the right
person at the right time.
What do you have to include within your element, as outlined in the Olympic or
Paralympic Charter?
Nothing really in terms of official protocol but there is a rail of clothes that I am responsible for that
we keep to one side for VIPs in case, for example, one of them might need a spare suit due to a spilt
cup of coffee!
What is your one wish for the London 2012 Olympic
or Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony?
For it to be a really good show and for it to show how Watch out for…
fantastic and creative the British people are. a teddy bear belonging to
my daughter, which we used
Is there any difference between managing the at one practice parade and
costumes for the Olympic Opening Ceremony and the is now being used in the
Paralympic Opening Ceremony? Opening Ceremony – see if
No – we ‘simply’ cover everyone and everything in every way. you can spot it!