Glasgow 2014: Kerry Nixon medal bearers designer

Kerry Nixon with Keira Knightley on the day of her wedding to the actress's brother Caleb. Picture: PAKerry Nixon with Keira Knightley on the day of her wedding to the actress's brother Caleb. Picture: PA
Kerry Nixon with Keira Knightley on the day of her wedding to the actress's brother Caleb. Picture: PA
IT’S a long way from the red carpet to the medal podium, but Glasgow 2014’s medal bearers will have a touch of Hollywood glamour next year thanks to the appointment of stylist to the stars Kerry Nixon.

Nixon, who is more usually found adjusting the hems of ­A-list stars, including Sienna Miller, Gemma Arterton and Keira Knightley – who is also Nixon’s sister-in-law – has been appointed official designer for the bearers’ outfits for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

The medal bearers, prominent at last year’s Olympics in London thanks to their distinctive purple outfits, will be selected from the 15,000 volunteers who will take part in the 11-day event next year and will be on hand to present the athletes with their gold, silver and bronze medals at every medal ceremony.

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Nixon, who is from Glasgow, said she was delighted to get the job.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “I’m formulating ideas and trying to encapsulate the feeling of the Games in the outfits. I want it to be really young and contemporary.

“Instead of being super-glamorous I think I’d like to have it in keeping with the values of the Games and have a really youthful look.

“A lot of the volunteers will be young and the athletes will be young, and the demographic across the Commonwealth is young too, so it would be nice to reflect that in the designs.”

Nixon said she had been watching videos of Commonwealth Games medal presentations right back to the 1970s in an attempt to get an idea of what sort of look to go for.

“I’ve been looking at some of the previous styling, some good, some not so good, and just trying to get an image in my head of what the designs should look like. It’s quite daunting to think about the legacy and realise this is going to be on the world stage,” she said.

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Nixon, who is now based in London, said she wanted to give the outfits a flavour of Glasgow as well.

“Glasgow is such an incredibly stylish city, so much so that I’m always put to shame when I come to Glasgow, every­one’s so done up and so stylish I feel a bit out of place,” she said.