Official tartan of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games unveiled
And who better to showcase the plaid that will become an international symbol of Scotland’s biggest sporting event than one of the nation’s strongest men – and one of the country’s most passionate kilt-wearers – Gregor Edmunds.
The 6ft 5in and 22-stone muscle man took to the catwalk at Shawlands Academy in Glasgow today to exclusively model Glasgow 2014’s fabulous official new tartan. He was cheered by an audience of school pupils and VIPs, including Glasgow 2014’s Games Partners.
The school was chosen as the launch venue as a tribute to the tartan’s teenage designer Aamir Mehmood. Aamir, a 15-year-old Shawlands Academy pupil, beat thousands of young people from across Scotland with his winning design which was created using Glasgow 2014’s brand colours.
Pupils from more than 300 schools across Scotland entered the competition and Aamir’s design was chosen by a six-strong judging panel. His colourful plaid will now be seen by an audience of more than one billion people worldwide in the lead up to and during Glasgow 2014.
In addition to his tartan, Aamir shared the creative inspiration behind his design. He said he incorporated blue, yellow, white and red to represent Scotland’s national colours. In addition he used a green landscape to demonstrate the fact that 75% of Shawlands Academy is bilingual and around 50 different languages are spoken in his school.
As part of his entry he described the design as suggesting that “we should put all conflicts and rivalries aside and celebrate the games being held in Glasgow and Scotland, just as all the different nations will come together in celebration of the Commonwealth Games.”
Shawlands Academy has more than1000 pupils and is the most-ethnically diverse secondary school in Scotland.
Today, Aamir said: “It’s an amazing feeling to know that my design is the official tartan for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. It will be seen all around the world and I’m so privileged and proud to be part of this huge sporting event coming to Glasgow and Scotland.”