This Friday, the Olympic Opening Ceremony will become a global runway of cultures as leading designer brands look to showcase their style on the world’s biggest sporting stage.
Of course, they call it the City of Light. But Paris is also the City of Fashion, one of the world’s most influential fashion capitals for decades, if not centuries (remember Louis XIV?).
Fashion designers from all over the world are designing national team jerseys for their moment in the spotlight. In high-end Olympic fashion, especially for the opening ceremonies, all runways lead to Paris.
Stella Jean will be there, shaping each of Haiti’s dozen or so athletes. Jean, an Italian-Haitian designer living in Rome, believes she has exactly two seconds on opening night to make an impression on the world that could reverberate for years.
“For these athletes, just being here is a victory,” says Jean, whose vibrant, colorful design aims to highlight the cultural vibrancy of the Caribbean countries.
At the other end of the size (and budget) spectrum is Ralph Lauren, which will dress hundreds of Team USA athletes for the ninth straight opening and closing ceremonies. Another famous designer, Giorgio Armani, has been designing Italy’s uniforms since 2012.
Countless other designers were also involved, including this year more young, “indie” labels looking to make a splash. It’s also a chance to highlight qualities like sustainability and adaptability in fashion, as in the designs for the Paralympics.
Let’s take a look at the most outstanding sportswear collections for this year:
Canada: Focus on inclusion, adaptation
During the design process, the Lululemon team, outfitting Canadian athletes for the second time, said they listened carefully to the athletes and how they felt in the clothes. “When you feel your best, you do your best,” says Audrey Reilly, creative director of Team Canada at the athletic apparel company.
He remembers listening to paralympian Alison Levine, who uses a wheelchair, and learning that the athlete didn’t have a proper fit for training — so she wore medical scrubs.
“I was shocked that a professional athlete would have to do that,” Reilly said in an interview. That’s why we said, “Let’s investigate.” One of the results was the “seated carpenter pant,” a part of the collection designed to be encompassing and form-fitting. Other features include special flaps to make the clothes easier to get on and off, and pockets on the knees so an athlete like Levine can access his phone while exercising.
The collection covers all aspects of Team Canada’s journey, from travel to games, opening and medal ceremonies, training – everything but the competition. To combat the expected scorching heat of Paris, Lululemon, which has a four-game contract with the team, has focused on ventilation and sealing.
For the opening ceremonies, designers created what they called “tapestries of pride.” Hand-drawn and embroidered on fabric, it includes 10 animals – nine representing Canadian provinces and one representing France. “We wanted to evoke all of Canada, coast to coast and north to south,” Reilly said.
Haiti: “They know their bodies are flags”
Stella Jean is used to making beautiful clothes. But in his designs for the Haitian team, beauty for beauty’s sake was not considered. It was all about the message.
“This will be the first good news to come out of Haiti in at least three years,” he says, adding that athletes have a counter-message to news about political turmoil, poverty or natural disasters. “So I felt a responsibility to say as much as I could about the country. »
For this, Jean is collaborating with Haitian artist Philippe Dodard, whose vibrant paintings will be incorporated into the ceremonial uniforms – brightly colored skirts for women and trousers for men, combined with traditional items such as chambray shirts. The designs are made from “leftover” fabric—sustainability, yes, but not because it’s fashionable, Jean says, but because it’s both tradition and necessity in Haiti.
Jean calls Haitian athletes “ambassadors”.
“These ambassadors will be there in Paris,” she says, “and even though they’re very, very young, they know how important their presence is – and it’s not just about performance. They know their bodies are flags.”
USA: “Nothing Says America Like Blue Jeans”
For last summer’s games in steamy Tokyo, Ralph Lauren outfitted athletes with something cool—literally—with technology that dissipates heat via a fan device behind the neck.
For steamy Paris, he offers a different kind of cool: good old American gin.
“Nothing says America likes blue jeans, especially when we’re in Paris,” said David Lauren, the label’s chief branding and innovation officer and the founder’s son, when he unveiled the design in June.
Ralph Lauren, who dressed Team USA in turn 9 for the opening and closing ceremonies, says he will personally fit each athlete. For the opening ceremony, they will wear matching navy blazers and blue jeans with blue and white striped oxford shirts.
For the closing ceremony, the team will wear white jeans with matching jackets in red, white and blue. Lauren called the closing ceremony “more graphic, more fun, a little more exciting.”
Italy: A blend of elegance and tradition
Italian athletes will be stylishly dressed in Emporio Armani, as they have been at every Olympics since 2012.
The podium tracksuit is emblazoned with the words “W Italia”, “Eviva Italia” or “Long live Italy”. This slogan can also be applied to designer Giorgio Armani himself, who turned 90 on July 11.
“It’s always an exciting challenge for me to look for new solutions for sportswear that must combine elegance with practicality,” Armani said last year when the national kit was presented at the Spring-Summer 2024 show for the young and sporty Emporio Armani. brand.
Sportsmen’s tracksuits have long been Armani blue, the color of the designer’s everyday uniform, such as a T-shirt or slim pullover.
Athletes will have no excuse not to know the national anthem: the commencement is printed on the inside of the collar of polo shirts and the first verse is on the inside of all jackets.
India: A Blend of Old and New
Indian designer Tarun Tahiliani is known for his ability to combine traditional elements with a modern sensibility. He and menswear brand Taswa tried to do just that for the country’s Olympic team.
Tahiliani told GQ India that when he started researching India’s opening ceremony jersey, he noticed a trend of countries incorporating their national flags into the design. So he started working on a design featuring tricolor shades of saffron, white and green.
For men, Tahiliani started with the kurta, a typical Asian long and loose shirt. She paired it with a bundi or a traditional sleeveless jacket. He told the magazine that he wears a bundi every day, inspired by his father, an admiral in the Indian navy.
After feedback from the Olympic committee, the designer moved away from a uniform look for women in favor of a saree that she says “can flatter any body type, and that’s exactly what we want for our female athletes.”
All designs incorporate saffron and green embroidery. “The aim is to create apparel that allows our athletes to represent India with pride and confidence,” said Tahiliani.
Britain: Four Nations, Not One
The 60-year-old British menswear brand Ben Sherman is creating Britain’s Olympic uniforms for the third time and this year wants to remind the world that England is not one, but four nations.
His design for the opening and closing ceremonies “represents the unity and diversity of Great Britain, reflecting the rich tapestry of our nation’s identity”. says the label’s creative director, Mark Williams.
In an email, Williams described the new four-nation floral motif of rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock as serving as “a nod to the unique identities and histories of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
Williams emphasizes that the motif is not purely decorative, but is meant to send a message of cooperation and unity. Its floral motif appears in blue and red colors – polo shirts worn with bomber jackets, as well as colorful socks in collaboration with the brand Happy Socks.
Sierra Leone: Reimagining the cowrie shell
Team Sierra Leone will head to the 2024 Olympics with one of the best-looking outfits in competition, in collaboration with Adidas and LABRUM, a London-based clothing brand owned by Sierra Leonean designer Foday Dumbu.
« The kit features a vibrant blue and white design adorned with a redesigned cowrie shell. Once a coveted currency symbolizing wealth and prestige in African history, the shell has passed the time to become an emblem of strength and resilience,” LABRUM said in a post on Instagram.
Completing the collection, Adidas has adorned the kit with a white font that contrasts wonderfully with the curves and folds of the cowrie shell background.
Spain: National flower festival
Joma, a sportswear brand founded in Toledo in 1965, will dress Spanish athletes at the 2024 Olympics. The set « combines tradition with modernity, classic with avant-garde, style reflected in high-quality fabrics. »
The design is inspired by the carnation, the national flower of Spain. In addition, the colors of the Spanish flag – red and yellow – dominate the design, appearing in a series of gradient prints, complete with carnations and other intricate details.
France: Sewing marathon
Berluti, the famous French luxury brand founded in 1895, chose to design the clothes (in collaboration with LVMH) for the opening ceremony.
For the opening ceremony, the French athletes will wear a white Berluti shirt and a midnight blue tuxedo jacket with a polished collar in the colors of the French flag.
Female athletes have the option of wearing a sleeveless version of the jacket, paired with either cropped trousers or a delicate silk skirt.
Berluti artisans used more than 26,000 feet of fabric and 60 miles of stitching to create more than 1,500 garments for the French team, symbolizing the two marathon distances.
Antoine Arnault, LVMH Image & Environment, expressed his pride in the collaboration, saying: “These garments represent all the flavor and creativity of Berluti and I am sure they will allow our athletes to shine for the whole world to see.”
South Korea: Inspired by the national symbol
South Korean athletes will wear uniforms inspired by the circular national symbol “taegeuk” at the center of the country’s flag. The red-blue circle represents the harmony between the negative cosmic forces of the blue part and the positive cosmic forces of the red.
According to Youngone Outdoor Co., an official partner of the country’s Olympic Committee, motifs on North Face-branded jerseys include one of the four black trigrams (groups of bars) in the corners of the flag. South Korea. The trigram used symbolizes water.
Youngone says the uniform for the medal ceremonies includes a jacket, red belt and black pants depicting the indigo blue waters of the country’s east coast in the style of an ink-wash painting.
The Korean team’s jersey for the opening and closing ceremonies was designed by Musinsa Standard, a private label run by South Korean online fashion store Musinsa. The all-light blue uniform includes a blazer, traditional-style belt and trousers with traditional white and blue porcelain designs engraved on the lining.
Nigeria:
Actely Black, a black-owned sports brand founded by former basketball player Lanny Smith, based in Los Angeles, will outfit the Nigerian team.
Featuring a combination of sports classics such as tracksuits and knit shirts, the set also features Nigerian-inspired outfits such as the senatorial suits and buba dresses that will be seen at the opening ceremony.
The overall design is minimalist yet eye-catching and offers a fresh take on Nigeria’s green, white and green flag colors. The combination of complementary colors and design details is subtle while maintaining a clean and elegant aesthetic.