The Olympics are coming to the capital of fashion. Expect uniforms fit for a Paris runway
PARIS: Sure, they call it the City of Light. But Paris is also a city of fashion, one of the most influential fashion capitals in the world for decades, no, centuries (remember Louis XIV?)
So it's no surprise that fashion designers around the world are busy preparing their representative uniforms for their unique attention. When it comes to cutting-edge Olympic fashion — whether it's the opening ceremony or the competition — all runways lead to Paris.
Stella Jean will be in attendance, styling each of the dozen or so Haitian athletes herself. Jean, an Italian-Haitian designer based in Rome, estimates she has exactly two seconds, on opening night, to make an impression on the world — an impression that could reverberate for years. “For these athletes, victory is just around the corner,” says Jean, whose vibrant, colorful design is meant to highlight the cultural vitality of the Caribbean nation.
At the other end of the size (and budget) spectrum is Ralph Lauren, who for the ninth time will outfit hundreds of Team USA athletes for the opening and closing ceremonies. Presenting a casual blue jeans and blazer look, Lauren is of course one of the world's richest designers along with Giorgio Armani, who has been designing Italy's uniforms since 2012.
Countless other designers have jumped in – this year including more young, “indie” brands eager to make a splash. It is also an opportunity to highlight qualities such as sustainability in fashion and adaptability, as well as design for the Paralympics.
“Designers and manufacturers are now realizing that this can be a huge platform for them to do a lot of things,” says Alison Brown, who co-hosts the all-Olympic podcast, “Keep the Flame Alive.” For example: “Sustainability is now a big buzzword for this whole Olympics,” he says.
And so is style – because, well, Paris.
“You always want to represent your country and you want to represent athletes. But this time the pressure to do it well seems to have increased significantly,” says Brown.
Some emerging details on the various uniform designs:
Canada: Focus on inclusivity, adaptability
During the design process, the team at Lululemon, which is outfitting the Canadian athletes for the second time, says it listened carefully to the athletes and how they felt in the clothing. “When you feel your best, you perform your best,” says Audrey Reilly, creative director of Team Canada at the athletic apparel company.
She remembers listening to Alison Levine, a paralympian who uses a wheelchair, and learning that the athlete had nothing appropriate to train with—so she wore medical scrubs.
“I was shocked that a professional athlete had to do it,” Reilly said in an interview. So we said, “Let's explore it.” One of the results was the “Fitted Carpenter Pants”, part of a collection that is meant to be inclusive and adaptable. Other features include special closures that make it easy to put on and take off the garments, and knee pockets so an athlete like Levine can access his phone while training.
The collection covers all aspects of Team Canada's journey, from travel to the Games, to opening and medal ceremonies, to training – everything but competition. To combat the expected scorching heat of Paris, Lululemon, which has a contract with the team for four games, paid special attention to ventilation and moisture management.
And for the opening ceremony, the designers created what they call a “tapestry of pride”. Hand-drawn and finished in fabric, it features 10 animals – nine representing the provinces of Canada and one representing France. “We wanted to evoke all of Canada, coast to coast and north to south,” says Reilly.
Haiti: “They know their bodies are the flag”
Stella Jean is used to designing beautiful clothes. But beauty for beauty's sake was not a consideration in her designs for the Haitian team. 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, the athletes' appearance a counter-message to reports of political unrest, poverty or natural disasters. “So I felt a responsibility to say as much as I could about the country.”
To this end, 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, paired with traditional items such as chambray shirts. The designs were made from “leftover” fabric—sustainability, yes, but not because it's trendy, Jean says, but because it's both a tradition and a necessity in Haiti.
Jean calls Haitian athletes “ambassadors.”
“These ambassadors will be there in Paris,” he says, “and they all know, even though they're very, very young, how important their presence is – and that it's not just about performance. They know their bodies are the flag.”
USA: “Nothing Says America Like Blue Jeans”
For the last Summer Games in steamy Tokyo, Ralph Lauren outfitted the athletes with some cool — literally — technology that wicks heat away via a fan on the back of the neck.
For steamy Paris, it represents another type of cool: good old American jeans.
“Nothing says America like blue jeans, especially when we're in Paris,” said David Lauren, director of brand and innovation and son of the founder, when the design was unveiled in June.
Ralph Lauren says that when dressing Team USA in the ninth move for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, it will fit each athlete individually. For the opening ceremony, they'll be wearing tailored navy jackets with blue and white striped Oxford shirts — and those blue jeans.
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, funnier, a little more exciting.”
India: Mixing Old and New
Indian designer Tarun Tahiliani is known for his ability to blend traditional elements with a modern sensibility. And that's what he and his menswear brand Tasva attempted for his country's Olympic team.
Tahiliani told GQ India that when he started researching India's opening ceremony uniform, he noticed a trend of countries incorporating their national flag into the design. So he started working on a design with tricolor shades of saffron, white and green.
For men, Tahiliani started with the kurta, a typical Asian long and loose shirt. He paired it with a bundi or a traditional sleeveless jacket. He told the magazine that he wears jackets every day, inspired by his father, who was an admiral in the Indian Navy.
Following feedback from the Olympic Committee, the designer moved away from a uniform look for women in favor of a sari, which he says “can flatter any body type, and that's exactly what we want for our female athletes.”
All designs feature saffron and green embroidery. “The aim is to create an outfit that will enable our athletes to represent India with pride and confidence,” Tahiliani said.
Italy: A mixture of elegance and tradition
The Italian athletes will be elegantly dressed in Emporio Armani uniforms, as in every Olympics since 2012.
The stage tracksuit is emblazoned with 'W Italia', short for 'Eviva Italia' or 'Long live Italy'. The motto could also be extended to designer Giorgio Armani himself, who turned 90 on July 11.
“Finding new solutions for an athlete's kit, which must combine elegance with practicality, is always an exciting challenge for me,” Armani said last year when the national kit was unveiled at Emporio Armani's young and sporty spring-summer 2024 runway show. mark.
The athletes' sweatpants are in Armani blue, which has long been the color of the designer's daytime uniform, whether as a T-shirt or a soft pullover.
Athletes will have no excuse for not knowing the national anthem: the beginning is printed on the collar of the polo shirts and the entire first verse is inside the jackets.
Britain: Four Nations, Not One
The 60-year-old British clothing brand Ben Sherman, known for its menswear, is creating Britain's Olympic uniforms for the third time and this year wants to remind the world that Britain is four nations, not one.
His design for the opening and closing ceremonies “represents the unity and diversity of the United Kingdom and reflects the rich tapestry of our nation's identity”. says the label's creative director Mark Williams.
In an email, Williams described his new Four Nations floral motif with rose, thistle, daffodil and clover 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 intended to send a message of cooperation and unity. Its floral motif appears in blue and red — on polo shirts, worn with a bomber jacket, and also on colorful socks in collaboration with the Happy Socks brand.
South Korea: Inspiration from the national symbol
South Korea's athletes will wear uniforms inspired by the country's circular “taegeuk” symbol, which occupies the center of its flag. The red-blue circle means the harmony between the negative cosmic forces of the blue part and the positive cosmic forces of the red.
The motifs on the North Face uniforms also include one of the four black trigrams (groups of stripes) from the corners of the flag, according to Youngone Outdoor Co., an official partner of the country's Olympic Committee, which manufactures and distributes North Face clothing in South Korea. The trigram used symbolizes water.
The uniform for the medal ceremonies includes a jacket depicting the indigo blue waters off the country's east coast in the style of an ink painting, a red belt and black pants, Youngone says.
Team Korea's uniform for the opening and closing ceremonies was designed by Musinsa Standard, a private label operated by South Korean online fashion store Musinsa. The all-blue uniform includes a jacket, its lining engraved with a traditional white and blue porcelain pattern, a traditional-style belt and trousers.
