The Olympics are coming to the fashion capital. Expect uniforms fit for a Parisian runway
PARIS: Sure, 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, no, centuries (remember Louis XIV?)
So it's no surprise that fashion designers around the world are busy preparing their national team uniforms for their unique light. When it comes to cutting-edge Olympic fashion – whether for the festive opening ceremonies or for competition – all runways lead to Paris.
Stella Jean will be there, styling each of the ten Haitian athletes herself. Jean, an Italo-Haitian designer based in Rome, realizes that he has exactly two seconds, on the night of the opening ceremony, to make an impression on the world – an impression that may reverberate for years. “For these athletes, it's a victory just to be here,” says Jean, whose vivid and colorful design is meant to highlight the Caribbean nation's cultural vibrancy.
At the other end of the size (and budget) spectrum is Ralph Lauren, which will outfit hundreds of Team USA athletes for the opening and closing ceremonies for the ninth time. Sporting a casual look of jeans and blazers, Lauren is of course one of the richest designers in the world, along with Giorgio Armani, who has been designing Italy's uniforms since 2012.
Countless other designers have jumped in — including, this year, several young, “indie” labels eager to make a splash. It is also a chance to emphasize qualities such as sustainability in fashion and adaptability, also as in design for the Paralympic Games.
“Designers and manufacturers are realizing now that this can be a huge platform for them, for a lot of things,” says Alison Brown, who co-hosts an all-Olympic podcast, Keep the Flame Alive. For example: “Sustainability is a huge buzzword right now for this whole Olympics,” she says.
And so is the style – because, well, Paris.
“You always want to represent your country and you want to represent the athletes. But it seems like this time, the pressure to do it right has gone up a notch,” says Brown.
Some emerging details about different uniform designs:
Canada: A focus on inclusion, adaptability
During the design process, the team at Lululemon, which outfitted the Canadian athletes for the second time, says 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 for Team Canada at the athletic apparel company.
She remembers listening to Alison Levine, a paralympian who uses a wheelchair, and learning that the athlete didn't have anything suitable to train in – so she wore medical scrubs.
“I was shocked that a professional athlete had to do that,” Reilly said in an interview. So I said, “Let's investigate.” One result was a “seated carpenter's pant,” part of a collection designed to be inclusive and adaptable. Other features include special closures to make it easier to put on and take off the clothes, and knee pockets so an athlete like Levine can access her phone when she's working out.
The collection covers all aspects of Team Canada's journey, from travel to games, to opening ceremonies and medals, to training – everything but the competition. To combat the scorching heat expected in Paris, Lululemon, which has a four-game deal with the team, paid special attention to ventilation and absorption.
And for the opening ceremonies, the designers created what they call a “tapestry of pride.” Hand-drawn and designed into fabric, it includes 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: “I know their bodies are a flag”
Stella Jean is used to creating beautiful clothes. But beauty for beauty's sake was not considered in her design for the team in Haiti. It was all about the message.
“This will be the first good news to come out of Haiti in at least three years,” she says, the athletes' appearance a counter-message to news of political unrest, 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 painting will be incorporated into the ceremonial uniforms – a brightly colored skirt for women and trousers for men, paired with traditional items such as a chambray shirt. The designs were constructed from “leftover” fabric—sustainability, yes, but not because it's fashionable, Jean says, but because in Haiti it's both a tradition and a necessity.
Jean calls Haitian athletes “ambassadors.”
“These ambassadors will be there in Paris,” she says, “and they all know, even if they're very, very young, how important their presence is – and that it's not just about performance. They know their bodies are a flag.”
USA: “Nothing Says America Like Jeans”
For the last of the steamy summer games in Tokyo, Ralph Lauren outfitted the athletes with something cool—literally—technology that directed heat through a fan device at the back of the neck.
For steamy Paris, he introduces another kind of cool: good old American jeans.
“Nothing says America like jeans, especially when we're in Paris,” said David Lauren, the label's director of branding and innovation and son of the founder, when the design was unveiled in June.
For the ninth round of dressing Team USA for the opening and closing ceremonies, Ralph Lauren says it will fit each athlete personally. For the opening ceremony, they'll wear tailored navy blazers with blue and white striped Oxford shirts — and those blue jeans.
For the closing ceremony, the team will wear white jeans with matching red, white and blue jackets. Lauren called the closing ceremony “more graphic, more fun, a little more interesting.”
India: The Blend of 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 tried to do 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 national flags into the design. So he started working on a design with tricolor shades of saffron, white and green.
For men, Tahiliani started with a kurta, the typical long, loose Asian shirt. Combined with a bundi, or a traditional sleeveless jacket. He told the magazine that he wears a bundi every day, inspired by his father, who was an admiral in the Indian Navy.
After feedback from the Olympic committee, the designer moved away from a woman-like look in favor of a sari, which he says “can flatter any body type, and that's exactly what we want for our athletes.”
All designs include saffron and green embroidery. “The aim is to create outfits that enable our athletes to represent India with pride and confidence,” said Tahiliani.
Italy: a blend of elegance and tradition
Italian athletes will be stylishly dressed in Emporio Armani uniforms, as they have done for all of the 2012 Olympics.
The podium tracksuit is labeled “W Italia”, short for “Eviva Italia” or “Long live Italy”. The motto could extend to designer Giorgio Armani himself, who turned 90 on July 11.
“Looking for new solutions for the athlete's equipment, which must combine elegance with practicality, is always an interesting challenge for me,” Armani said last year, when the national equipment was presented at the spring-summer 2024 show for the young and Emporio Armani sportswear. brand.
The athletes' tracksuits are in Armani blue, which has long been the color of the designer's everyday uniform, whether as a T-shirt or a fine sweater.
Athletes will have no excuse not to know the national anthem: the beginning is printed inside the collar of the polo shirts, and the entire first verse is inside the jackets.
Great Britain: Four Nations, Not One
British menswear brand Ben Sherman, 60, is designing Great Britain's Olympic uniforms for the third time, and this year he 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, reflecting the rich tapestry of our nation's identity”. says the label's creative director, Mark Williams.
Williams described his new four-nation floral motif, featuring a rose, thistle, daffodils and shamrocks, in an email as serving as “a nod to the unique identities and histories of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland “.
Williams points out that the motif is not purely decorative, but meant to convey a message of collaboration and unity. Its floral motif appears in blue and red colors — on polo shirts, worn with a bomber jacket, but also on colorful socks, in collaboration with the Happy Socks brand.
South Korea: inspiration from a national symbol
South Korea's athletes will wear uniforms inspired by the country's circular national 'taegeuk' symbol, which occupies the center of its flag. The red-blue circle connotes the harmony between the negative cosmic forces of the blue portion and the positive cosmic forces of the red.
The motifs on the North Face-branded uniforms also include one of the four black trigrams (groups of bars) at the corners of the flag, according to Youngone Outdoor Co., an official partner of the country's Olympic committee that manufactures and distributes North Face clothing in Korea South. The trigram used symbolizes water.
A uniform for the medal ceremonies features a jacket depicting the indigo blue waters of the country's east coast in an ink-wash painting style, 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 run by South Korean online fashion store Musinsa. The light blue uniform includes a blazer, its lining engraved with traditional white and blue porcelain patterns, a traditional style belt and trousers.
