PARIS– Of course, they call it the City of Light. But Paris is also the City of Fashion, one of the most influential fashion capitals of the world for decades, no, centuries (remember Louis XIV?)
So it’s no surprise that fashion designers around the world are busy preparing the national team’s uniforms for a unique spotlight. When it comes to high quality Olympic fashion – whether for festive opening ceremonies or for competitions – all catwalks lead to Paris.
Stella Jean will be there, styling each of Haiti’s dozens of athletes. Jean, an Italian-Haitian designer based in Rome, calculates that she has exactly two seconds, on the night of the opening ceremony, to make an impression on the world – an impression that she could have for years. “For these athletes, it’s a victory to be here,” says Jean, whose vivid, colorful design aims to highlight the cultural vitality of the Caribbean nation.
On the other end of the size (and budget) spectrum is Ralph Lauren, which will equip hundreds of US national team athletes at the opening and closing ceremonies, for the ninth time. Lauren, who presents a casual look of jeans and blazers, is obviously one of the richest designers in the world, along with Giorgio Armani, who has designed Italy’s uniforms since 2012.
Countless other designers got involved – including, this year, younger, “indie” brands eager to make an impact. It is also an opportunity to emphasize qualities such as sustainability in fashion and adaptability, as well, as in designs for the Paralympics.
“Designers and manufacturers now realize that this can be a great platform for them, for a lot of things,” says Alison Brown, who co-hosts a podcast about all things Olympics, “Keep the Flame Alive.” For example: “Sustainability is a big buzzword right now for all the Olympics,” she says.
And the style too – because, well, Paris.
“You always want to represent your country and you want to represent the athletes. But it seems this time the pressure to do it well has increased,” says Brown.
Some emerging details in various uniform designs:
During the design process, the Lululemon team, which dressed the Canadian athletes for the second time, says they listened closely to the athletes and how they felt in the clothes. “When you feel your best, you perform your best,” says Audrey Reilly, creative director for the sportswear company’s Canada team.
She remembers listening to Alison Levine, a Paralympic athlete 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 would have to do that,” Reilly said in an interview. So we said, “Let’s investigate.” One of the results was a “sitting carpenter pant,” part of a collection that aims to be inclusive and adaptable. Other features include special zips to make it easier to put on and take off clothes, and pockets on the knees so an athlete like Levine can access his phone during a workout.
The collection covers every aspect of Team Canada’s journey, from travel to the games, to opening and medal ceremonies, to training – everything except competition. To combat the expected scorching Paris heat, Lululemon, which has a four-game contract with the team, paid special attention to ventilation and wicking.
And for the opening ceremonies, the designers created what they call a “tapestry of pride.” Hand-drawn and incorporated into the fabric, it includes 10 animals – nine representing the provinces of Canada and one representing France. “We wanted to evoke all of Canada, from coast to coast and north to south,” says Reilly.
Stella Jean is used to designing beautiful clothes. But beauty for beauty’s sake was not taken into account in his plans 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 the last three years,” she says, and the athletes’ appearance is 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.”
To achieve this, Jean collaborates with Haitian artist Philippe Dodard, whose vibrant painting will be incorporated into the ceremonial uniforms – brightly hued skirts for women and pants for men, paired with traditional items like a chambray shirt. The designs were constructed with “leftovers” of fabric – sustainability, yes, but not because it is fashionable, says Jean, but because in Haiti it is 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 are very, very young, how important their presence is – and that it’s not just about performance. .”
At the recent summer games in hot Tokyo, Ralph Lauren outfitted athletes with something cool — literally — technology that directed heat through a fan at the back of the neck.
To steamy Paris, he’s introducing another kind of cool: good old American jeans.
“Nothing says America like denim, especially when we’re in Paris,” said David Lauren, the brand’s director of branding and innovation and son of the founder, when revealing the design in June.
In its ninth time dressing Team USA for opening and closing ceremonies, Ralph Lauren says it will be tailored to each athlete personally. For the opening ceremony, they will wear tailored navy blazers with blue and white striped Oxford shirts – and 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, more fun, a little more emotional.”
Indian designer Tarun Tahiliani is known for his ability to combine 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 When he began researching India’s opening ceremony uniform, he noticed a trend of countries incorporating their national flags into the design. So he started working on a design with tricolors of saffron, white and green.
For men, Tahiliani started with a kurta, the typical long, loose-fitting Asian shirt. He paired this with a bundi, or traditional sleeveless jacket. He told the magazine that he wears bundi every day, inspired by his father, who was an admiral in the Indian Navy.
After feedback from the Olympic committee, the designer abandoned the female uniform look, opting for a sari, which, according to him, “can flatter any body type, and that is exactly what we want for our female athletes.”
All designs incorporate saffron and green embroidery. “The aim is to create attire that empowers our athletes to represent India with pride and confidence,” said Tahiliani.
Italian athletes will be elegantly dressed in Emporio Armani uniforms, as they have done at every Olympics since 2012.
The podium tracksuit is emblazoned with “W Italia”, short for “Eviva Italia” or “Long live Italy”. The motto could extend to designer Giorgio Armani himself, who turned 90 on July 11th.
“Seeking new solutions for the athlete’s kit, which must combine elegance with practicality, is always an exciting challenge for me,” said Armani last year, when the national kit was presented at the Spring-Summer 2024 fashion show by the young and sporty Emporio Armani brand.
The athletes’ outerwear is in Armani blue, which has long been the color of the designer’s daily uniform, whether as a t-shirt or thin pullover.
Athletes will have no excuse for not knowing the national anthem: the beginning is printed on the collar of their polo shirts, and the entire first verse is inside the jackets.
60-year-old British clothing brand Ben Sherman, known for its menswear, is creating British Olympic uniforms for the third time and this year wants to remind the world that Great Britain is made up of four nations, not one.
Its 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 her new four-nation floral motif, featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock, in an email as serving as “an homage 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 collaboration 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’s athletes will wear uniforms inspired by the country’s national circular “taegeuk” symbol, which occupies the center of its flag. The red and blue circle denotes harmony between the negative cosmic forces of the blue portion and the positive cosmic forces of the red.
The motifs on 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 produces and distributes North Face apparel in South Korea. The trigram used symbolizes water.
A uniform for medal ceremonies features a jacket depicting the indigo blue waters of the country’s east coast in an ink painting style, a red belt and black pants, Youngone says.
Team Korea’s uniform for 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, lining engraved with traditional white and blue porcelain designs, belt and traditional style pants.
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Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, Leanne Italie in New York and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.
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This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
