On Friday, Pharrell Williams carried this year’s Olympic torch to the top of the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris to open the Games and unveil his new Adidas Adizeo Adios Pro Evo 1 collaboration shoes. Near the Eiffel Tower, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, clad in Louis Vuitton and Thom Browne, stepped into the VIP section of the opening ceremony to promote their upcoming film Wicked. Shortly before, Lady Gaga performed “Mon Truc En Plumes” on the banks of the Seine in fancy Dior haute couture, while French singer Aya Nakamura (Dior) sang a mash-up of “Pookie” and “Djadja” on the Pont des Arts. At the same time, the world’s best athletes were rowing down the river. They represented their countries in outfits meticulously crafted by international designers for this monumental, highly-anticipated event.
Sadly, the 2024 Summer Olympics are underway, the ultimate cultural moment for the fashion industry with its biggest ever involvement in the world’s most influential sporting event, and it’s happening in the world’s capital city.
LVMH, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chaumet and Tiffany & Co., is this year’s Premium Partner of the Games, marking the first time a luxury fashion company has backed the prestigious sporting event. The sponsorship, which reportedly cost $163 million, has previously been backed by less glamorous megabrands such as Visa, Procter & Gamble and General Electric. LVMH’s achievement means that the company’s high-end, heavyweight brands will be present throughout the Games in all sorts of creative ways, transforming the most-watched sporting event into a luxury affair worthy of the host city.
In a connection to LVMH, winning athletes will be presented with Chaumet-designed medals on a tray made by Louis Vuitton, featuring the brand’s signature Damier canvas with a matte black leather interior, evoking the brand’s historic “Torch and Medals” trunk. Team France athletes will wear Berluti menswear designed in collaboration with French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld to official events; the country’s judo team will wear kimono-inspired suits by Kenzo; attendees will taste Moet champagne; and, not coincidentally, Sephora signs will be displayed along the Olympic torch relay route.
On Thursday night, LVMH hosted the opening ceremony, a sort of “prelude to the Olympics,” at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, where celebrities including Serena Williams, Zendaya, Jeremy Allen White, LeBron James, Mick Jagger, and Snoop Dogg took to the starting line on a racetrack-style green carpet in a variety of LVMH-backed outfits. Tennis star Naomi Osaka wore a sheer blue Louis Vuitton blouse with a matching tufted bag. Basketball player Angel Reese wore a classic LV scarf around her neck, and gymnast Aly Raisman carried the brand’s signature trunks. “Sports stars are the new superstars,” Anna Wintour, co-host of the soiree, told The New York Times at the event. “This is all about bringing people together to celebrate one purpose, which is love,” added Snoop, who carried the Olympic torch to Paris.
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According to Business of Fashion, the 2024 Paris Olympics are expected to be the most-watched Olympics since the 2016 Olympics. They’ll also be the first to be held after all pandemic restrictions have been lifted, and visitors are expected to spend around €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion) during their stay, so naturally, companies are jumping on the bandwagon. The market for Olympic and fashion interaction in particular is pretty saturated, but for those who can capitalize on the event effectively, the payoffs could be pretty impressive.
Outside of the LVMH group, international designers are capitalizing on the high viewership of the Olympics by creating the uniforms for the athletes. The Mongolian team uniform, created in just three months by sisters Michel, Amazonica and Munkhjargal Choigara of couture brand Michel & Amazonica, featured beautiful embroidery of birds and mountains, which symbolize freedom and hard work, respectively, in the national colors of blue, red and white, and became a hot topic on the Internet. Lululemon created custom prints for Team Canada’s collection. Stella Jean led the design of Team Haiti’s uniform, which included chambray shirts and full skirts adorned with artwork by Philippe Dodar. Ralph Lauren created a 14-piece set for Team USA based on the designer’s signature preppy design codes. Menswear brand Concrete produces product for Team Egypt, British-African heritage brand Labram has teamed up with Adidas to produce clothing for Team Sierra Leone, the sportswear giant has introduced a rich cowry shell motif to its three stripes, and the list goes on.
Fashion has always had a presence at the Olympics, but its overwhelming presence at this summer’s Games feels more contemporary given the industry’s aggressive leaning toward the sports sector in recent months. Brands like Loewe, Jacquemus and Palomo Spain have inked sportswear collaborations with brands like On Running, Nike and Puma, respectively. Brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton have entered the tennis court, with the former outfitting Italian champion Jannik Sinner and the latter featuring Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as the stars of its outdoor campaign.
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Ralph Lauren
Meanwhile, soccer uniforms continued to grow in popularity during the Euros and Copa America, the WNBA merged at the forefront of fashion, with Caitlin Clark wearing Prada (the first NBA or WNBA draftee to do so) and Angel Reese walking down the famed exclusive staircase at this year’s Met Gala. During Paris Fashion Week in June, Vogue World, the magazine’s annual runway show, invited luminaries from both worlds to showcase the connections between fashion and sports over the past century.
It’s arguable that fashion and sports are more intertwined than ever before. The rise of trendy running clubs, the fanfare surrounding the Challengers press tour, and the increased attention on the WNBA may be contributing factors to the sports industry’s recent obsession with track and field. (One thing’s for sure: fashion flocks to wherever the zeitgeist goes.) But it’s more likely that these brands have been watching the Olympic rings from afar all this time, looking for other ways to engage with the sports world ahead of the Games opening. And now that the podium is set, fashion brands are appearing in all sorts of ways outside of and alongside the Olympics.
Parisian fashion designer Youssouf Fofana, designer of Maison Château Rouge and charity founder of United Youth International (UYI), has been named creative director of Jordan Brand for the Summer Olympics. He has renovated the Tati Barbès building in the 18th arrondissement into a curated, community-oriented hub called District 23. During the Olympics, Jordan Brand will host a range of youth-oriented activities here, including hosting fashion design courses, staging cultural exhibits and facilitating basketball shooting contests.
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Nike
Nike, one of the event’s biggest sports sponsors, has teamed up with the Centre Pompidou, the French landmark that inspired the design of the Air Max 1 nearly 40 years ago. In collaboration with the museum, the sportswear giant took over the building’s entire façade with imagery from “The Art of Winning,” which spotlights its sports designs for athletics, basketball, football, and more.
Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS signed on as the official underwear, sleepwear, and loungewear sponsor of the U.S. team and was the subject of TikTok vlogs from current athletes. Oakley also provided the U.S. team with premium eyewear as the team’s “official offshore outfitter.” Kith took a more indirect approach, digging into its archives to create a substantial collection for U.S. team fans with a campaign starring Kevin Durant.
Simon Porte Jacquemus, king of surrealist marketing, created a series of over-the-top Olympic-inspired video clips, with models swimming in kiddie pools on grass fields and giant versions of hero accessories lined up on running tracks. Elsewhere, Omega launched a $12,000 bronze-gold watch inspired by Olympic medals. J.Crew designed an unofficial swimwear line in collaboration with USA Swimming. Athleta released an “Anthem” collection for energetic crowds, while Tracksmith’s “Federation” line pays tribute to athletes’ outfits all along the way to participating in the Olympics, from opening ceremony blazers to competitive performance-oriented singlets. Even casual streetwear brands like Anti Social Social Club are putting their own spin on the Olympics, releasing capsule collections inspired by the motif. None of the aforementioned drops have official ties to the Olympics, but the association alone is enough to grab consumers’ attention.
In a time of division, the Olympics offer a rare platform for the world’s attention to be momentarily focused. It’s a marketer’s dream, and fashion brands in particular have been clever in positioning themselves at the heart of the action, either on the backs of the world’s most talented athletes or, in support of them, on their own shelves.
There’s a unique sense of community in the Olympics, the idea that as spectators we can feel connected to something much bigger than ourselves, that makes the Olympics so moving, even if only for a short time. As fans from around the world watched Olympians march under the Pont Alexandre III, in the same place where John Galliano’s Artisanal 2024 show for Maison Margiela shook the fashion world earlier this year, the connection between these two worlds became clear. Both fashion and sport evoke emotions that build community, form identity, and most importantly, give a sense of belonging. The 2024 Paris Olympics will mark the culmination of this collision, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the upcoming Olympics will be the most fashionable one ever.
