PARIS – Fashion. Sport. And of course, rain.
These were the topics being discussed, individually and together, as a slate of big names from the worlds of sports, entertainment and media packed into a Ralph Lauren restaurant in Paris on Saturday night as another celebrity-filled Olympic gathering took place in the French capital.
Among the stars at Ralph’s restaurant were entertainers including Oscar winners Jessica Chastain, Nick Jonas, John Mulaney and Alan Cumming. First lady Jill Biden arrived late, drawing a large crowd around her.
“Saturday Night Live” executive producer Lorne Michaels was also in attendance, pointing out his shoes, still wet from the previous night’s epic, rainy opening ceremony. “These shoes are not weatherproof,” he explained. Many people got soaked during the opening ceremony, but most were still very happy to be there, including Michaels.
“Let me put it this way, I was watching a lot of stars and no one was complaining,” he said.
Also not complaining were the Olympic athletes, who spent most of the previous night on a boat in the rain. Worried about catching a cold?
“We thought about it,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a member of the U.S. breaking team making its Olympic debut in the sport, “but we thought we’d all get sick at the same time.”
“So we all accepted it,” Louis added. He tried to temporarily hide himself with a poncho, but when he took it down, someone stole it. But he survived the rain in good health. Either way, he won’t be competing until after the Olympics.
Similarly, U.S. volleyball player Chiaka Ogbogu decided not to worry about the cold. “We’re in this tournament, so don’t worry about it,” she thought at the time. She added: “Athletes are the toughest people. They can handle a cold.”
Ogbogu, who will be competing in her second Olympic Games after the 2021 Tokyo Games, said she was excited to be a part of the Ralph Lauren event because she is a self-described “fashion nerd.” When asked which team’s uniform she likes best, other than her own U.S. team uniform, she cited the widely praised and elegant Mongolia uniform. She also praised Haiti’s brightly colored design, which has also garnered attention.
Singer and actor Nick Jonas cited his wife Priyanka Chopra as a special reason he loves wearing the uniforms that feature the three colors of the Indian flag: “Because my wife is Indian.” Jonas just flew out to Paris a few hours ago for a whirlwind few days at the Olympics, during which he’ll be watching gymnastics with star Simone Biles.
Jonas missed out on seeing the opening ceremony in person and avoiding getting wet, but he watched it on TV. He said he was amazed by the quality of the production, particularly the way the French flag rose from the bridge. “It was the best thing I’d ever seen,” he said.
As for the evening’s theme of fashion, nearly everyone seemed to agree that the 2024 Olympics would step up the fashion game. “It was almost inevitable, because it’s Paris!” said volleyball player Ogobogu.
David Lauren, the brand’s chief branding and innovation officer and son of founder Ralph Lauren, did not attend, but said that was partly due to the rise of social media and how quickly images of Olympic fashion spread these days compared to 2008, when the brand began outfitting the U.S. team.
To back up his point, he pulled out his phone and showed an Instagram video of LeBron James, who will be serving as the US flag-bearer alongside Coco Gauff, getting ready in a white Lauren jacket with red and blue trim. The video has garnered nearly 850,000 likes.
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