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Pouring rain did not mar the Olympics’ four-hour opening ceremony, held on the Seine River on July 26. “If you love the Olympics, a few drops of rain don’t bother you,” Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee, said at a podium facing the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero.
Estanguet worked closely with the ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Joly, to create a spectacle that, for the first time, will take place not in a stadium but on the Seine, with different scenes unfolding around various Parisian monuments.
LVMH, which according to sources spent 150 million euros on its premium partnership with the Olympics, proved its power once again by receiving high praise at the ceremony. Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Aya Nakamura and Juliette Armanet performed in Dior outfits. Guillaume Diop of the Paris Opera danced on the roof of the Hôtel de Ville in a Louis Vuitton outfit. There was also a scene where the trunks for the medals were made in Louis Vuitton’s atelier and carried from the Pont Neuf to the Trocadero. More than 320,000 visitors gathered on the banks of the Seine, and a global broadcast audience of 2 to 3 billion viewers is expected, making it the biggest exposure for LVMH’s two major houses.
Other LVMH brands will also be present during the Games, which run until August 11 (the Paralympics run from August 28 to September 8): Chaumet will create the medals, Berluti will create some 1,400 outfits for the French delegation, and Sephora makeup artists will look at Olympic medallists as they step onto the podium at Champions Park. Eyewear brand Vuarnay will release several official products under license for Paris 2024, and Moët & Chandon will be featured at La Maison LVMH, a space with outdoor gardens, restaurants and a full program of VIP events.
On Friday night, Lady Gaga performed in a Dior haute couture feather jacket and a black and pink skirt embroidered with feathers. French singer Juliette Armanet wore a black leather set, a collaboration between Dior and French designer Clara Daguin, known for her work with light and technology. The ensemble was embroidered with lights that lit up in time with the music. There was also an eight-meter Dior gown in the colors of the French flag for mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cyrelle (fashion lovers were reminded of Azzedine Alaïa’s dress for opera singer Jessye Norman and her appearance at the 1989 French Revolution 200th anniversary celebrations, directed by legendary photographer Jean-Paul Goude). The ceremony ended with a bang, with Celine Dion, also wearing a white silk long dress by Dior, singing Edith Piaf’s La homme d’amour.
