6 Designer Moments to Watch Out For at the Paris Olympics

For 15 years, Ralph Lauren has dressed Team USA for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic games. At this point, the brand has become as synonymous with the event as the torch, the five rings, and even the gold medal. In 2024, for the ninth time in a row, Ralph Lauren is returning to outfit the athletes once again.

When it comes to the opening ceremony, it’s about casual suiting, and the Team USA athletes will float on boats along the Seine in navy blazers with red-and-white piping details. Striped blue-and-white button-downs and light-wash denim will complete this classic, preppy look that feels as quintessentially American as Ralph Lauren itself.

For the closing ceremony, RL added a bit more of a twist, designing white, moto-inspired jackets bisected with a blue stripe and covered in Olympic-inspired patches. Paired with white jeans, the cotton jackets will make for the coolest victory lap for the Team USA athletes, many of whom will undoubtedly decorate their Ralph Lauren closing ensembles with some extra bling they earned over the previous two weeks.

Given that the games are on their home turf, Team France has the pressure of delivering both medals and winning style. For their opening ceremony ensembles, the esteemed house of Berluti collaborated with fashion editrix Carine Roitfeld on a tuxedo-inspired jacket featuring lapels with Berluti's signature burnished treatment in the hues of the French flag. “We wanted something more classic, chic, for special moments. So I thought of Le Smoking,” Roitfeld told the New York Times, referencing the classic Yves Saint Laurent design. The jackets will be worn with white silk-cotton blend shirts, along with slacks and sneakers, though the women have the option of a silk wrap skirt.

And while the design looks relatively simple, there are many small but important details. Pocket squares and scarves in the same red-and-blue brandished treatment can be tucked into the jacket pocket or tied around the neck, while a subtle Olympic logo adorns the side of the jacket. Inside, there’s a label with the slogan “Artisan of all victories,” so the athletes feel the support from Berluti—as well as their whole country—when they don the jackets for the big event.

But after the athletes have crossed the Seine, they are in for another sartorial treat. Pigalle founder Stéphane Ashpool is partnering with French athletic brand Le Coq Sportif to create the outfits for every event from swimming to BMX biking. Like Berluti, Ashpool invoked France’s national colors, turning the classic tricolor into an abstract print.

During the Olympics, the focus typically remains on the host country and those who take home the most medals—the U.S., Russia, and Great Britain all being some of the usual suspects. But this year, Ulaanbaatar-based label Michel & Amazonka is garnering attention for Mongolia, despite the country’s relatively minor representation at the Summer Games with just 32 athletes.

Sisters Michel and Amazonka Choigaalaa have created four looks for the opening and closing ceremonies—two for the men and two for women—inspired by traditional Mongolian deels with a modern edge. The deel is worn often in Mongolia, especially during Naadam, the country’s mid-summer festival, where athletes compete in wrestling, horse racing, and archery. For the Olympics looks, embroidery across the vest features references to the festival, like an image of the Nine White Banners, which enter the Central Stadium of Mongolia at the beginning of Nadaam. The banners are joined by more symbolic embroidery, like the Olympic torch, flowers, and mountains, the last of which represents the hard work and resilience of the athletes. “The athletes strive to win gold like the mountaineers strive to climb Everest,” the sisters tell W.

The uniforms, which also feature billowing sleeves and high collars, are extremely intricate, and each took more than 20 hours to complete. They highlight the red, gold, and blue of the Mongolian flag, as well as the country’s national symbol, the Soyombo. In addition to the vests, pleated skirts, and straight-leg pants, the women’s outfits come with ceremonial earrings and embroidered bags. The men’s offering includes an archery hat, belt, and traditional Mongolian boots.

While many uniforms for this year’s Olympics are fairly simple and straightforward, the artistry of Michel & Amazonka’s designs has struck a chord with the Internet; the Mongolian looks have already gone viral ahead of the opening ceremony. “We are still in a state of shock,” the sisters say of the unprecedented attention. “It is incredible to see how many people loved our design worldwide.” Likely, the appreciation will only continue when all 32 athletes join together to float along the Seine during the opening ceremony.

In 1924, Ireland made its debut in the Olympic games. One hundred years later, the country has another big debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics: that of Laura Weber, the New York-based Irish designer who has created the opening and closing ceremony looks for her native country.

While this is her first time undergoing such a task, Weber actually has some experience in this Olympic space. She embroidered the wedding dress of three-time Irish Olympian Natalya Coyle back in 2021, and aided in the embroidery of the Team USA Ralph Lauren uniforms when she worked for the brand upon first moving to America a decade ago. Now, she is taking on the task herself, creating two jackets for the athletes to wear at the two respective ceremonies, as well as a cotton jersey t-shirt, trousers, and sneakers. The opening ceremony jackets are white, double-breasted designs, a departure from the country’s go-to green. “I felt white really represents what the opening ceremony is about: the athletes going into the games with a blank canvas, feeling anything can happen,” she told Team Ireland. The design features each specific athlete’s county emblem, as well as four shamrocks, representing Ireland’s four provinces. Of course, Weber had to include her signature embroidery throughout the design, and each jacket will feature the athlete’s name, personalizing the piece even further.

When it came to the closing ceremony look, Weber decided to return to Ireland’s tried-and-true hue, creating a deep green jacket with a more retro cut, inspired by a piece worn by Irish track star and former Olympian Sonia O’Sullivan. Gold strapping details across the bodice form a five-pointed star, but if the athlete is lucky enough to score a medal during the games, their ribbon will deliver the sixth point when worn with the jacket.

Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jean is once again pushing the agenda of cultural inclusivity through her clothing, this time with the opening ceremony looks for Team Haiti at the upcoming Olympics. A self-described “bridge builder,” Jean has always imbued her creations with a message, and her Olympic uniforms are no different. The designer hopes to show the world a different side of Haiti amid the political unrest that has plagued the country for years by highlighting the nation’s richness of culture on one of the world’s biggest stages.

To do so, Jean partnered with Haitian painter Philippe Dodard, using his artwork titled “Passage” throughout the designs, including on a full skirt and straight-leg pants. Both iterations also include a blue chambray shirt, woven in traditional Haitian style. The women’s uniform is then topped with a sleeveless blazer made from recycled fabric, while the men’s includes a work jacket modeled after a popular Haitian style and inspired by Jean’s grandfather.

The looks are finished off with a patterned belt for the women and a “Passage” printed scarf for the men, as well as the Haitian Olympic emblem, pinned to the outside of each uniform. Unfortunately, only 15 athletes will have the pleasure of wearing these meaningful looks on the Seine, but that seems to be enough for Jean. In a statement, the designer called the Haitian athletes, “15 living symbols of rebirth and renewal that extend beyond what is usually shown.”

The athletes are not alone this year in the privilege of getting decked out in high-fashion designs. During the Olympics’s closing ceremony, to take place on August 11th, athleticism will meet spectacle in a finale at the Stade de France titled “Records.” There, more than 100 performers will engage in an extravagant display as acrobats, dancers, and world-renowned singers take the 30,000-square-foot stage. All of them will be dressed by Kevin Germanier, the Paris-based Swiss designer who fancies himself the “bead master.” Germanier is known for his colorful, heavily textured, eye-catching looks, as well as his focus on sustainability. For Paris to choose an independent designer like Germanier, when the city is home to some of the biggest, most storied design houses in the world, is notable. But Germanier’s designs are art pieces in themselves, and will no doubt stand out on the grand stage of the Olympic’s closing ceremony.

“The only thing [Thomas Jolly and Daphné Bürki] asked me is to create a fantasy,” Germanier told WWD of the Paris Olympics’s artistic director and costumes director. “Come on, it’s Paris 2024. We must show it’s the capital of fashion. If we don’t, we’d be in trouble.” As of now, the costumes are being kept under wraps, but Germanier has hinted that he is using deadstock materials as well as some more unconventional textiles. Creating for performance, with “no pressure to sell garments or please a buyer,” has definitely inspired the designer, so expect extravagance—something we already know Germanier can absolutely deliver.