French Paralympic athlete Thimothée Adolphe tries on his Berluti costume for the opening ceremony of the Games on March 18, 2024 in Paris. (AFP / Thomas SAMSON)
Suit, shirt, belt, shoes, scarf, pocket square… The athletes of the French team will be dressed in Berluti from head to toe for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with outfits unveiled on Wednesday by the brand of LVMH, premium partner of the Games.
This year, the French will “appear in force, beautiful, elegant as never before and make an impression”, assures AFP the former fencer Brice Guyart, today in the Paris 2024 organizing committee and “persuaded that the first medals are won from the opening ceremony”.
The very chic French brand Berluti will dress 1,500 athletes and those accompanying them for the opening of the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) and Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8). For a certain price. In store, a pair of Shadow sneakers costs 1,000 euros and a Berluti suit around 4,000 euros. Athletes will be able to keep their outfits after the Games.
The costumes, designed in collaboration with Carine Roitfeld, are midnight blue with a blue, white and red patinated collar. On the left pocket, a small Olympic flame and the Games logo. The jackets, sleeveless for women, can be combined with pants or a skirt, and with a white cotton and silk shirt.
The objective was to “combine elegance and comfort”, underlines Vanessa Le Goff, collection director at Berluti.
“The most difficult part (of manufacturing) was the collar”, in satin print which had to give the same effect on all the jackets, whatever their size from 3XS to 5XL, Elisa Mongiovo at Pattern explains to AFP , Italian subcontractor responsible for making costumes in an artisanal manner.
Women choosing the skirt will wear a “very soft moccasin”. The shoes are made by hand in the Berluti workshops in Ferrara, Italy, “patina” included: like painters, the employees apply the blue, white and red patina with brushes and rags, shoe by shoe.
“Traditionally we have eight shoe sizes and for this project we went to 14 sizes, from 34 to 56,” notes Agnès Fillioux, industrial director at Berluti, “a challenge because comfort must be the same on all sizes “.
The athletes have discovered their ceremonial outfits in recent weeks. Timothée Adolphe, a visually impaired disabled athlete, considers his “very pleasant”, he tells AFP. For climber Oriane Bertone, met during a photo shoot, “we hold up pretty well” Paris’s reputation as the “fashion capital”.