Five Fashion Activations Taking Olympic Gold

When LVMH announced its sponsorship of the Paris 2024 Olympics, there was no doubt that this global event would offer much more than just sport. With Paris as the backdrop, fashion, luxury and lifestyle have been brought to the forefront of the competition like never before. 

From dressing athletes for the pre-Olympics party to designing national uniforms, brands have found innovative ways to engage with the world’s largest sporting event. This follows a shift with collaborations between fashion and sport reaching new heights – a topic we explore further in our upcoming macrotrend report Game-Changers: The Future of Sports Fandom. RSVP now to attend the webinar on 10 September. 

Below, we highlight the best-in-class brands that have developed unique strategies to cut through the noise and stand out, all while remaining true to their brand identity. 

LVMH  

In July 2023, LVMH, the French luxury conglomerate announced its official sponsorship of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. As the first luxury sponsor of the event, expectations were high and LVMH has exceeded them. 

The opening ceremony took place along Paris’ River Seine on 26 July 2024 and was a showcase for many of the brands under LVMH’s umbrella. Global pop sensations Lady Gaga, Céline Dion and Aya Nakamura all wore Christian Dior outfits for their performances, styled personally by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri. The official French uniforms were designed by Berluti, the Italian luxury house acquired by LVMH in 1993. 

Later in the ceremony, Louis Vuitton drew from its tradition of creating luxury travel gear by unveiling bespoke trunks that housed the Olympic torches and medals. The trunks, inspired by Louis Vuitton’s Malle Coiffeuse beauty trunk, featured an exterior wrapped in the signature Damier canvas, embossed with the brand’s logo. Every element of the trunk paid homage to Louis Vuitton’s history and heritage. We forecast the rise of luxury brands’ Twisting Traditions, as explored in our Luxury Recrafted macrotrend report.

Skims 

Skims is among the brands rallying behind Team USA as their official sleepwear, underwear and loungewear partner for the third time. After a first collaboration for Tokyo 2020 and a second for Beijing 2022, the brand founded by Kim Kardashian launched special products, events and merchandise inspired by the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Skims hosted the Team USA Welcome Experience in Paris on 26 July 2024, during which athletes had the opportunity to pick up products from its collaboration. The brand also launched a campaign imbued with national pride, featuring Olympians and Paralympians such as swimmers Jessica Long and Caeleb Dressel, runner and football player Nick Mayhugh, gymnast Sunisa Lee, and track and field sprinters Gabby Thomas and Fred Kerley. 

The brand’s activation has been successful because it remains true to its ethos. Rather than attempting to showcase a more athletic or performance-based range of products, Skims offered its classic loungewear range, including swimwear, sleepwear, bras and underwear – all within its usual price range. 

Jacquemus 

Not all brands can be official sponsors of the Olympics, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get involved. Consider French luxury brand Jacquemus, which partnered with Nike to launch a capsule collection reflecting a sportswear aesthetic. ‘The ultimate goal was to collaborate on the Paris Olympics,’ Simon Porte Jacquemus, founder of his namesake brand, told Vogue UK. ‘Something blue, white, red to reference the French flag.’ 

In addition to creating a unique collection, Jacquemus also directed a film paying homage to the host city of Paris. The film marked the fashion designer’s directorial debut and attracted 5m views on Instagram thanks to its star-studded cast, which included rapper Central Cee, model Lila Moss, and the queen of tennis herself, Serena Williams. 

The film, J’aime Paris, is quirky, referencing athletics, fashion and art through a ‘if you know, you know’ lens – a coded tactic we explore in State Two: Discernment in our Luxury States: New Codes of Luxury 2024–2025 macrotrend report. This brand activation is a prime example of how a brand can involve itself in a global event without dipping too deeply into the cash reserves required to become an official sponsor. 

Kith 

American fashion and lifestyle brand Kith has revived its collaboration with Team USA through a special archive-inspired collection. Kith’s diverse selection of apparel, accessories and lifestyle items pays tribute to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The apparel line-up includes colour-blocked jersey warm-ups and t-shirts available in a palette of white and blue, navy, deep blue and cream. 

Adding to the excitement, Kith also launched its Kith for Olympics Heritage collection, featuring vintage-inspired Olympic designs across jackets, knitwear, shirts, t-shirts, shorts, and more. This collection delves deep into Olympic history, spotlighting iconic events such as Stockholm 1912, Tokyo 1964, Montreal 1976 and others. Highlight pieces, which sold out instantly, include a plush polo shirt from Seoul 1988, a jersey from London 1948 and a t-shirt from Atlanta 1996. 

Kith’s Olympic Heritage collection stands out because it pays homage not only to the current event but also to the long-standing history and cultural significance of the Olympics. Each item is unique and immediately carries the allure of a collector’s item, aligning with Gen Z’s archivist mindset – a trend we explore in Luxury Recrafted. 

National uniforms 

Uniforms have always been a powerful medium through which narratives of nationalism and cultural pride are expressed. As Ivana Rihter writes in Vogue: ‘Throughout the history of the Games, the best Olympic uniforms have always reflected the era’s zeitgeist.’ With Paris as the stage, designers had no option but to elevate the style factor. 

When Team Mongolia revealed their uniforms – boxy vests with embroidered collars in white, blue and gold – they instantly won the internet’s approval. Designed by fashion label Michel & Amazonka, the uniforms go to great lengths to honour the nation’s history. The entire uniform draws inspiration from the Mongolian Naadam Festival, which is the country’s iteration of the Olympics. The gold elements, inspired by the Olympic torch, beautifully portray mountains, fish and other natural motifs, intricately sewn throughout the vest (source: GQ). 

Similarly, New York-based Liberian-American designer Telfar Clemens created uniforms for the Liberian Olympic team. Marking their second collaboration, Telfar’s eponymous label took a different approach to the team’s designs, focusing on comfort with a collection of t-shirts, tracksuits and boxy cut-out hoodies, in addition to the official looks for the opening ceremony.