With the Olympic games headed for Paris this summer, the French national team (known by locals as the Equipe de France) is ensuring that it doesn’t get outdressed on its home turf.
The French team has enlisted Stéphane Ashpool, founder and designer of the Parisian streetwear label Pigalle, to add some pizazz to the sports gear worn by its athletes.
The Paris-based designer has created a vast collection that will be worn by the athletes during every part of the Olympics, from celebrating on the podium to participating in media appearances.
Produced by French sportswear label Le Coq Sportif (fellow football fans will know the brand for its legendary football kits) it puts the French colors front and center.
Ashpool has created a new interpretation of the French flag for this year’s Olympics, a fusion of the country’s blue, white, and red colors presented in a gradient print — and it's featured on pretty much everything.
Skate shoes, warm-up tracksuits, the rim of a tennis racket, the body of a kayak, the face guard used for fencing… Ashpool has made sure that his newly-designed French flag is on the lot. And why not? It ensures that everyone knows who the French competitor is in its hometown Olympics.
France is among the first countries to have presented its uniform for 2024, offering a preview during Paris Fashion Week and now releasing a lookbook showing the extent of the collection.
Australia also unveiled its uniform last week and J.Lindeberg presented its Olympic uniforms for Team USA golfers at the end of January, however, there’s little information about what most countries will be wearing.
The competition for the best-dressed country is always a fierce one, with highlights from recent years including Liberia’s Telfar-designer gear, skate uniforms designed by Dutch artist Piet Parra, and Prada snowboards used during the Winter Olympics.
There’s no saying yet what Paris 2024 will offer from a style standpoint but, together with Stéphane Ashpool, France has set the bar high.
