- Ralph Lauren unveils uniforms for Paris ceremonies
- Athletes praise “modern, approachable” design
When Team USA walks with the world’s athletes at the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony, they’ll be doing so in snappy tailored navy blazers from Ralph Lauren – and blue jeans.
Just regular, everyday denim blue jeans.
Ralph Lauren, which unveiled on Tuesday its ninth turn creating Olympic parade looks for the Americans, is billing the pairing as “unexpected” yet classic.
David Lauren, the company’s chief branding and innovation officer and its founder’s son, was unbothered by the casualness of blue denim.
“We work very closely with Team USA to make the athletes feel at once dressed up, feel like a team, but at the same time comfortable and very distinctively American,” he told the Associated Press on Monday.
“Nothing says America like blue jeans, especially when we’re in Paris,” Lauren added. “And it gives the athletes a chance to feel a sense of a culture but also feel like themselves and what is natural.”
The single-breasted wool blazers come with red-and-white tipping worn with a blue-and-white striped Oxford shirt and cream suede buck lace-up shoes. The jeans, at least, are tapered. Oh, and there are neck ties, in blue.
For the closing ceremony, the team will wear sharp white, moto-style denim jeans with matching jackets designed in, yes, patriotic red, white and blue.
The company gathered a few Paris-bound athletes to show off the parade uniforms for the Summer Games that begin next month in one of the world’s fashion capitals.
