In the sprawling fashion show that will be the 2024 Summer Olympics — the various ceremonial fits, the performance uniforms, the podium kit, the merch — there is perhaps no more freighted look than what the French delegation will wear to the opening ceremony.
Not only is France the host country, but it has enlisted LVMH, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, as a lead sponsor, meaning that fashion and all other forms of sumptuously chic craft have become part of the story of the event — beginning with the OC outfit. Which means it has to represent not just France, not just French athletes, but Frenchness itself, that je ne sais quoi of Gallic style.