France Olympic Team Will Be Dripped Out to the Gods of Olympus

France will be hosting the 2024 Olympics in Paris this year, and, as it turns out, they’re not playing around. While France has a pretty strong national culture of athletics, they also, famously, hold fashion to a very high esteem. So, the Equipe de France (or the French National Team) has no plans to show up to the Olympic Village looking like a bunch of scrubs. They’ve tapped designer Stephane Ashpool, who is the creative director behind Pigalle, a streetwear brand Ashpool named after his own neighborhood in Paris. The uniforms will be produced by French sportswear brand and the official supplier of the Tour de France cycling jerseys, Le Coq Sportif.

Sportswear has always been a central player in determining fashion trends, but this move to make the Olympics uniforms so unbelievably fashion-foward feels particularly clever. The Olympics, first and foremost, are a show, and some shows are determined to be productions. It’s no secret that New England prep has been all over trends for at least a year and that rugby polos and #blokecore have been going viral amongst younger consumers. Plus the fact that sports like F1 racing have created quite a moment in the culture outside of just sport. Races have become high visibility events, so it’s a big deal to be seen at one, wearing something cool. With Paris 2024 coming up, high visibility is no question, so France is seizing the moment.

When it was first decided that Stephane Ashpool would be spearheading the Olympics uniforms, the designer made it a priority to ask the Olympians what they would like to wear. “They all said the same thing,” he told Vogue Business back in January when the partnership was first made public. “[They said,] ‘We want to look good, we want to look fresh, and we want to look cool. Yes we want to look French, but we don’t want to be a walking flag. If we feel we look good, that will boost our confidence — and this in turn will maximize our performance.’” In turn, Ashpool took the French flag and created a textile that is contemporary and neo-psychedelic. Ashpool and Le Coq Sportif are preparing to outfit 560 Olympians and 280 Paralympians. In addition, they’re dressing 2,400 Olympic staff and coaches.