PARIS — The 2024 Paris Olympics will end as it starts, with a show of sports — and sustainable fashion.
Thomas Jolly, who is the artistic director of the July 26 opening ceremony, will take over a 30,000-square-foot stage at the Stade de France with a finale titled “Records.”
And the person who will design the costumes for the occasion is Paris-based Swiss designer Kevin Germanier.
“I don’t quite realize it yet,” the designer told WWD in an exclusive interview. “It’s quite bada– that Thomas [Jolly] and Daphné [Bürki, who serves as styling and costumes director for Paris 2024] picked an independent designer when they could have had anyone.”
Germanier revealed he was in talks for another Olympics-related project, when he got a call to come back and talk about the closing ceremony right after his fall 2024 show during March’s Paris Fashion Week.
“When they showed me the show’s concept, it was so emotional, so out-of-the-box, so not Germanier that I told them I was up for the challenge,” he said.
The Aug. 11 show imagined by Jolly will feature more than 100 performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists, as well as an original soundtrack, new interpretations, musical performances and the participation of world-renowned singers, according to elements revealed by the Paris 2024 organizers.
There will also be the traditional parade of national flags and athletes, as well as the handover of the Olympics flag to the Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee.
Having sustainability weigh in his selection added to his thrill, particularly after presenting Prélude, the first collection made from 100 percent upcycled materials and unsold products from the houses under the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton umbrella. The French luxury group is a premium partner of the Olympic Games in Paris.
“I feel excited that I was not only chosen for my talent but also for my values,” he continued. “They know who’s behind the clothes, the materials I’m going to use. Some will come from Nona Source, obviously, but there will also be the more unconventional materials I used.”
The opening ceremony will also feature sustainably designed costumes.
From his first designs cut for childhood dolls, Germanier has used upcycled materials and found objects in his designs. When he launched his eponymous label in 2018, it quickly became known for colorful beaded creations and caught the eye of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and a lineup of K-pop stars.
Courtesy of Paris 2024.
Few details could be gleaned from the black and white video atmospheric video used to reveal the appointment, but consider it the biggest and most experimental show Germanier could have ever dreamed up.
“The only thing [Jolly and Bürki] asked me is to create a fantasy,” he said. “Come on, it’s Paris 2024. We must show it’s the capital of fashion. If we don’t, we’d be in trouble.”
While the designer stayed mum on the outfits, things that he’d never done before included dressing men and creating outfits for acrobatic performers. And with “no pressure to sell garments or please a buyer,” he felt free to push the envelope.
Having the eyes of the world on this moment is an opportunity for himself but also for sustainability that he feels a responsibility not to squander.
“Never ever will I get that amount of interest, of curiosity, of admiration and maybe some question from all around the world at the same time,” he said. “Even if I went to head a major house one day, would I have a budget on this scale and potentially an audience of 3 billion?”
