Nine of the most stylish kits the athletes will be wearing at the Paris Olympics 2024

From voguish volleyball outfits to sleek skatewear, this year’s event – in the famously chic French capital – has been called “the most fashionable Olympics”. Here are the kits that prove it.

Paris, a city synonymous with fashion, and this summer the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games. But that’s not where the overlap ends – ahead of the Games, there’s an exhibition in the French capital celebrating the relationship between fashion and sport. Separately, Vogue France has dedicated a front cover to the occasion, and the magazine staged a Vogue World celebration in the city. With the labels behind uniforms raising their game for the fashion capital, we’ve rounded up some of the most notable team kits.

1. Team Canada in lululemon

This year, Team Canada will wear one of the country’s most famous brands, lululemon, for both the ceremonies and podium moments. Looking at the kit from afar, the standout theme is shades of red, but zoom a little closer and you’ll start to notice the intricate print detailing. There’s both flora and fauna in the print to showcase the country’s vast and varied landscape. For fashion and design commentator Elizabeth Segrani, it’s “the perfect kit”.

She tells the BBC, “Canada’s population has become increasingly diverse, and I really think lululemon thought about ways to portray that diversity, and to help the athletes feel connected to their fellow athletes”.

Segrani is particularly impressed by the print being used for the closing ceremony. “That was designed by an Indigeneous artist [Mason Mashon, from the Saddle Creek Cree Nation], and shows the aurora borealis in this really cool, fashion-forward, meaningful way”.

2. Team Canada (part 2) in Left on Friday

Team Canada gets two honourable mentions here, as one of the countries choosing a start-up brand to design some of their competing uniforms. If you’re not familiar with Left on Friday, you might well be by the end of the summer. The premium active swimwear brand is kitting out Canada’s volleyball team.

Shannon Savage designed the kit with Laura Lo Ah Key and tells the BBC that it’s a dream come true to have their brand associated with, what she calls, “the most fashionable Olympics”.

“To have this global moment in Paris where everybody’s focusing on what the athletes are wearing, not just how they’re performing, is an opportunity for us as a small brand that’s just mind-blowing.”

In terms of how they captured the spirit of Canada, Lo Ah Key says the aim was to celebrate the bold colour red and to play around with different shades.

3. Team France in Stephane Ashpool

We can’t talk about the ‘fits of the Paris Olympics and not include the host nation. Throughout the Games, French athletes will compete in a kit designed by Stéphane Ashpool, best known as the brains behind streetwear brand Pigalle. The uniform is 90s-inspired and celebrates the colours of the French flag.

In classic Parisian style, the looks were unveiled at Paris Fashion Week, where Ashpool explained his approach: “The athletes told me they wanted to be chic, elegant, bright. The result is these blended colours.”