When the Rio Olympics kick off in a little less than three weeks, viewers around the world won’t just be tuning in to a series of athletic competitions, they’ll also get a front-row seat to a global fashion show marathon that starts with the first footfalls of the opening ceremony Aug. 5 and continues unabated across the fields of play, swimming pools and sandy beaches until the Olympic flame is extinguished at the end of the closing ceremony 16 days later.
And, as in past years, there are enough big-name designers and brands on board for the Rio Olympics to fill a fashion week.
Among them are Stella McCartney, who has once again partnered with Adidas to create the look of Team Great Britain’s competition gear (look for a heraldic motif); Giorgio Armani, who has outfitted Italy’s athletes in EA7 Emporio Armani (Armani has also designed the opening ceremony uniforms, which are being kept under wraps until the big day); Lacoste’s artistic director Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who has helped give the French Olympic team a dash of panache (look for the crocodile logo rendered in the tricolor stripes of the national flag); and Polo Ralph Lauren, which is serving as the official outfitter of Team USA for the fifth time.
