With Olympics in Sight, a Paris Exhibition Highlights the Hyperlink Between Trend and Sport

PARIS — As Paris gears as much as host the Summer season Olympic Video games subsequent 12 months, a brand new exhibition on the Musée des Arts Décoratifs highlights the connection between sporting competitors and garments.

“Trend and Sport, From One Podium to the Different,” set to run from Wednesday till April 7, opens with no clothes in any respect. An Historical Greek statue of a discus thrower underlines the truth that Olympic athletes used to compete bare, a reality mirrored in classic posters for the Video games in Stockholm in 1912 and Paris in 1924.  

The present provides fascinating perception into the altering social mores that noticed ladies buying and selling corsets for Lycra bodysuits, as consolation grew to become the dominant consider how folks costume — a theme that dovetails with one other Paris exhibition at the moment on present on the Palais Galliera museum, titled “Trend in Movement.”

Sophie Lemahieu, the curator in command of post-1947 style and textiles collections at Les Arts Décoratifs, mentioned the change could be traced again to the Twenties, when designers together with Jean Patou, Jeanne Lanvin, Elsa Schiaparelli and Gabrielle Chanel launched sportswear, dressing main athletes reminiscent of tennis champions Suzanne Lenglen and Lilí de Álvarez.

“There are historical Roman mosaics that present ladies carrying the precursor of the bikini and carrying hand weights, suggesting that sporting exercise was potential. Having mentioned that, ladies had been traditionally confined to the house whereas males had been outdoor, honing their our bodies,” Lemahieu advised WWD throughout a preview go to.

“Within the Twenties, we see an enormous change as sport turns into more and more necessary. Throughout this era, sport is synonymous with youth and a lithe physique, which was actually the modern physique form of that point,” she added.

Earlier than that, ladies had been compelled to put on movement-restricting corsets and bustles to apply actions reminiscent of archery and gymnastics. “On the finish of the nineteenth century, particular person sports activities like tennis and golf had been fashionable among the many bourgeoisie, an elite that was centered not on efficiency however on socializing,” Lemahieu famous.

The invention of the bicycle was a recreation changer, as ladies had been allowed to put on bloomers to make sure their skirts didn’t get caught within the spokes — although makes an attempt to move off culotte skirts as style had been pooh-poohed at first.

Lemahieu pointed to {a photograph} of ladies attending a horse race in 1911 carrying the brand new model, which again then was nearly indistinguishable from an everyday skirt. “There have been plenty of articles within the press decrying how terrible and indecent they had been. Some folks commented that it could be the look of the longer term, however they weren’t prepared for it then,” she defined.    

There have been early rule-breakers: a 1783 portrait by Louis-Auguste Brun exhibits Queen Marie Antoinette on horseback carrying breeches, as an alternative of the petticoats that had been de rigueur within the 18th century. “It’s remarkably fashionable for its time,” Lemahieu mentioned.    

The nineteenth century marked the introduction of sporting competitions with groups, guidelines and specialised sports activities gear. Among the many 450 objects on present is a jersey for New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby crew from the early twentieth century — its fragile state underlining the issue of preserving garments used for intense athletic effort.

The show, conceived by structure and exhibition design apply BGC Studio, highlights how athletes contributed to popularizing sportswear.

Emilio Pucci was an Italian ski champion, whereas Ottavio Missoni began as a 400-meter runner. Some have been forgotten, like tennis woman-turned-designer Jane Régny, whereas others stay present, like René Lacoste, the founding father of the French sportswear model that’s the foremost sponsor of the present.

Among the many displays is the earliest recognized instance of the signature polo shirt created by the tennis star, which celebrates its ninetieth anniversary this 12 months, in addition to a limited-edition Lacoste shirt designed by the Campana brothers, produced from a whole bunch of hand-stitched crocodiles, illustrating how brilliant colours and logos migrated from sports activities uniforms to style design.

Swimwear opened the way in which for unisex dressing, with women and men adopting comparable swimming costumes within the Nineteen Thirties. “An extra illustration of feminine emancipation is the way in which seashore pajamas worn over swimsuits had been one of many first forms of ladies’s pants you might put on and not using a downside,” Lemahieu famous.

Within the ‘60s and ‘70s, main manufacturers like Balmain and André Courrèges dressed hosts and delegates on the Olympic Video games in a show of soppy energy. Satisfied that every one Twenty first-century garments could be impressed by sports activities, Issey Miyake waived his price to design outfits for the delegation representing a newly unbiased Lithuania on the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

A piece centered on the ’80s exhibits how sports activities gear and sneakers grew to become the default uniform of a era, culminating in a pink velour tracksuit with a rhinestone Juicy Couture brand throughout the underside.

Within the museum’s atrium, mannequins in designer gear are dotted round a observe below round lights impressed by the Olympic rings.

Highlights embrace designs by Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen, Vetements and Off-White, in addition to examples of distinguished sports activities collaborations, together with a slinky black robe with a three-stripe band by Yohji Yamamoto for his Y-3 line for Adidas, and a patchwork costume made with upcycled soccer jerseys by Koché designer Christelle Kocher for Nike.    

A closing space highlights the function of athletes as trendsetters, with objects just like the black bodysuit worn by Serena Williams on the Roland-Garros tennis event in 2018, which was banned from future French Opens in a controversial resolution.  

On a wall, promoting campaigns that includes tennis star Naomi Osaka for Louis Vuitton and soccer participant Zinedine Zidane for Dior illustrate that the love affair between style and sport is much from over.