It is a historical collection. The one designed by Stéphane Ashpool with Le Coq Sportif for the French team with a view to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris should establish itself as the most desirable line of the summer.
Home stretch before the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. From July 26, 2024, the capital will live to the rhythm of competitions in which a delegation of French athletes will take part. In Tokyo, in 2021, there were 378 athletes and 138 para athletes participating in the event. For the 2024 Olympics, the names of the qualifiers are not yet known. What we do know, however, is how they will be dressed from the start to the end of the games.
Four sewing changing rooms
It was Stéphane Ashpool who designed all of the official outfits for the French team. Approached in 2022 by Le Coq Sportif, official partner of the Paris Games and the French team, the artistic director of the collections of the French Olympic and Paralympic team was guided in his task by around twenty athletes. “They shared their desires with me, which helped me bring the silhouettes to life. The words that came up the most? Beauty, elegance, strength, comfort, light.” In all, four complete locker rooms.
The first corresponds to village outfits. Made from ecru fleece which took 2 years of work to develop, these are not dyed and highlight the natural color of the fiber. The second is made up of training outfits, on which Stéphane Ashpool highlighted the intensity of the effort thanks to graphic lines. This range will be marketed to the general public from February in Le Coq Sportif stores, at partner distributors and in official Paris 2024 stores.
The founder of the Pigalle brand also designed the Le Coq Sportif branded competition outfits, in partnership with the 30 federations represented at the event. To undertake this titanic work, we had to work with Paris 2024, the CNOSF (French national Olympic sports committee) and the CPSF (French paralympic and sports committee). A challenge in terms of design and technicality. Because if Stéphane Ashpool has always been immersed in sport – his mother was a dancer at the Opera, he himself once coached young people in basketball – he nonetheless remains a designer of ready-to-wear. So, the specificities of sailing or diving equipment were not necessarily those that he mastered best. No more than the design of clothing for para athletes.
“We had to adapt the patterns with, for example, specific details for the location or opening of the pockets. But it wasn’t complicated, it was even pleasant and I learned a lot during the creation process “, he specifies. After some 2,000 prototype tests, the artistic director managed to develop 1,000 different models to dress all the members of the delegation.
The catwalk outfits are deliberately minimalist. Produced in France, they are inspired by the archives of Le Coq Sportif and feature the brand’s logo, tricolor stripes, the flame and the Olympic rings. Stéphane Ashpool admits to having a particular weakness for this sports suit, made up of a zipped jacket and pleated pants. A line available for sale from April.
The common thread of all these creations? The desire to reinterpret the French flag, whose colors become more accentuated as the athletes approach the competition. “I wanted to mix it up by merging blue, white and red. A more modern flag which represents us more and speaks of the diversity of bodies, sports, cultures…” An inclusive flag, in short, exactly what the Paris Games aim to be.