What does it mean to dress to represent the United States?
As far as Ralph Lauren is concerned, it seems to mean a navy blue blazer – at least if the outfit from the Summer Olympics opening ceremony is anything to go by.
Yes, Team USA will once again wear a navy blue blazer when its members make their debut in Paris next month. This is the fifth Summer Olympics for which Ralph Lauren has served as the official outfitter of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic delegation, and the fifth time he has designed a navy blazer for the Summer Games. Plus ça change and all that.
In 2008, the blazer was single-breasted, with white buttons to match the white newsboy caps and white trousers (very “Brideshead Revisited” with an American twist). In 2012The blazer was double or single breasted, worn with matching navy blue berets, white trousers or skirts and, for women, a red, white and blue scarf that gave the look a sort of regimental vibe.
By means of 2016, the blazer was once again single-breasted, with skinny white jeans and a red, white and blue striped T-shirt that drew unfortunate comparisons to the Russian flag. And for the last Summer GamesThe navy blue blazer was worn with sneakers, a nautical blue and white striped T-shirt and dark blue denim jeans with pegged legs, some with cuffs at the ankle.
This time the jacket is single-breasted, with a red and white grosgrain ribbon trim. The shirt is a blue and white striped Oxford, the jeans are faded and relaxed, and the shoes are white Bucks. (Men also have a navy blue tie.)
In the pantheon of navy blazers, it’s less yacht club, more private school boy with a mischievous streak – but still steeped in a slightly old-fashioned prepster déjà vu.
Tradition and consistency have always been part of Ralph Lauren selling, whether on the runway or in stores. This also applies to the uniforms of WASP fantasy. But at this point, especially given the criticism the navy blazer attracted at the 2020 Games and the complicated associations with exclusion and privilege it can evoke, viewers compared the athletes to a team of “Karens,” or people.on holiday in Nieuwpoort” — you would think the company would have tried a new approach. Instead, the old one was doubled. America is a bigger and more chaotic country than the country club. Why choose banality?
“The directive we’re given is to make the athletes look like ambassadors, have some sense of formality and feel comfortable,” said David Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s chief branding and innovation officer. To that end, he added, the U.S. Olympic Committee strongly encourages the idea of a jacket that can be worn again and again. And creating a jacket that can be worn by 1,200 different body types, including basketball players and gymnasts, wrestlers and pole vaulters, is not easy.
“We put tailors on site in Paris” for last-minute alterations, Mr. Lauren said.
But given the attention paid to the style component of the Paris Games – given that they take place at the heart of the fashion world and the opening ceremony – the look is ‘our statement piece’, as Jamal Hill, a Paralympic swimmer who award, bronze medal in the 50-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Games and will compete again in Paris, said – it seems like a missed opportunity to telegraph a more creative, inclusive version of “American” to the world.
Still, Mr. Hill said he liked the current look better than the one Mr. Lauren created for the last Games. “It’s like you’re doing business at the top and celebrating at the bottom,” he said of the 2024 outfit. “I like that it combines that professional look with a level of relaxation. As if we actually have nothing to prove.”
Mr. Hill was particularly excited about some of the options created for clothing for the Olympic Village, including what he called the “billionaire astronaut” look: a periwinkle blue nylon bomber jacket with several vintage patches on it, including one with a stylized Olympic flame. He also favored the ‘Olympic safari’ style, a white cotton jacket depicted with navy pinstriped trousers (although in practice this is more likely to be worn with sweats).
But most of all, he was a fan of the closing ceremony look, which consisted of a white denim race car driver jacket with large red and blue stripes down the middle and multiple patches, paired with matching white denim riding pants with reinforced knees. It was, said David Lauren, inspired by the kind of outfit Ralph Lauren himself likes to wear when he drives one of the many exceptional racing cars he collects.
Even though motor racing is not an Olympic sport, Mr Hill said: “F1 is hot now.”
“I could wear this to an all-white party,” he continued, gesturing toward the closing ceremony and referencing the famous Hamptons party hosted every summer by Michael Rubin, the founder of the sports fan platform Fanatics. “I bet everyone would want my outfit,” Mr. Hill said.
