PARIS — Paris closed out the official 2024 Olympic Games with an evening ceremony spectacle held at the Stade de France, timed to play off the golden hour of sunset to maximize the dramatic effect.
The ceremony opened across town in the Tuileries Garden, where Zaho de Sagazan performed Edith Piaf’s “Sous le Ciel de Paris” backed by 32 choir singers from Académie Haendel-Hendrix. De Sagazan appeared against the backdrop of the lunar-like floating cauldron, which has risen each night of the games at sunset.
She wore a ruffled two-tone silk skirt topped by a black jersey bodysuit with tulle inserts. The artist famous for her barefoot serenade of Greta Gerwig during the Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony completed the look with a pair of black leather Jazz derby shoes, all from the house of Louis Vuitton.
Swimming star Léon Marchand then took the flame from the cauldron en route to the Stade de France. The Louis Vuitton brand ambassador was clad in a look from the brand.
You May Also Like
The festivities then moved to the national stadium in the north of Paris, where athletes from all countries paraded with their flags and team uniforms as French classics such as Charles Aznavour’s “Emmenez-moi” and Joe Dassin’s “Les Champs-Élysées” played.
As the sun set and darkness hit the stadium, glowing orbs lit up next to the jagged, angular stage that recalled the seven continents. Playing with light was all timed for artistic director Thomas Jolly’s theme. It was meant to recall a dystopian future.
He also looked to the stars to create a sci-fi character called The Golden Voyager, based on the gold disc sent into space by NASA’s Voyager probe in 1977. That record sent images and songs into space. Jolly imagined an interstellar traveler who lands in the stadium and discovers the Olympic Games.
The stadium-centered ceremony was more traditional that the opening night’s ceremony on the Seine river and allowed Jolly to create a choreographed theatrical production of acrobats, circus performers and dancers from different styles, set to a musical score played by the Divertimento Orchestra and the Fontainebleau Masters.
To play The Golden Voyager, Jolly enlisted breakdancer and contortionist Arthur Cadre. Swiss designer Kevin Germanier created a gilded costume for the alien-like creature using Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery’s 1830 tome “Atlas of Human Anatomy” as inspiration for the garment’s outlines and structure.
In accordance with the more environmentally conscious Paris games — and Germanier’s long-standing house codes — the look was made from upcycled materials. He used textiles from LVMH’s Nona Source plus raided his mother’s basement to gather 167 old VHS video tapes that he transformed into material. That the tapes housed old Pokémon cartoons was part of the fun, he said. The Swiss designer also looked to his trusted sourcing house in Hong Kong for gold beads and sequins that were diverted from landfill.
“We are in Paris, we are in France, there is a notion of couture which is extremely important,” said Germanier. “It’s also the sewing of the past, present and future. So especially on the VHS [tapes], we really treated it in a super innovative way.”
The team created more than 120 looks for the dancers as well. The ethics of reuse and upcycling were imbued in the creation of all the pieces. “Obviously there are some that will be for single use and that will be exhibited at the Museum of the Olympic Games,” said styling and costumes director Daphné Bürki. “But the goal was that the performers can seize it, and if they want to reuse it, it’s available.”
Dior also dressed French tenor Benjamin Bernheim, who was accompanied by pianist Alain Roche who played while suspended in midair. Celine kept to its rock-’n’-roll roots, dressing the band Phoenix for the performance of their set, which included the electronic group Air and Belgian singer Angèle. The 80,000-strong crowd sang along to their hits “Lisztomania” and “1901” before frontman Thomas Mars crowd surfed above the gathered athletes.
Following the handoff of the official Olympic flag from Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, H.E.R. took to the stage for a rendition of the U.S.’s national anthem in a white pantsuit from Ralph Lauren and jewels from Chopard. Tom Cruise appeared on the roof of the Stade de France and rapelled into the audience, taking the flag and riding off on a motorcycle.
The ceremony cut to a pre-taped segment with Cruise delivering the flag to Los Angeles. The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed live on Venice Beach, alongside Billie Eilish, who was also clad in Ralph Lauren, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.
After the Los Angeles segement, Marchand carried the Olympic flame into the Stade de France, for the official ending of this year’s games.
French singer Yseult sang the classic “My Way,” first performed by Claude François as a French tune, before being made more globally famous by Frank Sinatra in English.
Dior womenswear designer Maria Grazia Chiuri created a couture piece for singer Yseult. Chiuri looked to classic Christian Dior codes for the look, with a black faille suit as a contemporary reinterpretation of the house’s signature New Look silhouette, the Bar jacket. The look was topped by a hat inspired by an original Christian Dior classic design, revisited by Stephen Jones.
Bürki’s team worked closely with Dior’s Chiuri on Yseult’s look. “This is the story of Thomas Jolly, we gave it to Maria Grazia, she gave us drawing and we worked together for many weeks,” she said. To work on the ceremony outfits, the teams used code names so the performers would not be revealed.
Speaking at the converted Saint Denis studio which housed the costume department and couturiers on Friday, Jolly added that the ceremony had been planned for some time, and did not change following the controversy that swirled around the opening ceremony’s use of drag queens that offended some Christian groups.
“All our freedoms have been preserved because this country benefits from freedom of creation,” he said. “For no reason did we want to transform what we had wanted to offer from the beginning. So the show is what it was supposed to be.”
Overall, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has won the fashion gold as a premium partner of the games, with the Chaumet designed medals presented on Louis Vuitton trays, among other key placements. When the Olympic torch arrived in Paris on July 14, it came in a Louis Vuitton Damier check trunk. The company’s Berluti brand outfitted the 1,500 French athletes, and Dior dressed Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and Aya Nakamura for the opening ceremony.
Before the games, LVMH snapped up sports stars as spokespeople, including Antoine Dupont, who won gold in rugby, and swimmer Marchand, who took home five medals, including four golds, during the games. Marchand made a splash when he appeared in the stands to watch other events in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton from men’s creative director Pharrell Williams’ fall 2024 collection.
