PARIS — On an eerily quiet Boulevard Saint-Germain the day after the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, the pavement in front of the Ralph Lauren store was a small hive of activity.
A row of uniformed attendants greeted guests in town to cheer on Team USA at a cocktail party at Ralph’s restaurant. Jessica Chastain, Nick Jonas, Nina Dobrev, Shaun White and John Mulaney were just the warm-up crew.
Rumors of the arrival of a special guest were confirmed shortly after 10 p.m., when First Lady Dr. Jill Biden made a surprise appearance before mingling with guests including director Spike Lee.
She was greeted by hosts David Lauren, chief innovation and branding officer at Ralph Lauren; chief executive officer Patrice Louvet, and Lauren Bush Lauren, who was wearing a sweater emblazoned with the U.S. flag and the Olympic rings.
“This is an American moment and to have the first lady here with some great athletes and some great spirit is amazing,” David Lauren said.
Though the ground was still damp, the skies cleared just in time for guests to enjoy the outdoor patio, where a live band played jazz.
Talk turned, naturally, to the previous night’s rain-drenched proceedings. Seeing Team USA ride down the Seine in a boat wearing their Ralph Lauren outfits was a highlight.
“I mean, that’s the moment that we’ve been waiting for as a company,” said Lauren. But like many, he was also moved by Celine Dion’s triumphant comeback performance on the Eiffel Tower following her highly publicized battle with a rare disease known as stiff person syndrome.
“Something went through everybody around the world, no matter what country you’re from,” he said. “It was a moment of perseverance and strength and courage.”
Mulaney watched the proceedings from the Pont de la Concorde.
“It was so egalitarian in that there were billionaires, there were interns — everyone was in the same clear plastic poncho and everyone was the same amount wet,” he said. “Everyone wanted to stay on the edge of the bridge, obviously, to see the teams coming, so there were big umbrellas, but everyone just stood right out in the rain.”
He plans to stick around to see the volleyball and diving competitions. “And I missed handball, which I’m sad about. I like to go to some of the smaller events,” said the comedian, who has some stand-up shows lined up for fall.
Chastain, wearing a Polo Ralph Lauren Team USA jacket over her long red dress, huddled with her husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, White and Dobrev, who was still walking with a cane after surgery following a bike accident.
“My favorite Olympic moment was when the person on the horse was riding through the river,” said the “Vampire Diaries” star.
“I don’t know why, to be honest with you, I haven’t had a chance to really unpack that, but it made me very emotional watching the lone rider — maybe the journey that all these athletes take to get to where they are,” she mused.
“And Celine Dion, obviously, seeing her back on stage for the first time after her diagnosis was so powerful. But then, on a personal note, at the end of the night, when Shaun was pushing me on my wheelchair around Paris and the streets were all closed, and it was so weird and beautiful to be running around the streets of Paris with no cars, and just the two of us,” she added.
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It was the first Olympics for Jonas, who headed to the airport straight from an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and only caught half of the opening ceremony.
“I thought that the French flag across the bridge and the smoke was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. And then obviously Gaga is always amazing. I love Gaga, and seeing Celine get back on stage and sing was pretty special,” he said.
Jonas plans to catch some volleyball, gymnastics, skateboarding and basketball. “It’s a pretty full agenda,” he conceded. He’ll be back in Europe in September, only this time on stage with the Jonas Brothers. “I’m trying to enjoy a quick bit of downtime before we start back up,” the singer said.
Despite being soaked to the bone during the opening ceremony, the U.S. athletes were in high spirits.
“I felt like it was straight out of a movie scene, and it was really cool because at one moment, it felt like all of the athletes just embraced it. We took off our ponchos, whatever was covering our hair, we were just full sense into it,” said volleyball team member Chiaka Ogbodu.
“I’m sure they timed this perfectly, but our boat pulled up to the Eiffel Tower right as it was about to light up so I got to have that on camera,” she added. “That’s like a once-in-a-lifetime moment that I and my teammates got to experience so I’m really grateful for that. I’ve never seen the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.”
Jeffrey Louis, aka Bboy Jeffro, was gearing up for breakdancing’s debut as an Olympic discipline.
“There’s a lot to prove, but there’s also nothing to prove, so we’re just going in with a lot of energy,” he said. “Everybody’s in top shape. We were training today, actually — probably the hardest training session I’ve done so far being over here, so I think everybody’s good.”
He doesn’t start competing until Aug. 10, so he’s staying in a hotel before moving to the Olympic Village closer to the big day. “Yeah, I’ll wait till the last minute to hop in those cardboard beds,” Louis joked.
Alan Cumming doesn’t mind a little discomfort.
“I loved that it rained,” he said. “We were wearing these little plastic macs and my shoes were hurting and there was such a great moment: I walked home in the streets of Paris in my bare feet in the rain. It was like a movie.”
The “Good Wife” star, wearing a bright green Ralph Lauren Purple Label suit, was enjoying a few days off before heading back to his native Scotland to shoot a movie tentatively called “Glenrothan” opposite Brian Cox — hence his new beard.
“We’re brothers, so I’m trying to look like him,” he said. “We’re a whisky family and he’s the older brother and I have gone away to America after a schism and I come back.”
Never mind that there’s probably more rain on the menu. “I’m all for rain,” Cumming said. “I think that’s why we’ve all got such good skin in Scotland, because it’s just constant moisture.”
