Ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris next summer, this exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (20 September–7 April 2024) explores the interlinked histories of fashion and sport. Through some 450 garments, illustrations, photographs and paintings, it traces the evolution of sportswear and its influence on modern and contemporary fashion. At the turn of the 20th century, an upper-class appetite for healthier lifestyles saw designers place a new emphasis on activewear, creating stylish options for both men and women – as a sailor-style two-piece women’s bathing costume (c. 1900) reveals. By the 1970s and ’80s, the worlds of high fashion and activewear had become thoroughly enmeshed, as can be seen in the photograph Ulla Danielsen in an André Courrèges jacket (1971–72), shot by Peter Knapp in Saint Moritz for Elle magazine. Find out more on the Musée des Arts Décoratif’s website.
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Ulla Danielsen in an André Courrèges jacket (1971–72), Peter Knapp for Elle magazine. Photo: © Peter Knapp
Neyret two-piece swimsuit (c. 1930s). Photo: © Les Arts Décoratifs/Christophe Dellière
Ladies’ two-piece bathing costume (c. 1900). Photo: © Les Arts Décoratifs/Christophe Dellière
Lacoste advertising poster (1933), A. Briol. Photo: © Archives Lacoste