Olympians who have moonlighted at Paris Fashion Week
Noah Lyles, Dina Asher-Smith and Miles Chamley-Watson are just some of the sporting superstars who have taken to the runway in France's capital where they will be aiming for Olympic medals come 26 July.
The juxtaposition between Miles Chamley-Watson's day job and out-of-competition side hustle couldn't be stark on the sartorial front.
The fencer, a Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, is covered from head to toe in kit when he takes to the piste in the foil discipline. The Stars and Stripes on his mask is the only giveaway as to who might lie beneath.
Out of competition, however, the London-born US-representing athlete channels his creative side, often alongside Formula One superstar, good friend, and also exploratory fashion icon Lewis Hamilton.
Polka dot suits and matching bags, open shirts revealing a tattooed torso, and a coat-dress revealing a similarly artwork-adorned leg, showcase Chamley-Watson's personality away from the rigorous demands of his sport.
Such is his status, an invitation to walk the runway at the Paris Fashion Week men’s fall/winter 2024 show in January was accepted in the city where he hopes to claim more Olympic medalware come the fencing tournament starting 27 July.
Paris Fashion Week for women takes place 26 February to 5 March.
Fellow fencers and Paris Fashion Week attendees also include members of the Italian team who were invited to the shows after a successful outing at Rio 2016.
Arianna Errigo, a ten-time world champion and London 2012 Olympic gold medallist, quadruple amputee and two-time Olympic champion Bebe Vio, and Rossella Fiamingo, a silver medallist in the individual epee event at Rio 2016, posted a photo of themselves in sight of the Musée Rodin during their haute couture experience. Little did they know that 1km away, the Grand Palais would host Olympic fencing eight years later, with Paris being awarded the Games in 2017.
But fencers are not the only athletes with catwalk nous.
- Miles Chamley-Watson: A fencer’s crossover to the fashion world
- As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
- Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
Dina Asher-Smith balances sport and fashion passions
"INTERRUPTING HEAVILY CURATED FASHION WEEK CONTENT BECAUSE I AM LITERALLY SCREAMING!" posted British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith in March 2023.
The reason the two-time Olympic bronze medallist had posted excitedly on her Instagram feed, which was heavy with content from Paris Fashion Week, was because her friend and teammate Jazmin Sawyers had just become the European indoor long jump champion.
The first British woman in 39 years to win the title, Sawyers had done it by reaching the holy-grail distance of 7m exactly.
A week previously Asher-Smith had hit her own seventh heaven with a new national record of 7.03s in the women's 60m at the World Indoor Championships, in Birmingham, before posting: "The outdoor season is coming soon and I can’t wait!! A little break for me and then back into training to get ready for 100s and 200s."
That little break was a small hiatus at Paris Fashion Week, an industry in which Asher-Smith has always been passionate, and provides an outlet from the intensity of training, particularly ahead of an Olympic year.
"Wrapped on a mega quick impromptu pop to Paris! Great to decompress and immerse myself in another world for a few days before I go back into tough training," posted Asher-Smith.
Asher-Smith has walked the runway herself, too.
Alongside British team-mate and two-time heptathlon world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the pair walked the runway during the Off-White show as part of the 2019 Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer collection.
Both world champions that year, the Brits were also joined by a coterie of fellow athletes including Belgium's Rio 2016 heptathlon champion Nafi Thiam, high jumpers Vashti Cunningham and Cecilia Yeung of USA and Hong Kong, China, respectively, middle-distancer runner Renelle Lamote of France, and American sprinter English Gardner.
Thiam, despite leaping, jumping, running and hurdling in front of stadiums full of cheering fans and a global audience of billions during the Games, admitted to being nervous just walking the catwalk.
Wearing a luminous yellow dress and running trainers, the two-time Olympic champion revealed: “I was a little bit stressed I’d fall and ruin the show."
All was well, however, with Thiam navigating the runway successfully.
Beatrice Vio, en la Fashion Week de París, en 2019
Super-speedy fashion influencer, Noah Lyles
The current fastest man in the world, Noah Lyles, who has taken to the runway at Paris and Milan fashion weeks himself, has always seen fashion and sport as a perfect vibe, even encouraging fellow athletes to arrive for events in statement outfits rather than sportswear.
"If I am able to be creative and have an outlet to show that, that’s what I find pleasurable," said the American in an interview with the Daily Mail in December. "Ever since I started showing my interest in fashion, I have had fans who only watch me compete to see my outfits, which is pretty cool."
Yet, taking time out to dip into the world of fashion is a fun side hustle for the laser-focused athletes, particularly in an Olympic year.
When Olympics.com spoke to Chamley-Watson in an exclusive interview in February, and asked what his schedule was like between competing at the FIE Foil World Cup in France's capital – in which he played his part in winning gold to secure Team USA a men’s foil quota spot at Paris 2024 – and then taking part in Paris Fashion Week, the trailblazer revealed: "Luckily the day we finished competing was the day Fashion Week started, so I got pretty lucky.
"I'm supposed to do another show today, but I have to be back for training. Priorities."
Such are the sacrifices of an Olympic athlete.
