Even before the XXXIII Olympiad officially began, the litany of firsts was enormous. The first Olympics in Paris in a century. The first with equal gender participation. The first opening ceremony, ever, en pleine air. The first sponsored by a global luxury behemoth.
The first Olympics in which fashion was so central to the identity of the host country itself.
The opening ceremony featured not only a red carpet at the entrance but offered a full-blown runway show in the middle of vignettes devoted to the history and spirit of the country, including the French Revolution and the reconstruction of Notre Dame.