Jean-Paul Goude's Mastery in Combining Sports and High Fashion

This year’s upcoming Paris Olympic Games is set to be one of the most glamorous ones yet. With fashion industry giant LVMH as the official sponsor, it is safe to say that we can expect the world of sports and fashion to collide. We have already caught a glimpses of this in many Olympic-inspired launches in the fashion world — the expertly tailored Berluti Olympic uniforms, the Chaumet Olympic medals and not to mention, the Louis Vuitton trunks that house them. Judging from the grand lead-up of the high profile event, the brilliant displays of sports and fashion are just getting started, and no one captures the beauty of this like acclaimed French photographer, Jean-Paul Goude.

Goude has been highly influential since the 60s for outstandingly capturing some of the most dynamic depictions of sports in high fashion. Inspired by the sporting spirit of the Olympics, LUXUO looks back at some of Jean-Paul Goude’s most stunning displays of merging fashion and sports.

The legendary photographer’s work has been shaping and defining fashion and culture for more than 40 years with his innovative approaches in displaying the synergy and versatility in merging the glamorous allure of high fashion with sporting spirit.

His spectacular work in capturing high fashion in sport is best seen in his work for ELLE Paris in one of their 1996 issues. Depicting couture-clad models on sports fields in action-packed shots. The association of couture fashion is usually fragility, heaviness and sculptural silhouettes that restrict movement, thus it is unexpected to see wearers being active in photographs. The contrast between the restrictive nature of couture with the dynamic displays of athleticism is a great display of Goudes’s mastery in creative art that is luxurious yet imaginative and portrays the message that fashion has no bounds.