Vittoria Ceretti’s Armani Privé Leads the Olympics Opening

Behind her, a line of models in Armani pantsuits, dyed in tricolore precision, made the moment feel less like protocol and more like a runway finale staged inside San Siro.

The fashion storyline began before the stadium lights even rose. Giorgio Armani, a Games partner and the official outfitter of Team Italia via EA7 Emporio Armani, effectively hosted a moving front row: the Armani Hotel aperitivo, the convoy toward San Siro, then the quick switch into a seat where sport and style shared the same spotlight. Mariacarla Boscono arrived in an Armani jacket, Diane Kruger in a scarlet Armani bolero, an Armani crowd dressed as brand punctuation.

Inside, the ceremony treated clothing as choreography. Vittoria Ceretti’s Armani Privé look worked because it understood scale: high neck, long sleeves, a clean winter-white column that read instantly from far stands and still held detail up close, as cameras caught her handing the flag to Italy’s honor guard. That choice set the palette for the night’s larger thesis: the Opening Ceremony functions as the rare global stage where a uniform carries the emotional weight of a national flag.

Then came the true “fashion week” segment: the Parade of Nations. Italy’s athletes entered in EA7 Emporio Armani, a sleek black winter kit with Italian-flag pocket linings, host energy distilled into functional minimalism. Team USA delivered classic ceremony theatre through Ralph Lauren: winter-white toggle coats and wool trousers paired with an American-flag intarsia sweater, finished with knit hat and mittens that leaned into heritage cold-weather codes.

Team Canada approached the march like modular styling. Lululemon’s kit centered on a convertible quilted wrap vest designed to shift from vest to scarf to pillow, layered over a temperature-control base and winter-ready pants, pragmatism with a maple-leaf flourish when unfurled. Brazil arrived dressed by Moncler, reframing Olympic outerwear as alpine mythology: a reworked Karakorum parka for the team, while the flagbearers wore structured white capes with expedition-inspired hoods, the color story keyed to the Brazilian flag.

Elsewhere, fashion acted as cultural autobiography. Haiti’s debut uniforms, designed by Stella Jean and inspired by Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié, carried hand-painted artistry into a procession dominated by technical fabrics, proof that ceremony can still mean craft. Mongolia, in Goyol cashmere, drew from traditional deel forms with silk trim and horn motifs, shaping warmth into pageantry. Great Britain leaned into mod tailoring via Ben Sherman, dogtooth topcoats, graphic lining, and Union Jack trim, while France went retro-sport through Le Coq Sportif with an icy tricolor palette built for television clarity.

When the torch rose and pyrotechnics sealed the night, the ceremony left a fashion lesson in its afterglow: sport supplies the stakes, yet style supplies the image that lives on, one silhouette, one knit motif, one cape, Vittoria Ceretti in Armani Privé gown carrying a flag like it weighs as much as history.