Berluti unveils Mathieu Forget French Elegance in Movement project

The top shelf Parisian luxury menswear marque has unveiled its latest campaign and project — Berluti x Mathieu Forget’s French Elegance in Movement, part of this summer’s Olympiades Culturelle.
 

It’s an unexpected set of videos blending fashion, footwear and accessories conceived by Forget, and worn by 16 sports stars set to compete in the upcoming 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, the first starting on Friday, July 26.
 
A brand within the LVMH luxury conglomerate, Berluti was chosen as the marque that will dress the French Olympic and Paralympic teams at the opening ceremonies.

In most of the videos in French Elegance in Movement, Forget forms a duo with the athletes, like fencer Enzo Lefort, seen with a red, white and blue face mask; or boxer Souleymane Cissokho, where the pair fight a pas de deux while dressed in tuxedos and bow ties in an actual ring.
 
Many of the stills and videos are shot in La Defense, the Wall Street of Paris, though the brilliant French swimmer Florent Manaudou glides through the water at the famed Stade Nautique d’Antibes, located in one of the Mediterranean’s most expensive summer playgrounds. While Manaudou swims, Forget dances an elaborate butterfly stroke along the sides.

 
The son of Guy Forget – a double Davis Cup winner for France — Matthieu has managed to blend several disciplines in his sporting artistic creativity. Over a decade ago, he won a tennis scholarship to Santa Barbara University, where the siren song of California coolness led him into a more artistic direction. And where his balletic performance in tennis helped him win the reputation as The Flying Man in his posts on Instagram, where he has a very respectable 352K followers.
 
After moving to New York, and becoming creative director of Spin, the international table tennis clubs and bars franchise, Mathieu returned to France this decade, where he subsequently began collaborating with Berluti.
 
“I wanted to use all my disciplines, to take a look at sport and fashion from a very new angle,” explained Forget, over coffee inside Berluti’s Paris flagship on the Faubourg St Honoré.
 
His roots on courts, are apparent in a dramatic pose where he leaps for a slam shot alongside Pauline Déroulède, the French national wheelchair tennis champion.
 
While his break-dancing skills, famed in his Instagram account forgetmat, is apparent in a duet with Bboy Lagaet, who will represent France in the debut Olympic breakdancing competition this summer.
 
“It just shows how wearable is great Berluti tailoring!” enthuses Forget.
 
The French Elegance in Movement exhibition will be presented from June 1 until the final day of the Paralympics on September 9.