As the host of this year's Olympics, all eyes will soon be on Paris, which this summer is the city of sport not just the City of Lights. But there's another five-letter word starting with 's' to consider: style. As the hometown of luxury fashion, fans can expect many a Maison, high on endorphins in anticipation for the summer ahead, to go for gold.
Louis Vuitton has already kicked off proceedings with not one, not two but three blockbuster exhibitions at its Fondation. The Frank Gehry-designed building, an architectural marvel located just outside the lush Jardin d'Acclimatation, is perfect for a spot of cultural activity if you'd rather avoid the hoards of tourists at the Musée d'Orsay. (Its imposingly futuristic structure is worth the trip west to the 16th arrondissement in itself.)
The Olympic torch will actually pass through its rooms on its 68-day journey which started on 8 May, hence why one of the exhibitions, The Collection: A Sports Meeting, brings together a series of artworks that meditate on sports (Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol's Olympic Rings, for example).
The other two focus on an artist a-piece: Henri Matisse and Ellsworth Kelly, modernist titans whose works have found a fitting temporary home at the Fondation. Kelly, in particular, has a very special connection to Louis Vuitton. In 2014, the brand asked the artist, in what sadly would be his last commission, to create a series of bespoke works for the cavernous auditorium in conversation with the architect Gehry. Standing in the centre, gazing upwards at the monochromes of red, yellow, blue, green and violet, as well as the rainbow stripes of the stage curtain, Kelly's Spectrum VIII, is to be immersed in his world of shape, colour and space in the most glorious way.
Its partner exhibition, meanwhile, is an opportunity to see The Red Studio - Matisse's 1911 masterpiece that rather cleverly depicts his own studio - surrounded, remarkably, with the paintings and sculptures actually depicted on its canvas. Like the Olympics, it's guaranteed to be a pinch-me experience.
Natalie Hammond is Grazia’s Senior Fashion News Editor. She loves winter, hates summer and can often be found writing about the weather (and what on earth to wear).