There's no rulebook for recovering from the Olympics. Some athletes went straight into hibernation after the 2026 Winter Games. Chinese-American Olympian Eileen Gu, on the other hand, traded her freestyle skis for Fashion Month-friendly stilettos. Just two weeks after Gu's last gold medal-winning slope, she landed in Chanel's Fall 2026 front row. When Gu isn't breaking athletic records (she's the most decorated freestyle skier in Olympics history), she's making waves on the fashion front. Don't get it twisted: She's no newbie to Fashion Month, having made her debut in 2019. But on March 9, Matthieu Blazy's third womenswear show broke her longest Paris Fashion Week hiatus. Her last appearance was beside Louis Vuitton's Fall 2024 runway two years ago.
The 22-year-old looked right at home alongside Margot Robbie, Oprah Winfrey, Teyana Taylor, and more in the front row. She, like Taylor, sourced Blazy's Métiers d'Art Spring 2026 collection for Look 57's matching skirt set. The long-sleeve cardigan and thigh-grazing mini skirt evoked the elegance of traditional Chanel suits. However, winding black-and-white tweed modernized the brand's signature.Interlocking "Cs" traded places with cascading letter buttons that spelled out "Chanel." Fuzzy black tweed atop each pocket, cuff, and hem juxtaposed the otherwise polished two-piece. To finish, the athlete traded the Métiers d'Art model's brown briefcase for a black-and-white clutch to match her cap-toe pumps.
Growing up in a "very male-dominated sport" left Gu wondering what the "intersection of femininity and sport" could look like. Attending her first Paris Fashion Week [in 2019] changed everything: "I don't have to sacrifice the athletic part of myself in order to also appreciate the incredible complexity in the fashion industry," she shared on The Burnouts podcast last June. Gu's also a model in her free time, starring in campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and more. This season, however, she put on her spectator hat. On Feb. 22, four days after the Milano Olympics wrapped, Gu stayed put in Italy for Prada's Fall 2026 show. She arrived in a short-sleeve midi dress, accessorized with gray socks, pointy slingback pumps, and Prada's $2,850 Mini Bonnie Bag. The matching blazer on top made her "feel really fierce and powerful," she told WWD after the show. Beyond her own front-row 'fit, she was drawn to the Fall 2026 fête's production: "I think the layout was so cool, having the models walk and then changing the outfits so you could really see the layering going on." See how Bella Hadid ditched a layer after her four runway walks, for example.
By March 3, Gu arrived in Paris for the French Met Gala equivalent: Le Grande Dîner du Louvre. She—and fellow athletes A'ja Wilson and Suni Lee—reached the sartorial bar set by Anya Taylor-Joy, Diane Kruger, and Alexa Chung, and then some. The wings on her Iris Van Herpen Couture gown marked an extravagant shift from her Prada picks. But she's used to flying on the ski slope.With looks at Prada, Chanel, and Le Grande Dîner under her belt, it's clear Gu's style streak is only going uphill from here.
