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With its new collective of six French athletes, Sephora is highlighting a generation of champions who, far beyond their performances, are redefining what it means to be a source of inspiration today.
Previously, the faces of beauty brands came exclusively from film, music, or fashion. Today, female sports champions are leaving the field to join the conversation. And not just because they collect medals.
Sephora has indeed chosen to give a voice to a collective of 6 athletes to highlight authentic stories that resonate beyond sport and open up dialogue around essential topics such as mental health, inclusion, accepting one’s uniqueness and how to reconcile ambition and personal well-being.
By bringing together Marie Patouillet, Flora Vautier, Violette Dorange, Perrine Laffont, Romane Dicko and Sandra Laoura in this unique collective, Sephora is part of a fundamental movement: one that sees athletes becoming true cultural figures.
“ This collective fully embodies the vision of beauty that we champion at Sephora: a diverse, inclusive and profoundly human beauty. By bringing together women with exceptional backgrounds, we wish to highlight inspiring role models who celebrate uniqueness, promote transmission and remind us that beauty begins where we choose to be ourselves, ” says Benoit Ponte, Director of Sephora France and Belgium.
For her part, skipper Violette Dorange, who participated in the Vendée Globe, also expressed her delight at this partnership in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar France: “ I am proud to be an ambassador for this collective. Firstly, because it’s a brand I already appreciate on a daily basis and that is committed to social responsibility. I also loved joining a campaign that brings together other female athletes who share genuine values. What I particularly liked is that this campaign invites each woman to share her vision of beauty, her journey, and what she wants to convey to the public . I recognized myself in these values of diversity, sharing, and authenticity: I was truly aligned with everything this collective represents .”
6 athletes with unique backgrounds
The choice of these six profiles is far from arbitrary. Marie Patouillet advocates for better representation of disability in sports. Perrine Laffont helps to break the silence surrounding mental exhaustion among elite athletes. Romane Dicko uses her public profile to fight cyberbullying. Flora Vautier asserts the right to fully express her femininity in a world where it is sometimes still perceived as secondary.
As for Violette Dorange, she embodies a generation that dares to venture into areas where women are still a minority. “ As a young female sailor in a still very male-dominated field , I often had to convince partners to trust me despite my age and the prejudices. This experience taught me that you have to dare to believe in your dreams, talk about them, and surround yourself with the right people to succeed .” These unique journeys all tell the same story: the new heroines are no longer admired solely for what they accomplish, but for what they represent.
When beauty sponsors sport
This evolution has certainly not gone unnoticed by brands. Proof of this lies in the fact that, during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, women’s sports gained significant visibility. Athletes became media personalities capable of generating engagement far beyond the competitions themselves. Beauty brands seized this opportunity by partnering with female athletes to promote their products and values.
While K18 chose gymnast Simone Biles as its ambassador to embody resilience and performance, Merit Beauty featured champion Allyson Felix in a video showcasing her makeup routine. Meanwhile, official Games partners like Fenty Beauty and Mielle Organics increased their visibility by working directly with athletes: Fenty Beauty provided and used its products to apply makeup to volunteers during medal ceremonies, while Mielle Organics offered hairstyling services tailored to textured hair in the Olympic Village. These collaborations illustrated the brands’ desire to connect athletic performance, self-confidence, and beauty.
And Sephora, the Official Partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays, intends to continue its involvement with this group of athletes. This proves that new French icons no longer come solely from the catwalks or red carpets, but also from the ski slopes, the tatami mats, the oceans, and the velodromes…