Between paellas and playing petanque, in Eivissa, Dua Lipa celebrated her 28th birthday a few weeks ago. Together with her partner, the French director Romain Gavras, and surrounded by friends, including the designer Jacquemus, the singer showed that this very French game is the order of the day when we talk about trends. Thus, the image that this sporting practice is restricted to a certain age group is once again evident.
Beyond our borders, petanque is a trend among celebrities, from members of the Casiraghi family in Monaco to Robert de Niro, the princes of Wales, the model, television presenter and Miss Italy Miriam Leone, the actress of Vikings. Katheryn Winnick and Vanessa Paradis and their daughter, Lily-Rose Deep, among many others.
What’s more, in Denmark, Prince Consort Enrique holds the title of protector of the Danish Pétanque Association and Aurelia Blázquez Ruiz from Alicante won gold in the Petanque World Cup held last year in that Scandinavian country. “It has always been said that it is a sport for older people to play in parks, when we have many young people playing petanque. Great work is also being done in the province of Alicante, with monthly courses and training. There are many young people playing. Petanque is a sport that is in fashion, as we have seen in this World Cup, in which more countries than ever have participated,” commented Blázquez Ruiz in an interview after her victory.
Petanque has been considered a very chic sport in France for decades. In 2010, Karl Lagerfeld presented the Chanel cruise collection in Saint-Tropez and accompanied that day with games of petanque in which the actress Diane Kruger, together with her partner at the time, Joshua Jackson, faced the fashion journalists who were covering the event. .
Likewise, last year, the maison organized a tour of the Mediterranean in which the current creative director, Virginie Viard, asked Caroline de Maigret to invite the model Blesnya Minher and the singer Angèle to the first stop at the newly opened boutique in the same town in Provence, which, along with Marseille, Toulouse and Carcassonne, is one of those with the most pétanque fans in France.
Pétanque is synonymous with summer in the French country, especially in the south, which is why it became fashionable among the celebrities who summered there at that time, such as Mick Jagger, Brigitte Bardot, Gina Lollobrigida and Roger Moore. And that’s how it continues to be today, between glasses of ‘Pastis’ and showing off impressive looks, like Dua Lipa’s red silk shirt dress, even though the star celebrated her orbit in the sun in a mansion in the Pitiüses.
A good example of the glamorous internationalization of this sport are the steel balls with the engraved text Not in Paris that the media platform Highsnobiety launched a few months ago, together with Obut, a petanque icon. And they only cost 90 euros, a tenth of the cost of Céline’s canvas and tan calfskin set; the Chanel one, with a personalized basket; and the Prada one, which comes in a case made with the house’s legendary saffiano leather.
But there is still more, last May Reebok teamed up again with the London-based End Clothing to release a sneaker collaboration inspired by petanque. “As a tribute to this family pastime, we wanted to offer a Classic Leather sneaker that is indebted to the sandy terrain, the orange jack and the silver balls that are synonymous with the game,” highlights the press release resulting from this collaboration.
Without a doubt, petanque is in fashion and there is nothing like taking advantage of the days of good weather that still remain this year to do a double or triplet with your friends and get the maximum number of balls near the bowling alley, in the purest French chic style.
