![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/nss-sports_morethan_lefort.jpg)
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515118](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/logo.png)
Enzo Lefort
Behind the mask
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515148](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/lefort-cover_desktop.jpg)
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515147](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/lefort-cover_mobile.jpg)
For an athlete, the Olympic Games are the most important event in his or her career. When these Olympic Games take place in the city where you live and train, and when you arrive as the reigning Olympic champion, all the sensations and emotions are amplified as if through an oversized magnifying glass. This is how Enzo Lefort, who after winning the team foil title at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and the two individual World titles of his career, reacts with great anticipation to the trembling requests of the French public. ‘To be honest, there's a lot of excitement around the Olympics, a lot of expectations from the media and partners. But above all, I have the feeling that the whole population is really excited. Some people recognise me. I don't know, on the street or in shops and so on. And they say to me: "Good luck for the Olympic Games". But it's mainly his personality off stage, usually with a camera in his hand or a microphone for the podcast, that makes him the perfect new star for More Than.
Despite his 32 years, Enzo Lefort is already a veteran of the Games. After London2012, Rio2016 and Tokyo2020, the Games in Paris will be his fourth: "At the beginning, in London, I was only 20 years old and I saw these Olympic Games through the eyes of a child. I mean, everything was fantastic. I looked wide-eyed at all the athletes I'd seen on TV and I don't think I focussed enough on the main goal. Then in Rio and Tokyo I was much more focussed. I wasn't as amazed as I was then, so I would say my concentration was greater." To summarise each of Lefort's Olympic experiences in one word: London was the discovery, Rio the improvement and Tokyo the crowning glory with the French national team winning the team title. And Paris will be characterised by sharing: "I will finally be able to perform in front of my family and the entire French population and all those who share the beauty of this sport with me."
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515139](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/ENZOxNSS7.jpg)
An aesthetic sense of everyday life that has always accompanied him and which has found expression in analogue photography in recent years. i‘ve always been interested in fashion, art and culture in general, and lately i've had more time to discover what i like. "And my wife - still my girlfriend at the time - suggested in 2018 that I buy myself a small film camera. It was an Olympus MJU and she said: "I'm sure you'll like it". And so it was, because Lefort is now inseparable from his analogue camera. "I mean, if you take care of the presets before you take the photo, you don't need to do much afterwards. I like the consistency and precision of analogue film because you have to be careful with everything. Also, shooting on film has helped improve my technique because I only have 36 poses, so every single one is important. I've started to pay much more attention to the subject, the composition of the photo and the light."
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515145](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/ENZOxNSS1.jpg)
And maybe analogue photography helped him with fencing too, although it was probably the other way around. "In fencing and photography you're looking for the right moment to attack or shoot, so I think fencing helped me become a good photographer. You have to be agile and have the ability to always adapt to your surroundings. In fencing it's your opponent, in photography it's your environment." He has an uncommonly French style, drawn to the simplicity of everyday life and beauty where you don't normally find it at first glance. "I don't know, it could be a rubbish bin on the street, things that aren't normally beautiful and instead become so through my lens and my eye."
“My wife-my girlfriend at the time-in 2018 suggested that I buy a small film camera. It was an Olympus MJU and she said, ‘I’m sure you’ll like it.”
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515155](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/enzo-coverdesktop.jpg)
“My wife-my girlfriend at the time-in 2018 suggested that I buy a small film camera. It was an Olympus MJU and she said, ‘I’m sure you’ll like it.”
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515154](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/enzo-covermobile.jpg)
And that passion led to him photographing the new French national football team jersey with their top athletes, thanks to the intervention of his technical sponsor Nike. "I photographed the jersey with six or seven players who didn't know who I was, but in the short time I had, I took, I don't know, two minutes to talk to them, to explain to them who I was and what I wanted to do with them. So I said, "Okay, I'm Enzo. I'm a French athlete like you who fences, so don't worry. I'm not here to take the usual photos of jerseys with arms folded. So just be yourselves. Talk to each other. Sometimes I'll ask you to look at the camera to do some poses, but just be yourselves,' but the guys were really good. They're athletes like me, so we speak the same language and it was really natural".
Exploring this kind of relationship by comparing athletes from different disciplines, but with common interests and views, is an increasingly common choice for sports and non-sports brands. And Lefort recognises the importance of an athlete's profile beyond their competition and how the balance of power is rapidly changing. "Yes, I think it's because athletes have started to express their personalities in the last few years. Thanks to athletes like LeBron James, who is more than just an athlete, other people have also started to express their personality, and part of their personality is the way they dress. And I think brands are starting to realise that. When you accept the personality of athletes, I think you get more organic collaborations and relationships. I think the impact for brands is greater. And I think there are also more authentic projects that tell stories". Lefort has even launched his own podcast - "a safe space I've created to tell the truth about myself and share with others" - to break away from traditional media forms of storytelling.
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515138](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/ENZOxNSS8.jpg)
So it's no coincidence that Louis Vuitton asked him to walk the catwalk at the launch of the autumn/winter 2024 collection - in one of the brand's biggest shows, directed by Pharrell Williams. "The connection with LV started when LVMH became one of the main sponsors of the Olympics and I had an interview with them. And they were interested in everything I do outside of fencing: my photography, my podcast and everything else. And when they asked me which house I wanted to be part of, I thought there was no question of being part of Louis Vuitton with Pharrell Williams as creative director." And although as an at"hlete he is used to walking an invisible tightrope, the fashion show was something completely new for Lefort. "It wasn't a straight line, it was like a labyrinth, we had to turn right, left and right. We had to learn the route beforehand, but it wasn't difficult. It was a bit stressful because there were a lot of important people there. But just before we went in, we were backstage and Pharrell was standing just to my left, we were looking at the TV screens to make sure everything was perfect. And he turned around. He saw me and said, "Let's go, let's go," and he pushed me in. It was like the captain's speech to his team-mates."
A sporting fragment in the most important French fashion show to show how these worlds can coexist and inspire each other. Enzo Lefort is also fascinated by such a complex and scenographic show that brings together feelings, emotions and colours from all over the world. "What I love about fashion is how Pharrell has managed to shape an idea into a really coherent collection, from the idea to the realisation, from the music to the casting of the show. Everything is really coherent. That really impressed me and that's how I try to work too."
Photographer Pablo Escudero
Stylist David Bellion
MUAH Gabriel de Fries
Ph. Assistant Marlee Pasinetti
Handprints Marìa Darkroom
Interview Lorenzo Bottini
Throughout the story full look LOUIS VUITTON.
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515149](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/lefort-cover.jpg)
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515137](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/ENZOxNSS9.jpg)
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515134](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/ENZOxNSS12.jpg)
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515133](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/QUOTE-DESK-lefort.jpg)
![More Than - Enzo Lefort Behind The Mask | Image 515132](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/39466/thumbs/QUOTE-MOBILE-lefort.jpg)