Not quite vintage Lacoste, but it still seems a long time ago. Meniscus Magazine has published a photo gallery of backstage shots from the 2015 Lacoste Spring 2015 fashion week show. You can see the shots here.
Category Archives: Louise Trotter
Lacoste Name Venus Williams As New Global Brand Ambassador
Lacoste has named Venus Williams their new Global Brand Ambassador. From the press release:
Bold, committed, entrepreneurial, passionate about fashion and founder of lifestyle brand EleVen, tennis champion Venus Williams embodies all the ambitions of the new fashion-sport silhouette created by Louise Trotter. This wardrobe, imbued with the brand’s strong fashion DNA, is part of a desire to respond to new lifestyles – creating versatile clothing to cater to women’s contemporary lives.
“Lacoste celebrates its new silhouette, at the crossroads of fashion and sport. It blends technical materials, key details, and bright colours. This look draws its inspiration from the roots of our history: on-point pieces inspired by the movement of the body, just as René Lacoste intended.”
– Louise Trotter, Lacoste artistic director
British Vogue photographed Venus Williams, the first woman to enliven this fashion- sport vision, in Jupiter, Florida, which she calls home.
«I am a long-time fan of Lacoste and have always been inspired by the brand’s innovative style, beyond its tennis roots. Louise Trotter is such a visionary and the work she has done as creative director of the House is forward-thinking, inspired and constantly evolving. I am thrilled to be working alongside her as the face of Lacoste’s new silhouette.”
– Venus Williams
The seven-time Grand slam champion and entrepreneur is arguably one of the most accomplished and inspiring women in the history of sports. A trailblazer throughout her career, Williams has worked tirelessly to help the sport evolve by championing the fight for equal pay and serving as a steadfast advocate for equality. Perfectly aligned with Lacoste’s brand values, Williams will support the endeavors of the Lacoste Foundation, which has been working internationally to promote equal opportunities since 2006.
In conjunction with the announcement, British Vogue did a photo shoot and interview. As might be expected, there was a huge amount of press coverage:
- Fashion United – “The tennis star will be the face of Lacoste’s new fashion-sport silhouette, launching with a unisex collection featuring trench coats, bras, dresses, shirts, and accessories.”
- Tennis Now – “Welcome to the #TeamLacoste, Venuswilliams! As one of the greatest athletes in the world, Venus embodies off the court all the ambitions of the new fashion-sport silhouette created by Louise Trotter.”
- Tennis.com – “The luxury sportswear brand tapped into its strong tennis roots with the appointment of Venus as global ambassador”
As they say in Dodgeball, “It’s a bold move .., Let’s see if it pays off.”
Louise Trotter Discusses Her Lacoste Fall/Winter 2021 Collection
HypeBae has a interview with Louise Trotter in which she discusses her new Fall/Winter Collection for Lacoste. In the interview, she discusses what was the inspiration behind the new collection:
On a very basic level, I wanted to create a collection that took into consideration how we live our lives today, with blurred lines between work, home and sport, and how this has impacted our need for clothes that can perform in the everyday. Before I used to take taxis or ride the Metro, but now I walk and cycle daily and this has changed how I dress and how I feel. At the same time, I have been drawn to different people I would see and connect with: skaters, cyclists, and couriers; so movement plays a big part of the inspiration. I worked with two references: our French preppy style – the classic icons that I love; and sportswear that represents the active lifestyle that we live today. Proportion was also a key consideration, I design and develop the collection with a genderless mindset and I respond to how proportions change depending on the wearer. Finally, I continued the philosophy from SS21 by bringing deadstock and left-over fabrics in limited-edition pieces.
She also discusses the genesis of the new “Super Croc” emblem:
One of our designers found the giant crocodile claw in the archive and it all began from there. “The Super Croc,” “The flaming L emblem,” “The flaming tennis ball,” and the “Lacoste POW” were all inspired by vintage comic strips and expressed perfectly how the crocodile has become a pop culture icon.
Read the full interview at HypeBae.
Loic Prigent Interviews Louise Trotter, Lacoste’s Creative Director
Loic Prigent has an interview with Louise Trotter, Lacoste’s Creative Director. You can see the video of it on Loic’s Youtube Channel. Here is how he describes the video:
LACOSTE is shooting its new Summer 2021 collection in the streets of Paris and we take time to talk with its creative director, the great Louise Trotter and her team! We also go the the Maison Lemarié worshop to see Lucie, a fleuriste plumassière spending hours on her origami crocodile made of vintage Lacoste labels. Lemarié (Le19M) and Lacoste are working together for the first time. Watch out for a hardcore Lacoste collection! I just need the coat made of a patchwork of vintage Lacoste jackets!
Lacoste’s Spring 2021 Ready To Wear Collection
Lacoste premiered its Spring 2021 Ready To Wear Collection this week. It continues Lacoste’s recent emphasis on “street style” and re-casting designs from Lacoste’s long history. Overall, the coverage is positive, although as a commercial proposition it doesn’t really matter, since the collection will have a limited release. Here’s a quick round-up of the coverage.
Vogue, after noting Louise Trotter’s comments on the difficulty of working in a time of Covid-19, reports:
Most of the clothing has an athleisure aspect—a nod to the brand’s heritage on the tennis court and off it, the designer explains—and made from a combination of existing fabrics, vintage and archive pieces, and embroideries by the couture house Maison Lemarié. Vintage track jackets became trousers or were spliced together into chic trenches, the sort of hybridization that streetwear acolytes will be familiar with.
HypeBae focuses on the vintage feel of the collection:
For the Spring/Summer 2021 season, Lacoste‘s creative director Louise Trotter has unveiled a range of items made using deadstock designs from the brand’s archive. Showcased through a lookbook featuring street-cast models in the city of Paris, the SS21 collection fuses vintage pieces with new creations through upcycling.
Titled “#CrocCouture,” the new lineup marks the French label’s first attempt at marrying haute couture with sportswear.
Lastly, High Snobiety focuses on the re-working of the Crocodile logo:
Lacoste’s creative director Louise Trotter has reworked the label’s iconic crocodile logo across a range of exaggerated and abbreviated classics for the SS21 collection, limited to 200 pieces worldwide.
Code-named “Croc-couture,” Lacoste invited embroidery and feather specialists Lemarié to add some savoir-faire to the sporting apparel resulting in cream sweatshirts and oversized white piqué polo shirts embroidered with geometric crocodile appliqué made from vintage jacquard labels.
I’ll update this post as we see more coverage.