Autumn Winter 2015
While recalling its heritage, Lacoste L!VE presents a new season placed under the auspices of tennis graphics, nautical inspirations and camouflage techniques and sets them in its favourite environment : the city. Colorblocks, pinstripes and dazzle prints compose the different codes of this winter’s collection. This fall inspiration seizes the last warmths of the tennis courts’ asphalt that got beaten by the sun for a whole and long summer. Lines, nets and color-blocks are this season’s leitmotiv and create a refined palette for a soft transition to winter. Tennis graphics elements get developed and twisted on entire outfits, scarfs and warm caps to get you wrapped up in style. They also renew with the Lacoste L!VE fundamentals and reinterpret its roots, but always with a twist. Lines and stripes are distorted and reinvented as prints, jacquards, rib stitches, and 3D knitting. Pinstripes feature prominently - those pinheadsized dots creating infinite lines that lead the way to the first winter frosts.
This winter is all urban martial. Reviving its nautical heritage, Lacoste L!VE got inspired by camouflages and dazzle prints that reign firmly on this season’s wardrobe. Brushed through warm wintery hues, it will blend anyone in the most hostile urban sceneries. Recalling martial codes and camouflage principles, this winter patterns were derived from the different scenes that participated to the art of camouflage - from battlefields to cubism or its later appropriation in hip-hop culture. But the idea is not to make you disappear within urban spaces but rather to make you stand out of it with disruptive techniques, colours and patterns. It is a whole bench of heritage elements that are revisited, manipulated and twisted through a technical and urban wardrobe, as Lacoste L!VE knows how to do.
Pinstripes on the court
The fine lines that stretch out on this season outfits hold a great amount of Lacoste L!VE heritage and social history. From sport courts to speakeasies and hip-hop style, pinstripes have adorned different eras and styles and have settled as an iconic must-have.
Pretty much everybody knows about the legend of Lacoste and its fetish crocodile, but let’s make a little detour for those who skipped the lesson. The legend relies on the great tennis player René Lacoste, who, uncomfortable in the traditional tennis garments of his time, created a sport outfit in the image of his audacious and innovative court style. The polo-shirt was born and created in perfect harmony with the mischievous spirit of the French tennis players’ game and their irreverent look on the court - always elegantly respecting the codes…on the edge. The lines that lately adorned the tennis players shirt are now an essential element of the Lacoste identity and has been developed and reinterpreted in many ways throughout time. What we call in French the «tennis-stripe» concentrates a lot of different universes and inspirations. It has been revisited many times and has fought its way to becoming a classic and iconic element of our wardrobe. The origins of stripes go back to quite a long time ago and if it seems like an anodyne decoration now, it surely did not a few centuries ago. As historians recall it, stripes appeared
during Middle Age and were long associated with the devil. Wearing stripes was deeply sacrilegious and considered as transgressive. Only reserved to pariahs and outcasts, stripes were the «uniform» for prostitutes, jugglers, cripples and the condemned. It is only after the French and American revolutions that stripes got popular as a highly chic and tasteful ornament. In fashion and modern times, it is with the apparition of pinstripes that they regain a range of elegance and refined reputation. They are two different schools about the origins of pinstripes. Everybody agrees on its British roots but some link its debut to banking, when some others link it to the sport universe. Indeed, the British bankers are believed to be the first who worn pinstripes, every bank having its own pattern and colour. Other scholars defend a version according to which pinstripes first appeared within sports and more precisely on striped boating uniforms in the 19th century. Later on, in the 20’s and 30’s, pinstripes gain popularity within speakeasies during the Prohibition era where people used to wear pinstripes suits. Gangsters and jazz musicians
hanging out in those underground clubs, popularised the pinstriped suits with personalities such as Dizzy Gillespie or Al Capone. And it is through Hollywood cinema that the pinstripe established its authority with movie stars such as Cary Grant and Clark Gabble who helped it move to the mainstream as it became a classic garment of man’s wardrobe. It also set itself a warm place within the hip-hop scene later on when rappers and hip-hop producers such as Notorious Big or Puff Daddy seized and appropriated the badass gangsters’ style and the bankers elegance through the pinstriped suit and therefore settled it in hiphop fashion and culture. That was the era and climax of gangsta’ rap reviving an old mafia style to reinforce the bossy image the hip-hop industry leaders wanted to project. Pinstripes bring together multiple universes and connotations and typify many different social groups. From a devil undertone to a gentleman must-have, those fine lines have also settled on different sport courts’ outfits and have remained a fashion icon.
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Sweater — AF1475 525 Skirt — JF1546 WJX
Sweatshirt — SH1376 MTG Trousers — HF1492 FQW
Sweatshirt — SH1431 5KC Shirt — CH4432 2XB
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Blouson — BF1493 B07 Top — QF1505 B07 Bag — NF1404LP 554 Trousers — HF3006 B07 Shoes — TRAJET LTW OFF WHT
Blouson — BH1275 TF4 Sweatshirt — SH1482 HC5 Shirt — CH7750 TU5 Trousers — HH9789 BPS Shoes — RENE CHUNKY PLM WHT
Hat — RB2765 HHW Scarf — RE2767 U99 Blouson — BH1287 CCA Shirt — CH1298 EV0 Trousers — HH7833 SB5 Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PCM WHT
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Sweatshirt — AH1434 MTG Tee-Shirt — TH1373 31N Trousers — HH1369 WJX Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PLM WHT
Tee-Shirt — TF1544 VPC Dress — EF4841 CCA
Shoes — RENE CHUNKY HI GCW NVY/BLK
Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PCW WHT
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Cap — RK2689 525 Sweater — AF1445 8KE
Sweater — AF1442 2VG Shorts — GF1559 WYU
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Shoes — TRAJET LTM BLU/NVY
Blouson — BH1280 UWC Trousers — HH1394 UWC
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Tee-shirt — TF1545 TE6 Trousers — HF3006 TC3 Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PCW WHT
Dress — EF1536 2U4 Shoes — RENE PLATFORM PCW WHT
Coat — BH1275 TF4 Sweatshirt — SH1484 MTG
Coat — BF1496 TF4
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Shoes — TRAJET LTW OFF WHT
Shoes — MISSOURI TLC NVY/GRN/PNK
Cap — RK2689 525 Dress— EF1503 CC3 Bag — NF1405LP 178
Sweatshirt — SH1376 525 Shirt — DH1331 6HC Trousers — HH1394 UWC Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PLM WHT
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Blouson — BF1496 TF4 Sweater — AF1438 2U7 Bag — NF1403LP 178 Trousers — HF3006 TC3 Shoes — GCW DK GRN/WHT
Shoes — VEDREN PLM WHT
Shoes — TRAJET LTM OFF WHT/DK GRY
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Bag — NH1496LP 070 Shoes — OFF WHT/DK GRY/GRN
Polo — PH1329 31K Shirt — CH1295 525 Trousers — HH1394 UWC Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PCM BLU
Blouson — BH1281 T7B Shirt — DH1358 34F Trousers — HH9789 ACU Bags — NH1441LP 682 Shoes — VEDREN PLM WHT
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Cap — RK2689 525 Sweater — AH1286 35Y Sweatshirt — SH1399 166 Shirt — CH7750 TU5 Trousers — HH1394 UWC
Shoes — RENE CHUNKY PLM WHT Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PCM WHT
Shoes — RENE PLATFORM PCW WHT Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PCW WHT
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Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP GCW DK GRN/WHT
Blouson — BF1497 DY4 Trousers — HF1491 DY4 Shoes — TRAJET LTW BLU
Top — QF1556 JB1 Dress — EF1555 JB1
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Over-sweater — AH1278 2EP Under-sweater — AH1274 HHW
Sweater — AF1454 2UR
Over-sweater — AH1283 2ER Under-sweater — AH1282 HTK
Over-sweater — AH1278 2EP Under-sweater — AF1479 2VB
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Urban Dazzle
This winter will be martial, painted in twisted colourful camouflage patterns to stand out from the urban surrounding. Warm layered color-block dazzle uniforms and outfits were designed to brave the hostile cold and weave discreetly in and out of the city battlefield.
Its is always quite impressive to see how resourceful art and design can be in terms of inspiration and how they create bridges between different disciplines and universes. Looking at dazzle camouflage is a great testimony of those occurrences and convergences as art put its expertise at the service of war and defence. If we refer to common sense, camouflage has for direct purpose to hide or even make an objet disappear; Not like David Copperfield would make the Eiffel Tower disappear but as a cloaking device which consists of making an object blend into its surrounding. Dazzle camouflage came up with the exact opposite approach : war ships were not trying to disappear but were actually screaming for attention as they looked pretty much like sea-going-psyche-easter-eggs. The mere principle of dazzle painting consisted of complex patterns and geometrical shapes with contrasting colours in order to upset the perception and calculation of the enemy. It is during the First and Second World Wars that the US navy and British Admiralty developed this type of camouflage was invested and developed when traditional camouflage techniques had
revealed defective as Allied navies were unable to develop effective means to hide ships in all weather possible. Pretty much every ship was painted in an unique way so the enemy couldn’t categorise or recognise any of them and many different devices were then developed to throw off the calculations of torpedo gunners on German U-Boats. Large series of abnormal clashing patterns were experimented not to conceal a ship but to make it difficult for the enemy to estimate its type, size, speed and course. On top of that, disruptive patterning elements were added in a pretty clever way: disguise details were painted to confuse the enemy even more such as fake superstructures or water lines which reversed stern and bow so the enemy couldn’t tell if the ship was going towards or away from him. Ships’ appearances went from a monotonous grey uniformity to a great spectrum of crazy colours and wiggly geometrical patterns. If the most famous dazzle paintings presented black and white clashing lines and curves that can make you feel quite dizzy, some of them also
presented tremendous arrays of colours and grays melted with greens, reds and blues. With artists such as Edward Wadsworth directing the camouflage of hundreds of ships, some people assign the establishment of dazzle painting to the Cubist and Futuristic art movements as they had in common the attempt to capture movement in an image and working on bold lines and harsh colours while both sharing this interest for perception and its distortion. With the arrival of radar and the advancement of aircraft, dazzle camouflage became more and more ineffective. But they still give to see an amazing period of art history. «Camoufleurs» at the time were designers, painters and artists deeply inspired by post-impressionism and Cubism who exported their art on the maritime battlefields. In conversation with Jean Cocteau, Picasso once said : «If they want to make an army invisible at a distance, they only have to dress their men as harlequins». As an art process, it was then reinterpreted within fashion, loosing its martial symbolism to enter everyday life and become a way to stand out from our grey urban environments.
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Sweatshirt — SH1617 5MU Trousers — HH9789 AR4
Top — QF1539 2RF Sweatshirt — SF2270 2PL Trousers — HF3006 TC3 Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PLW WHT
Sweatshirt — SF1533 W9D
Sweater — AH1311 35Z Trousers — HH9789 BPS
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Cap — RK2686 CG4 Shirt— CH1304 1VY Shirt— CH2794 1VM Bag — NH1440LP 737 Trousers — HH7833 SB5
Blouson — BH1285 4GX Trousers — HH1394 UWC Shirt — CH1304 1UW
Top — QF1539 2RF
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Shirt— CF1463 C50 Trousers — HF1491 DYA
Top — QF1501 QRN Dress — EF1502 FQW
Blouson — BF1487 08L Skirt — JF1546 WJX
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Top — QF1539 2RF Dress — EF1549 8NA Shoes — RENE CHUNKY HI GCW
Top — DF1535 2RF Sweatshirt — SF2270 2PL Shirt — CF1463 C50 Trousers — HF1491 DY4 Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP GPW
Over-sweater — AH1278 2EP Sweater — AH1292 W9D Tee-shirt — TH1392 SBH Trousers — HH9789 BPS
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Glasses — FOLDABLE L778S BLK Blouson— BH1284 K4J Sweater — AH1311 35Z
Blouson — BH1284 K4J Bag — NH1443LP 737 Trousers — HH7833 C50
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Blouson — BF1490 K4J Dress — EF2707 69T Shoes — RENE PLATEFORM PCW
Blouson — BH1277 MH8 Shirt — CH1304 1VY Sweatshirt — SH1317 5MU Scarf — RE2766 1WP Trousers — HH1394 UWC Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PCM BLK
Shoes — RENE CHUNKY PLM Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP
Shoes — RENE PLATFORM PCW Shoes — RENE CHUNKY PLM
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Over-sweater — AH1278 2EP Sweater — AF1440 EV0 Trousers — HF3006 9MG Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PLW
Cap — RK4130 8CZ Sweater— AF1438 2U7 Skirt — JF1546 2NP Bag — NF1405LP 178 Shoes — MISSOURI LNW DK GRY/OFF WHT
Cap — RK4130 8CZ Sweater— AH1292 W9D Shirt — CH1296 K4J Trousers — HH9789 AR4
Blouson — BH1288 37H Sweater — AH1311 35Z Trousers — HH1369 WJX
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Hat — RK4130 8CZ Shirt — CH1291 2HE
Shoes — VEDREN PLM BLK
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Inside jacket — BH1284 K4J Pullover — AH1274 HHW Shirt — CH1301 EV0 Trousers — HH9789 ACU
Blouson — BF1495 37H Skirt — JF1546 WJX
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Blouson — BH1277 MH8 Sweater — AF1454 2UR Trousers — HF3006 4GD Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PLW BLK
Shoes — VEDREN PLM COL BURG
Shoes — RENE CHUNKY SLIP PLM BLK
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Shoes — VEDREN PLM
Blouson — BF1487 C50 Dress — EF4841 CCA
Blouson — BH1285 4GX Sweatshirt — SH1617 5EH Trousers — HH1394 UWC
Blouson — BF1487 08L Dress — EF2707 69T
Over-coat — BH1285 C50 Under-coat — BH1287 CCA Trousers — HH1369 WJX
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JonOne
JonOne is one of those graffiti artists who succeeded in building bridges between street walls and galleries. At the age of 17, he began painting his name on subway trains «moving museums» as he calls them - and was one of the founding members of the 156 All Starz crew. Meet a sensei of the 80’s explosive urban and graffiti scene...
Can you tell us a little bit about you and your early initiation to graffiti, key people you have met and how they influenced you? My first initiation to graffiti was something that came very natural to me. Graffiti was born in my neighbourhood. It is the place, where it all started. So I grew up literally in the city and neighbourhood where first graffiti writers came out like Fats153, all the old school like CC153, Phase 2 or Barbara 62, Taki 182, etc. All those numbers correspond to streets and I am from 157 so when you say Taki 182, it is not very far from my neighbourhood. I got initiated by seeing those names in the streets. The people who influenced me were the old school guys, the real deal graffiti writers - I was a big fan of graffiti so guys like A-One really inspired me. I remember my first impact was NOC 167, when I saw his piece named «Style Wars» I thought «Damn, I want to be like these guys». Later on, that led me out to go and see exhibitions, to go and meet art dealers. It also led me to go to the first clubs and the first graffiti openings like seeing Lee, Futura, Quick, and Keith Haring too. Seeing what they were doing had a big influence on me.
Blush. 63 x 48 cm. Acrylic on canvas - 2014
Your art brought you to Paris. What influence do you think the city had on your work ? What did you learn from it ? Being in Paris is just like being in a museum. I enjoy walking in the streets and looking at buildings, I see the way people put love into carving a door or into doing the embroidery, the moulding of an apartment, all the history that the city holds. The city itself just speaks to me differently to what I had experienced in New York - growing in the ghetto in my neighbourhood. Paris has taught me to look beyond the streets and see myself as an artist and contribute to the whole History of art. Looking at your work, there seems to be a connection to Action Painting. Is it a link you can relate to?
Definitely. This whole period of art has been a great influence in my work. Action painting was one of the first thing people were referring to when they were seeing my work for the first time, as I was doing something that was not really in a traditional graffiti sense, people often said «that reminds me of Pollock”, or “The way he composes colours reminds me of the whole American school». I often feel like a bridge between the contemporary, modern painters and street art. Your paintings went from streets to galleries. Can you tell us about this transition? To me they both have their own values. The main thing about changing from the streets to galleries was my need as an artist to have different kind of exchange with the public. What pushed me into going into galleries was this whole new relationship I had been developing with my art as I wanted people to look at my work and appreciate it differently than what I had been doing in the streets. My work as an abstract artist fits well in the gallery world. Is your approach to canvas the same as your approach to a wall? There is no big difference in my approach of a wall or a canvas. Sometimes it can have its advantages and its disadvantages but the energy is still the same, it doesn’t change. You are collaborating with Lacoste L!VE this season. How did it all start? I was approached by Lacoste L!VE to collaborate and I knew about previous collaborations with artists such as Honet and I directly said «Yeah ! Put me in !». I had always dreamed of working with Lacoste L!VE as it bridges the modern and the traditional. Even as a kid in New York I used to wear Lacoste, if you were wearing a polo Lacoste, you were doing pretty good in life. Lacoste L!VE made the transition to the modern and contemporary and I really like its energy, it is something I can always relate to.
You managed to turn your iconic throw-up into a Lacoste crocodile. How did this idea come about and was the transition easy to make? It was a big challenge for me to change my throwup into a crocodile. A throw-up is something you do fast in the streets, a sort of symbol. I did thousands of them on trains. Some people say my throw-up looks like a butterfly, but it isn’t a butterfly, it is my name! I always thought its contour looked a bit like crocodile with a mouth and tail. I really had to reflect and work on the whole idea of transforming it, but I think it looks great. Can fashion be a new form of canvas for you? I think it started with the tee-shirt. There was this whole period of growing up as an artist and trying to live of my paintings. There were tough periods when people were not really interested in my work. Around the same time street wear was something and it became a new canvas for art. You can communicate something very well on a tee-shirt and it can become a form of expression. With the advent of street wear in the 90’s, people who were making canvases started to move on to fashion and communicate with clothes. If I do one canvas, let’s say two or three people might see it on a daily basis, whereas when someone wears a tee-shirt with your name on it in the street, loads of people might see. It becomes a moving form of expression, just like a train. You designed a tee-shirt with a portrait of René Lacoste on it. What does he represent to you? I was once introduced to René Lacoste’s grandson. I was given a book of Lacoste his whole history, the story is very inspiring, especially René’s competitive nature. For me, competition with your own self and expressing yourself through your passion is something I can really relate to.
Creative Direction Monsieur L’Agent Art-Direction & Layout Ill-Studio Photography Nicolas Coulomb Still Life Photography Ill-Studio Stylist Jean-Paul Paula Production Scott Hardy Texts Micha Barban-Dangerfield