There may have been a long white net in the middle of the show space and ponging of tennis balls on the soundtrack, but this show wasn’t just about racket sports.
Louise Trotter is thinking about Lacoste as an inclusive brand that serves every sort of sport — and sporting community — whether it’s tennis, skateboarding, basketball, mountain climbing or even zooming around town on a messenger bike.
Trotter, who began cycling to work during lockdown and developed a new appreciation for people who travel on two wheels, called the collection “a new uniform for new sports clans and families.” She said she wanted to embrace all sorts of sports cultures — even messengers who are cycling around town all day long.
Her patisserie-inspired colors were splendid: transparent, lightweight rubber raincoats and circle skirts came in sugar pink or raspberry; slim tracksuits with perforated jackets were a milky shade of mint, and a skinny knit sweater and matching basketball shorts were as bright as a slice of lemon meringue pie.
Outerwear was snazzy, and included a waterproof poncho top in Girl Scout green layered over a skater skirt and collared top; and a shapely blue anorak with zips running up the sleeves.
Knits came with a fine gauge for skinny striped sweater sets, or were thick and ribbed, as in a fun tennis sweater with mismatched stripes on the collar and cuffs. Long strings of colored yarn dangled from the Lacoste crocodile logo.
Other fabrics included a crinkly, opaque parachute nylon for track bottom/cargo pant hybrids or jackets with puffy sleeves that looked as if they’d been swiped from a ballgown.
Trotter is having fun disrupting the house codes, tinkering with color and fabric, and taking sport and street hybrids to new heights. No wonder she accessorized so many looks with rock climbers’ colorful clips and ropes. This designer plans to keep on scaling.
