Uniqlo x Christophe Lemaire

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

I cannot wait

Lemaire and Uniqlo will launch a men’s and women’s clothing collaboration this fall. Available in stores and online, the collection will feature “creative, comfortable everyday garments”—read: luxe loungewear with an avant-garde soul. Lemaire’s aesthetic of pared-down structure and louche ease, which designer Christophe Lemaire brought to the house of Hermès as creative director from 2010 to 2014, will likely translate nicely to the Japanese retailer’s aesthetic.

Uniqlo agrees, with parent company Fast Retailing president, CEO, and chairman Tadashi Yanai saying in a release, “Lemaire’s approach to design respects individuality and merges perfectly with the Uniqlo Lifewear philosophy, aimed at making life better.”

The decision to partner with Lemaire makes sense for Uniqlo, a brand that has long sought out designers with a sense for structure for their collaborations—Jil Sander and Alexandre Plokhov will come to mind. For Lemaire and his design partner Sarah-Linh Tran, the experience comes at a time of growth. The duo have just launched e-commerce for the Lemaire brand and will launch Pre-Fall in the coming year.

style

 

[Scott]

just saw this from his FB feed....hope to get my hands on a couple things at least

 

[Vitamine W]

That is an amazing pairing, wonder what they will come up with. Eat this H&M!

 

[MulletProof]

 

[HeatherAnne]

Ugh, fine, I'll be Debbie Downer here, I'd rather he didn't

 

[Melisande]

Sounds very good!

 

[Thefrenchy]

So excited for this!

 

[Deleted member 7575]

Ugh, fine, I'll be Debbie Downer here, I'd rather he didn't

Just out of curiosity, why?

 

[Emmanuelle]

Yes !!!!! I'll be there for sure !

 

[lucy92]

Just out of curiosity, why?

I'm not the person that you were asking this, but there have been some uniqlo collaborations that have been disasters like the undercover jun takahashi collaboration.

it was unnattractive, didn't sell well and jun takahashi even had to address the controversy on an embarrasing post on his blog.

there is an image of a uniqlo lemaire item on wwd here. it doesnt look terrible.

 

[vetements]

Lemaire's aesthetics should go pretty well with uniqlos production. Although I didn't get anything, I think Jil sanders' s collection were pretty neat.
Undercover was quite poorly made and looked like regular uniqlo trying to be funky, disastrous indeed.

The pic for the lemaire collection looked very decent.

 

[HeatherAnne]

Just out of curiosity, why?

These collections with high-street stores and designers get so massively over hyped, and people that would probably never wear the label in a million years go out and buy everything and wear it looking like tools, and it just sort of sours the label for me (at least temporarily).

I understand that now that he is concentrating on his own line that it's a great source of needed finance, and understand that the publicity will also work in his favor and bring true fans to the brand. So I don't fault him in any way. But I'm definitely not going to get excited about it, either.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

^i dont feel thats true for uniqlo customer's though. i think the consistent customer is very intelligent when it comes to buying things as mentioned above with the previous collaborations that did (Jil Sander) and didn't (Undercover) sell well. uniqlo's collaborations arent sold out in the style like h&m's and the people that purchase their collab's usually are very brand knowledgeable and are buying the clothing for quality and not just recognition.

when i think uniqlo i think of functional and practical. which is why Jil's didnt and hopefully Lemaire's collection won't disappoint.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I'm not the person that you were asking this, but there have been some uniqlo collaborations that have been disasters like the undercover jun takahashi collaboration.

it was unnattractive, didn't sell well and jun takahashi even had to address the controversy on an embarrasing post on his blog.

there is an image of a uniqlo lemaire item on wwd here. it doesnt look terrible.

That's not from the collaboration (though I wish it were). It's from Lemaire's Pre-Fall.

 

[Scott]

yeah lemaire is much closer to that jil sander essence than jun was which is probably why it kind of backfired. the +JS collab was stunningly gorgeous to be high street....

 

[Deleted member 7575]

These collections with high-street stores and designers get so massively over hyped, and people that would probably never wear the label in a million years go out and buy everything and wear it looking like tools, and it just sort of sours the label for me (at least temporarily).

I understand that now that he is concentrating on his own line that it's a great source of needed finance, and understand that the publicity will also work in his favor and bring true fans to the brand. So I don't fault him in any way. But I'm definitely not going to get excited about it, either.

I would agree if this were a designer like CDG or Margiela for H&M but I think the situation is a bit different here.

Like trevofashionisto said, Uniqlo's customer isn't looking for fast fashion or the latest trend. They're looking for function and practicality with high quality at a good value. I think this collaboration reflects that. Lemaire's clothes are so subtle, so classic, you wouldn't really know anyone was wearing it walking down the street. They, as per Lemaire's own design philosophy, enhance the wearer not the designer.

From what I understand this is going to be a multi-season situation, probably put together to replace the void +J's departure left. That line wasn't really about the hype of fashion, it was more about offering the Uniqlo customer a premium option of well design classics. Lemaire designs more like an industrial designer than a fashion designer, it's more about problem solving and designing for life than trends. I look forward to what he'll come up with for a broader audience with a lower price point. Probably something that won't look "designer" but just plain good.

And yes, the Undercover collaboration was a disaster. It too however was put together to address lifestyle rather than fashion and regrettably Takahashi didn't have a hand for it.

 

[softgrey]

i was just thinking that they hadn't had a new collab in a while...
avant garde lounge wear sounds like it's right up my alley, but i'll just have to wait and see along with everyone else...

hoping for the best...
i love uniqlo...

 

[Nymphaea]

Sounds promising but not a fan of Uniqlo. I'll wait and see.

 

[Fewormany]

It sounds promising, but it all comes down to the execution. I do love the aesthetic of Lemaire, l hope it will translate.

 

[cyberprada]

Can't wait to see the first pieces. I totally get why people are reluctant but I think Christophe Lemaire is going to do something really simple and wearable that will sell well.