Uniqlo x Christophe Lemaire

[TaylorBinque]

Just wondering - is there any press release or coverage mentioning that the collection is indeed returning for christmas / SS'16?

Here you go http://uk.complex.com/style/2015/10/uniqlo-lemaire-collaboration-returns-for-holiday-season

 

[Nymphaea]

Uniqlo and Lemaire Is Back for Spring: See Every Item of the Collection
http://www.vogue.com/13391044/uniqlo-lemaire-spring-collection-lookbook/

 

[honeycombchild]

March 4th it launches.

Here's the menswear

http://www.gq.com/gallery/uniqlo-lemaire-menswear-collection-spring-summer-2016

 

[vetements]

think the womens has a stronger collection.
both collections are pretty decent though.
personally, my problem with uniqlo is the fabric they use, they usually like to use the same fabric for the generic clothings for their collaboration pieces as well, making the superb design ended by looking ordinary (buying fabric in volumes is actually their secret to lowering costs...)
that said, quality is better at uniqlo than hm..

 

[Phuel]

Thanks for the GQ link, honeycombchild. It's hardly, as they've called it-- "game-changing" LOL

So very basic it fails to register as having any other characteristics other than the barest of a basic lineup from Uniqlo.

 

[lucy92]

i saw the new collection in store today. there were a LOT of people looking at it this afternoon. the area where the lemaire items were had been cordoned off with rope and they had staff stationed to make sure it didn't get too crowded. some items had sold out.

none of the items were my style or cut that would suit my physique.

the yellow/gold polo with the loose knit weave didn't look as nice in person as it does in the campaign image.

 

[orchidee]

It's a little underwhelming this time around. I remember liking some of the pieces when they had the preview, but now everything in store and online just looks kind of meh. The fall collection sold out pretty quickly after it went online, but this time it seems like most things are still available.

 

[Thefrenchy]

I ended up buying these...

UNIQLO.COM


I do agree that it felt really underwhelming this time around and the quality was definitely not here. I bought the jacket and the shirt liking the design but being fully aware that they won't last in time. Especially the shirt, I can tell the colour is going to fade away after just a couple of washes but oh well...

 

[honeycombchild]

I went to the first collection for the knitwear, it's hard to find knitwear in good shapes on the highstreet I feel. COS is about the only place that gets it right for me, and the first collection had some good pieces. The summer collection I find a little dull to be honest, it's quite underwhelming. I think it's all still in stock online in the UK. I might check it out in store when I visit perhaps, see if anything is nicer in person.

 

[sixtdaily]

Christophe Lemaire Joins Uniqlo as artistic director

BOF Exclusive - Christophe Lemaire talks exclusively to Tim Blanks about joining the Japanese brand as artistic director of a new Paris-based R&D centre and the new ‘Uniqlo U’ line.

Christophe Lemaire is joining Uniqlo, the Japanese purveyor of colourful, well-designed basics, as artistic director of a new Uniqlo Paris R&D Centre. He will also design a new Uniqlo line, dubbed Uniqlo U. Previously, Lemaire (together with Sarah-Linh Tran, his partner in life and work) worked with Uniqlo on the brand’s “Uniqlo and Lemaire” collection. But the new design centre and line are reflective of a much deeper partnership. The first Uniqlo U collection will be unveiled during Paris couture week in early July and hit retail stores for the Autumn/Winter 2016 season. Lemaire will continue to design his namesake label.

“I am delighted to welcome Mr Christophe Lemaire as a member of the Uniqlo team. I have time and again been astonished by his outstanding talent in working together to create the Uniqlo and Lemaire collection. I look forward to seeing more of the innovations that he inspires, and I am confident that his tremendous experience and talent will thrive at Uniqlo,” said Tadashi Yanai, chairman, president and CEO of Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent company.

The announcement is a significant step for both Uniqlo and Lemaire. It also tells a potent tale about fashion’s shifting tectonic plates. For 25 years, Christophe Lemaire has bobbed and weaved through the industry, interning with Lacroix, Saint Laurent and Mugler, designing under his own name for ten years before a decade-long stint with Lacoste, then resuscitating his label while he succeeded Jean Paul Gaultier as creative director at Hermès. The party line when he left Hermès after four years was that he wanted to focus on his own business. So, when Lemaire first signed with Uniqlo, it seemed logical enough to assume the result would be another of those heat-generating designer collaborations that blows up fast, cools down just as rapidly, and hopefully leaves its namesake with enough money to underwrite his continued independence. Except that’s not what happened.

“Uniqlo and Lemaire” did indeed blow up fast, so fast that Uniqlo had initially wanted to extend the collaboration for another season. But Mr Yanai had a grander plan: no mere collaboration, but a full-blown atelier; a research and development centre in Paris that Lemaire would staff and lead, building an entirely new design concept within the Uniqlo brand, a more refined version of the company’s “LifeWear” ethos — but integrated into the core offering, as opposed to some kind of “black label.” And, despite the timing of the offer, coming just as his own label was picking up a real head of steam, Lemaire said yes.

“Of course, I was worried about dividing my attention, just as attention was turning to our label, but I could feel Mr Yanai’s support and I knew I could trust them not to compromise on the quality,” he says, and is quick to point out that the decision wasn’t a financial consideration either (though he wryly admits that six years ago, things were going so badly he’d have been happy to sacrifice his own brand). Rather, the opportunity fulfilled a long-time dream for Lemaire. “The opportunity to design good clothes for an affordable price is what excited me about Lacoste at the beginning,” he explains. “And when Uniqlo contacted me after I left Hermès, it was the same thing. ‘The best of the most at the least’ — that’s how I think of it. Japan has an amazing sense of precision and honesty in the quality. Even the simplest thing will be the best quality, regardless of price.”

The concept isn’t entirely new. Five years ago, Jil Sander and Uniqlo embarked on a similar collaboration under the equally cryptic title +J. “We had that in mind,” Lemaire concedes. “But U is a little more democratic. The biggest issue was to design things that are essential enough to be timeless, and understood by everyone. Elevated basics, I call them. Our ambition is to fill the gap between what’s fashion and what’s ‘normal.’ I know the word ‘normcore’ is overused, but there’s something about normality I find very interesting — how do you make it super normal but refined and cool and desirable?”

There are 12 little u’s in the big U logo, emblematic of the fact that the collection is produced by a team. (There are, in fact, 15 in the team, working on men’s and womenswear, knits, shoes and leather accessories.) “It took six months to recruit the right people who understood it was industrial design, not fake luxury or fake fashion,” Lemaire explains.

“The emphasis has been on the team, from the first sketch to the ad campaign. We’re like a commando unit, or a start-up. I want to show that trying to make the perfect product needs a lot of work. It’s not about being on your own in your office at three in the morning. I never really believed in the designer who knows everything. I’m the leader on this project, but I need an exchange.” It’s telling that Lemaire’s name appears nowhere on the label. That’s how he wanted it. “This is deeper than a collaboration,” he explains. “For me, they’re getting a bit artificial. Customers don’t care about another one, they just want to find the right product.”

With his own label, the creative exchange was always with Sarah-Linh Tran, who is not involved with Uniqlo U. Their serene, sensual designs continue to build a loyal following, and the label is now sold in 170 stores worldwide. It is most definitely artisanal, as opposed to industrial, design. U, on the other hand, will be available across Uniqlo’s global network of 1,774 stores, with somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million units of each style produced. That begs the question about what kind of adjustments — compromises, even — Lemaire had to make. “It was completely unknown, like a virgin territory,” he admits. “Uniqlo is a huge brand with a certain way of working which I didn’t really understand in the beginning. The way merchandisers conceive design is different from my background. When you bring volume, for instance, sometimes they worry it’s not made for all. But compromise? There was none that I wasn’t ready to make. When you start working on such a concept, the price point is, of course, an issue. So we know from the beginning it has to be more cotton than expensive wools. But, to be honest, I’ve been quite surprised that I haven’t had to make such compromises.” That is probably why Lemaire’s passage from Hermès, apogee of elite artisanship, to Uniqlo, casualwear behemoth, was so seamless. “They’re not at all contrary in concept,” he says. “They’re both trying to bring simplicity with the best quality. The knitwear at Uniqlo is not that far off from Hermès.”

That sounds like a pretty concrete illustration of “the best of the most at the least.” Lemaire says Tran is a little nervous about the impact of “the most” on Lemaire the label. “I can’t help giving a bit of Lemaire to Uniqlo,” he acknowledges. But what about the other way round? Will Uniqlo give a bit to Lemaire? “I wonder,” he muses. “Maybe it will elevate it, make it more precious. We’ll know in October.”

businessoffashion.com

 

[Alto]

They must be paying him a lot because this makes little sense for me. I thought the two collections were just for getting recognition and money for his own brand. And his own brand seems to do very well so he must do well personally.

Also Uniqlo and Lemaire are a little bit too similar when he is designing. Yes the quality isn't same but they are both related to workwear. When he was designing at Hermès he clearly had different customer in mind. I wonder how much they will share the same customer base.

 

[softgrey]

great news...

i uniqlo...
lol...i know...i keep saying that...
but they keep making me love them even more...
that guy- the owner...
he is like a little dynamo~!
really impressive...

really wish i could work for them, actually...

saw someone on the street wearing the white belted dress...
looked really great, i must say...
nothing special on the hanger- no bells and whistles...
but on the street it was a nice, fresh, airy dress...
and it really stood out in a - she just looks great- kind of way...
as opposed to a -nice dress- kind of way...
good stuff...
i was impressed...

 

[Nymphaea]

The knitwear at Uniqlo is not that far off from Hermès.

Woohooo!

 

[MulletProof]

Sounds exciting! congrats!... also, random thought, and I know it's his label, but I always feel like Sarah-Linh's input is greater than how it's usually mentioned, for starters she seems to be the main real-life inspiration, wish she'd get more exposure, or credit..

What I love the most is that the proportions can be a bit intimidating and most people just walk away, so that leave me with plenty of choice . I wish he would do one or two pieces of jewelry, since it seems Uniqlo has been pushing accessories.. that would be cool, although Lemaire's bracelets are actually quite affordable...

 

[maimon]

didnt know if i should start a new thread for it but here are pictures from the new Uniqlo U Lookbook… great pieces!


Uniqlo U S/S 2017 Lookbook


hyperbeast

 

[GivenchyAddict]

They reached a new level of boredom . Nothing interesting, the quality is meh . I was expected something from this new collaboration but at the end totally forgettable.

 

[Yohji]

They reached a new level of boredom . Nothing interesting, the quality is meh . I was expected something from this new collaboration but at the end totally forgettable.

I don't ever think that that was their intention. (Or Lemaire's intention, period.)

Lemaire just wants to make good clothes. He never claimed to be an innovator. I treasure the pieces I got from the last few collections.

 

[eizhowa]

They reached a new level of boredom . Nothing interesting, the quality is meh . I was expected something from this new collaboration but at the end totally forgettable.

I actually like it when designers try to focus on making good clothes instead of just new types clothes. "New" does not neccesarily mean "better".

 

[tricotineacetat]

I can appreciate the Uniqlo / Lemaire collaboration for what it is, a very well thought out, no-fuss wardrobe that has an understated sophistication, fits, wears and travels comfortably and can for the most part be machine washable - While all of that is very much true to Uniqlo's identity of design, these considerations rather rarely inform the design of high fashion clothes. Personally I find there is enough 'fashion' for me here with the introduction of a graphic print in the men's shirting or subtle color blocking on the women's dresses - subtle touches that elevate the look of basics without ever falling into the territory of high concept fashion.

 

[IloveDiorHomme]

I have pants from Lemaire x Uniqlo which are amazing, and get compliments every time I wear them. And they're "boring" pants from 5 metres away. You appreciate them on the body ( fabric and cute wise).


I like a lot what I am seeing. it's typical Lemaire, classic and desirable clothes for the day.