75 Years of Lacoste (part 1)
Lacoste celebrates 75 years of fashion, style and sport in 2008. Creative director and designer, Christophe Lemaire has commemorated the event with a stylish collection of special edition pieces for men and for women including a white patch pocket tennis blazer, cable knit sweaters and band collar pique shirts emblazoned with a silver crocodile – taking the company right back to its smart tennis-wear roots.
The crocodile idea first came about as a result of Rene’s nickname - the alligator - given to him by the U.S press. Partly because of a bet in which he won an alligator skin suitcase and partly because of his reputation for never letting go of his prey on the tennis court!
The new Lacoste shirts were white, lighter and shorter than the usual starched tennis shirts of the day, had a small woven collar and were made from a light weight knitted jersey fabric called pique - the rest is history and men’s sports clothing has never looked back.
