Creative director Louise Trotter leaves Lacoste

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Cassidy STEPHENS

Published
Jan 6, 2023

Creative director Louise Trotter is leaving Lacoste. The brand's spring-summer 2022 fashion show, held at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in October 2021, was therefore Trotter's last show. For a year and a half, Lacoste had been skipping Paris Fashion Week.

The flagship label of the MF Brands group announced the departure on Friday after four years of working together. 

"I am honoured to have served the legacy of René Lacoste, whose sporting values I will keep. I am very happy to have joined this unique brand that perfectly combines heritage and avant-gardism," said Trotter, who had replaced Felipe Oliveira Baptista, after spending nine years with the English brand Joseph.

"I would like to extend my warmest and most sincere thanks to all the people who have supported me in this exciting adventure: all the Lacoste employees, and in particular the production department in Troyes, the archives, my teams, as well as the friends and loyal followers of the company. I leave with the greatest gratitude to my creative team and I hope it will continue to flourish," she added.

A new creative director will not be replacing Trotter, but according to the brand, it will now rely on a "collaborative studio". Like Moncler, with its Genius approach, allowing different designers to interpret the label's DNA with their own style. An approach that not only brings something new to the collections but also creates an event around their launch.

"I would like to thank Louise Trotter for her creativity, her commitment and for her contribution to the brand's heritage. Lacoste is now embarking on a new chapter, with a collective of creatives committed to working alongside Lacoste to share talent and connections," explained Thierry Guibert, president of Lacoste. "Beyond the design of collections, our brand wants to go even further in its mission to connect cultures and communities".

The brand opened a 1,600-square-metre boutique on the Champs-Élysées in Paris last May and has 1,100 points of sale in 98 countries. It does not publish its financial results, but its management announced that the annual turnover at the group, which includes Aigle, Gant, Tecnifibre and The Kooples among others, has exceeded €2 billion over the last four years.