Christophe Lemaire creates capsule for Bean Pole

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Aug 31, 2012

Christophe Lemaire has offered up a unique men's collection for the fall, in response to an invitation from the Korean brand Bean Pole, one of Samsung Cheil Industries Group's splashier companies. Active on the Korean and Chinese markets, Bean Pole now generates sales estimated at 500 billion won, nearly 350 million euros, as estimated by the Korea Times. For two years, the casual brand has been inviting designers to participate in its co-branding menswear project. Hermès creative director Lemaire, who has his own brand since 1991, follows Kim Jones, the current CD for Louis Vuitton homme, part of an effort to introduce the brand to Western tastemakers. 2010 saw Scott Steinberg (Band of Outsiders) create a capsule to promote Bean Pole's New York debut at Barneys New York and Opening Ceremony.

Inspired by new wave electronic groups like Kraftwerk, a favorite of Christophe Lemaire's, the collection is on display at Liberty on Regent Street in London. The campaign's lookbook style was authored by Robbie Spencer from Dazed & Confused magazine. Artistic direction for the capsule's photos being used in its e-shops – Opening Ceremony, Oki-ni and Coggles – was the work of Ill Studios, a creative collective based in Paris. An all-rounder, Christophe Lemaire also created a mixed soundtrack to accompany the capsule, a musical expression of the inspiration behind his collection. The music can be heard on the Mixshop page of the e-shop Oki-ni.