Is Lacoste a luxury brand? Well… Though the French sportswear giant has long cultivated an air of elegance, it has shifted to suit more of a mass appeal. A year ago, it’d be a coin flip.
No longer: Lacoste is back on its luxurious grindset.
The nearly century-old tennis label is under the creative direction of Pelagia Kolotouros, a veteran designer previously employed by Theory, Calvin Klein, and adidas YEEZY. Under her purview, Lacoste has turned a corner.
It began with Fall/Winter 2024, Kolotouros’ debut Lacoste collection, an honest-to-god on-calendar fashion show. It provided a host of quietly luxurious semi-sportswear so plainly urbane that it felt as though Lacoste was taking notes from more suave French peers like Lemaire and Jacquemus.
The difference is that those are indie makers whereas Lacoste is, well, Lacoste.
Not often do international megabrands reclaim that rarified air they once epitomized. But Kolotouros is on a mission. Her equally robust, impressively tailored Spring/Summer 2025 presentation proved that Lacoste’s FW24 line was not a fancy fluke but a mission statement. Lacoste is to once again be synonymous with crisp silhouettes, statement opulence, and Wimbledon-ready suiting.
Perhaps a generation ago, Lacoste’s croc logo was in the company of Ralph Lauren’s pony and Brooks Brothers’ fleece-bearing sheep as world-famous indicators of well-heeled good taste. These little bits of branding bumped up the prices of polo shirts and button-ups by merely existing — you weren’t just paying for symbols but symbolism.
But with the advent of the internet and the general flattening of culture, these labels (and others) became less distinct as names in luxury and, really, as brands overall. It’s simply not possible, after all, to both be exclusive and perpetually available in every corner of the globe.
Even as Lacoste retained its aura of French classiness, it lost some luxury luster.
A few reinventions were attempted in the ensuing years, placing Lacoste in a nebulous space between street and sport.
It had the clout necessary to secure partnerships with tastemakers like Supreme and Tyler, the Creator but not the individuality to entirely align with either youth culture or luxury proper.
Lacoste has now rediscovered its way. Under Kolotouros, it has resolutely situated itself as, once again, a luxury label.
This is made clear by the redesigned Lacoste website, which presents even core product in sophisticated product and on-model photography, and especially the aspirational pieces from Lacoste’s FW24 runway collection.
This is Lacoste as luxury, epitomized by $280 oversized polos, $600 sweaters stitched with a giant semi-abstract crocodile, four-figure wool coats.
The clothes may be new, cut from a contemporary luxury cloth with the louchely reigned-in silhouettes to match, but the attitude is ageless.
Kolotourous’ trim collared shirts and pleated slacks visually position Lacoste’s top-tier line as a vision of contemporary luxury, enforcing an aura that equally uplifts mainline fare.
Part of being a luxury label is simply looking the part, after all, though Lacoste’s makeover is more than skin-deep.
Its new designs reference archival shapes that are of the era in which it was founded, borrowing shapes from ’30s-era swimwear and ’40s suiting. The signature polo shirt is also a T-shirt but also an evening gown, printed with imagery from the man who designed the original croc logo.
This is key. It demonstrates that Lacoste isn’t merely affecting an attitude. Instead, it’s hearkening back to its heritage, back to the days when tennis clubs weren’t just a phrase that athleisure brands printed on sweaters.
This ain’t your grandpa’s Lacoste. Except that, in some ways, it kinda is.