Lacoste puts its best foot forward

By Diana A. Uy

Lacoste Footwear, for all its design simplicity, and subtleness, has always been synonymous with fashion and comfort. The brand has been living by that principle for more than 70 years and has shown no signs of doing otherwise. At the unveiling of its Spring-Summer 2009 collection, Lacoste looked to the future of footwear design in rather brighter and colorful shades.

At the Rockwell Tent, Lacoste revealed its Club, Sports, and Sportswear collections highlighting the colors of, well, summer: brilliant yellows, acqua pastels, blues and greens, on sneakers, topsiders, ballet shoes, and even flip flops. Fabrics were a mixture of leather?from shiny to distressed, canvas, nubuck, polyester, and stretch. The mix of influences ranged from the art deco motifs and neon colors of Miami to the fashionable streets of Milan and Paris. Even as mundane as ice cream served as inspiration.

?All influences were built into the collection,? says Frido Ong, president of Pentstar Sports Inc., exclusive distributor of Lacoste Footwear in the Philippines, ?We wanted it to be fun, full of color, addressing the entire spectrum [of footwear design and concept].?

The men can choose from designs with rugged details and earth tones to creations inspired by the clean and sophisticated air of Europe. Of course, Lacoste still features shoes emanating its strong sporting heritage in tennis and running shoes. Among the styles to watch out for is the Cerebrus EM, which features a sporty white design, a tricolor stripe and eyelets, enhancing its French roots.

For the women, Lacoste infused fun, modern-retro patterns and playful jacquard prints that spell classic elegance. Lacoste recommends the Orsola CC?ballet shoes inspired by nautical designs, incorporating oversized porthole eyelets. While the new Similee Strap CC is a casual chic trainer made of soft leather with feminine zigzag stitching detail on the leather trim. The shoe is inspired by the brand logo obvious on its self-fastening straps styled like a crocodile?s tail and a triangular punching on the toe.

?We don?t like extremes?just the right balance of simple to extreme,? says Ong of Lacoste?s design concept. ?Our designs perfectly suit the Filipino?s fashion taste which is a little bit conservative. With the new collections, however, we are trying to educate our consumers to be [more] adventurous. That?s why we are incorporating lots of colors and details to the new lines.?