Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Lacoste and Opening Ceremony are no strangers to collaborations, but this is the first time the French sportswear brand and luxury retailer have worked together.
The capsule collection, which launched this morning, includes two polo dresses priced at $130 as well as six shirts that range from $80 to $110, all in bright color blocking and contrasting stripes.
According to Opening Ceremony, inspiration was drawn from tennis heritage and 70s–era California surfers. The color palette definitely rings 70s — bright red, rust, white, beige, black, and royal blue — and details like mock necks, ring zipper pulls, and a sparkly take on the Lacoste alligator push the retro athletic vibes even farther.
The collection is being labeled as "gender neutral" by Lacoste/Opening Ceremony in the press release and online, which is just a little eye roll-inducing (they're T-shirts — aren't most tees gender neutral?). If anything, the most striking thing about the collab is how aggressively on-trend it is for a heritage label like Lacoste — even one that is technically a collab with Lacoste Live, the brand's attempt at a younger spinoff.
While the French brand has launched clothing collaborations with hip Japanese retailer Beauty & Youth and men's labels like Nonnative in the past, most have just been more of the same (Lacoste's J. Crew collab is literally just the iconic polo shirt in different colors).
But Opening Ceremony might have the Midas touch. On the product pages, the Lacoste Live x Opening Ceremony polos are styled with normcore mom jeans and trendy plain white slides. A dreamy Georgia Hilmer editorial presents the looks on women in baggy Matthew Adams Dolan jackets and skater-style Lacoste shirts next to men who look like they could be their boyfriends wearing almost the same thing.
It all feels very of the moment, and fairly un-Lacoste. As Opening Ceremony has done in the past with traditionally "uncool" companies like Teva, does the retailer have the power to push brands over the ironically cool edge?
Check out a few highlights from the collection below, or shop the full capsule at openingcermony.com.