Lacoste: At Lycée Carnot, post-workout fashion

Trampling fallen leaves outside the Lycée Carnot, a host of stars went back to school to attend the Lacoste show on Sunday. In a gymnasium with the air of a market hall, the brand presented its spring-summer 2026 collection, entitled “The Locker Room”. Lacoste’s artistic director, Pelagia Kolotouros, incorporated more sportswear into this collection than in the previous two. Having worked for Calvin Klein, Yeezy, Adidas and The North Face, the designer presented her fourth collection for Lacoste this Sunday.

Inside, white tiles lined the floor and half the walls, interspersed with bands of faux grass or vivid green tiles – Lacoste green. Guests sat on curved benches draped with large white-and-green towels, bathed in soft rays of sunlight filtering through the glass roof. As the show began, ambient sounds rose; the hiss of showers echoed. The collection was set in the moments after exertion, when sweat-soaked kit was shed in favour of fresh, clean pieces. Upstairs, the models appeared, emerging from semi-transparent plastic curtains – fogged with condensation.

Captivated, the audience discovered silhouettes that swung from abbreviated to oversized, in predominantly vivid hues drawn from the Lacoste archives. Starting with orange and its tennis-court-coloured variations, the pieces gradually shifted to blue, green, then taupe, cream and white. The wardrobe was equally diverse: long coats covered loose-cut suits (trousers or shorts), themselves worn over red leather tops with generous collars; a poncho cloaked a look, revealing only the collar’s tied straps; wet-look nylon tracksuits underscored the collection’s sporting spirit.

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Here and there, bucket bags and towels knotted at the waist or slung over an arm revive the atmosphere of gym showers. Stretched polos and the layering of certain looks created a deliberate mismatch, in the service of comfort. Shorts, for example, were worn under joggers. The brand paid tribute to René Lacoste with a print on the back of certain pieces. Some tops bear the date “1927”, the year the crocodile logo was created by designer Robert George.

With ‘The Locker Room’, Kolotouros placed a strong emphasis on accessories. Wrists were wrapped in chunky, coiled-rope bracelets, and feet slipped into sport-inspired lace-up flats with flaps, heeled shoes of all kinds, square- or round-toed, or mounded forms in a suede-like material. The Lenglen bag returned to the models’ hands, sometimes half white, half black, stamped with the message “For tennis use only”. Other, deeper bags were worn under the arm, while slim racquet cases were carried by the handle.

The show ended in a noisy chorus of breath, percussion and squeaks, like the sound of shoes in training. Applauded by a crowd including Venus Williams, Pierre Niney, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Anna Wintour, Adrien Brody, Taylor Zakhar Perez and South Korean singer Kai, the artistic director broke into a run herself, dashing across the room before joining the models.