Lemaire

Looking and feeling Lemaire again it seems further solidification of the place of Lemaire as a quiet luxury brand. A brand that makes amazing closet staples for the wealthy that carry with them a sense of ultra-luxury. Pieces like a boxy cotton twill overshirt, a well cut blazer and trousers for casual use, a much needed wool overcoat for the cool cloudy days, things you need and won’t think much of throwing on, but done at a quality level both materials and cut. For exapmple, If I'm arriving in Paris, brought no clothes, and needing to build my attire, Lemaire is where I’m starting.The main thing that really impressed me and seems like a point of a lot of attention, intention, and resources is there selection of material. This seems to be the main identity of the brand, and their play of materials is magnificent. This is their, BEAUTY. They carry the fabrics throughout their items in a way that it seems to be the way they catargoize their collection. I’d imagine the process would be narrowing down around 4 main fabrics they’d want to use(exluding the use of cotton twill, as well as wool for staple pieces), and then sticking only to these select fabrics to make every piece of that collection. Thus allowing the signature cuts to carry through and stablize the brand, with limited but still defining changes to bring new life into each season. Their play with material is such an emphasize, that it reminds me of the same essense, and ethos that Stone Island has. In which it feels very experimentation and that a lot of resources and attention goes into their fabrics. Some even leaning in to more technical experimentation, where those in lab coats are hired specifically to just play with process and science of fabrics. A great example of this is the use of dry silk, a material that just oozes this ethos i’m touching on. A question that arose form all of this is, do they carry fabrics into the future seasons, or is there a defining point every season of a constant cycle of new materials? Another striking thing is their variety in manufacturing, when looking at these tags, making the conceptualisation in its similar essence as stone island I was fully expecting to look at the tag and see evidence vindictive of this showing evidence of Limonta, who is responsible for various nylons, and products for stone island. But was surprised to not only see non-Italian manufacturing but manufacturing from a surprising variety of countries including Morocco for denim, Portugual for leather sandals(to be expected), Romania for the dry silk, and cotton jacket, Spain for bags, Latvia for some pieces, just wild countries that really suprised me. Further adding to the story and that which lies behind the curtain of Lemaire.