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Castelbajac
for Rossignol
Traditionally skiwear has hardly been catwalk-cool, but more and more fashion designers are venturing into this realm and aiming to change the way we look on the slopes of Aspen and Verbier this winter. Veerle Windels reports
With the help of Stella McCartney Adidas, Puma and Reebok could attract cash-rich ladies that lunch
You probably own a pair of Nike trainers or an Adidas track suit, but do you know who designed it? In the past, sportswear manufacturers didn’t really brag about their designers. Sportswear tended to be designed by an big anonymous in-house design team. Technicality and practicality was everything, fashion or style wasn’t the issue. In recent years this situation has changed. Increasingly, young and avant-garde designers are being asked to create mini collections for the major sportswear brands: Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Jeremy Scott and Neil Barrett to name a few. McCartney and Scott are designing for Adidas, McQueen and Barrett for Puma.
Louis
VuittonOne might wonder why, is it just for the money? Maybe for some of them,
because fashion insiders know that the labels of Stella McCartney, Neil Barrett and Jeremy Scott aren’t exactly flying out the door. Take Stella McCartney, she may be successful at designing for other people (as her fling at H&M this winter demonstrates), but her own label could sell better, and that’s an understatement. Gucci Group CEO Robert Polet, her current boss, has said that McCartney’s brand needs to be making profit by 2007, otherwise they will stop investing money in it.
Another reason for promising, young designers to enter the league of sportswear might be appealing to a new audience. “Isn’t it the dream of every designer,” asks Jeremy Scott, the American designer who recently signed a deal with Adidas. “These giant sportswear brands reach so many people, and now they do it with fantastic quality clothes.” To put it more bluntly, Adidas, Puma and Reebok may be well know around gyms and the field and track, but with the help of McCartney and other hip designers, these brands could well attract the attention of fashion-conscious, cash-rich adies-that-lunch who just may visit a fitness centre once in a while.
Neil Barrett
Pucci for RossignolAnother reason that designers may be playing the sportswear game is that it gives them the opportunity to experiment with the technicality of sportswear and use new materials. Labels like Puma and Adidas are front-row brands in the league of sportswear, and there’s nowhere better for designers to learn about zippers and new, cutting-edge waterproof and breathable fabrics.
Take Moncler, the well-known French Alpine brand that has been around since the 1940s and was the official outfitter of the first French Olympic Ski Team. This season Moncler asked hotshot designer Nicolas Ghesquière – who turned the haute couture world in Paris upside down with his Balenciaga collection – to design a line of technical jackets. His vision resulted in some body-hugging doudoune pieces, made of shiny nylon and filled with the finest of geese feathers – things he can never try at Balenciaga.
The sportswear game gives designers
the opportunity to use new materials
Rossignol, the world leader in ski gear, commissioned Jean-Charles de Castelbajac a few seasons ago. Recently the deal was extended for a further five years and the reason is
simple: the collection is selling like hot cakes. This winter Castelbajac offers bright colours like yellow, fuchsia, orange and blue, combined with a signature Castelbajac orange lining. At €1,000, the one-piece ski outfit (fantastically labelled Snowllywood) may be quite expensive, but you’ll blaze an eye-catching trail on the hills of Gstaad in this one.
Rossignol has repeated the designer trick by introducing a mini-collection designed by the Italian company Emilio Pucci, the designer there being (until recently) Christian Lacroix. “This new partnership allows Rossignol to enter the market of luxury ski wear, while it gives Pucci the opportunity to reappear on the slopes,” says the press kit. This first winter collection carries two Pucci prints and an exclusive Lacroix print, used in an all- over ski-outfit and in several details. For the designer jackets, Rossignol had the Swiss manufacturer Eschler make luxurious soft shell material.
Rossignol also manufactures proper skis, so real fans can actually kit themselves out from head to ski.
One wonders whether these outfits are
destined for Aspen or a slalom in Paris
Ellesse, that well-known French ski outfitter, contacted Eley Kishimoto, the cool London-based label of designers Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto. They signed a three-season contract, resulting in fantastic 1960s-like ski apparel, in colours such as coffee brown and bright blue. Snowboard fans may also know the label Burton, they’ve asked the British tradition-with-a-twist designer Paul Smith to come up with a refreshing and bold new take on snowboard apparel. His limited edition jacket is made of a three-layer Gore-Tex waterproof construction, ensuring rainy weather won’t spoil your fun. He’s also provided venting for underarm zips, a jacket-to-pant interface and waterproof zippers – so it looks good but is just as technical as the normal Burton gear.
Yasuhiro Mihara
for PumaAppealing to a new audience is certainly the reason why some high-end luxury brands have gone sporty: Céline, Vuitton, Burberry and Chanel are already catering to fans of golf, horse- riding and biking. So ski wear is a natural development. For the second
season running Céline offers an entire ski range called Ski and chic. Last season the collection was entirely white, this season it’s dark blue – which is a good thing for beginners who need to be visible to the more advanced skiers on the slopes.
Céline’s range is said to be all pro: ski pants are fabricated from a soft technical material, and lined with waterproof nylon; the bottom is zipped for maximum comfort, hiding a nylon lining and thus guaranteeing absolute protection against the cold and damp. The matching quilted jacket is puffed up with duck feathers and can be worn with or without sleeves.
Rudolf Dassler
by Alexander Van SlobbeOne wonders, with all this designer action, whether these outfits are destined for Aspen or a slalom on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, where all the rich and famous gather. It might be just the latter, because all the items (including Céline’s moonboots, the chapka cap, the gloves and the bandeau) also carry the Céline logo. Needless to say at Chanel, Vuitton and Burberry the labels are pretty visible too. Which surely means that après-ski is about to get all the more glamorous.
So Snow White
Don the latest designer ski
wear and hit the slopes in style
1 Snowllywood
ski outfit
Castelbajac for
Rossignol, €1,000
2
Jacket Moncler
by Ghesquière,
from €1,310
3Moonboots with
Orylag trim, Céline, €480.
4 Ski suit
Pucci for
Rossignol, €700
5 Chapka Céline,€325. An alternative
to the knitted wool
cap.
6 Jacket
Paul Smith for
Burton, €960
7 Pair of skis
Castelbajac for
Rossignol, €649
8 Ski gloves
Chanel
9 Ski outfit
Eley Kishimoto
for Ellesse
Phone strap
Céline, €75
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