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POP 776 Monday 12 December 2011

THEPOP.COM — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:02:53 +0000

Today's POP is Emily with some Skydiving Silhouettes

A graduate of Kingston University, winner of the Hyeres Festival prize and two-time winner of the ANDAM prize, Portuguese designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista can include a well received debut as the newly appointed Creative Director of Lacoste in 2010 to his rapidly evolving resume. To top it off, Baptista manages to still find time to work on his own signature collection. I recently had a peek at his most recent work, shown at Paris Fashion Week for SS12.

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'Sky Dive' sits at the core of his early experiments. Constructing as a base to deconstruct, Baptista presents an array of exposed metal zippers and a mix of paneling on a combination of body hugging and fluid flowing silhouettes. Sensing the possibility for endless transformation, what I like most is his clear point of experimentation which remains present and consistent throughout the collection.

Also appreciated, the designer is also able to translate the notion of 'Freedom' into a line of clothing that is bright and bold, engaging a raw sexual energy whilst also being nonchalantly feminine . Through his work for Lacoste, his collaboration with NikeAW11 and his own creative endeavors, it is clear a subtle chic newness runs throughout the Baptista ethos.

A breath of fresh air for the modern women, without having to jump out of a plane!

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Today’s Pop is Megan. She’s found her true calling as the official office DJ. Turn it up!

Fresh on our way to the office from our local coffee drip, look what we spotted in the

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Selfridges windows!

The Campanas +

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LACOSTE polos are very special editions that will continue Selfridges’ Autumn Winter 09 theme of “Evolution” in honor of Charles Darwin’s bicentennial.

The Brazilian designers,

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Fernando & Humberto Campana, have definitely evolved the classic, and we love the alligator-lace polo: There were only 24 of them made worldwide by Coopa-Roca, a sustainable development organization that employs craftswomen from underprivileged neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro.

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POP 018/ Thursday, 18 June 2009

THEPOP.COM — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:33:53 +0000

Today’s Pop is David, who has been contacted by a number of other Abba "The Eagle" fanatics this past week. Interesting people. And now a Knowing Me, Knowing You with Kool And The Gang fan, Zaha Hadid.

We’ve had to put the hours in to catch up with the seriosuly-busy

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Zaha Hadid, who is winning blog praise with yet another liaison, this time her shoes for

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Lacoste. The London-based architect is no stranger to the synthesis of fashion and architecture, having worked with

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Chanel,

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Louis Vuitton and the starchitect and

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Miuccia Prada favorite HYPERLINK "http://www.stylecaster.com/news/1486/prada-transformer-takes-shape/AWA="

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Rem Koolhaas. Her deconstructivist vision of peeled calves arrives next month in

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Colette in Paris,

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Dover Street Market in London and

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10 Corso Como in Milan, before going worldwide in September.

Zaha eventually managed to slow down and sit down with us for the customary THEPOP.COM quick fire 5.

You’ve collaborated with fashion brands in the past, creating some iconic pieces in the process. How did this project come about?

Lacoste has previously collaborated with other designers such as Tom Dixon and Michael Young in a collectors’ series of polo shirts known as PROJECT 100%. This is however their first footwear collaboration. I understand Zaha Hadid Architects was the first name on their list for the collaboration and they approached the practice, we had a meeting and were very interested in the project.

You have actually made footwear in the past (with the Brazilian shoemaker Melissa). How was this experience different?

Well, it’s a different approach as they respond to two very different materials with different possibilities and constraints. Our approach to the Lacoste collaboration began with research of surface conditions and the generation of a dynamic 3D pattern. We were interested in developing this 3D pattern as tactile landscapes that would appear, fade out and reappear over the calf leather.

Have you always wanted to be a designer?

Yes, since I was eleven years old. And that is the truth.

If you keep going in this current direction – designing shoes, cutlery, taps et al – we’ll soon find a piece of Zaha in everybody’s home. Are you consciously attempting to make your product design work more accessible?

The practice is an architectural firm, but we have been developing product design over the past 25 years. We are contacted by many companies within many different disciplines – but do not agree to all the collaborations. Product design collaborations challenge us to work with different disciplines, technologies and materials and expand our design field. The majority of our product design is developed by teams of trained architects. This is important. Our approach to the design is the same approach as that of a building or a master plan.

What about your own sense of style; you’re quite famed for sporting Issey Miyake. Anything you steer clear of?

Vintage clothing. Also I don’t like the masculine style: that is, jeans. I do like Issey Miyake!… And black dresses!