Lacoste creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista gave Jean-Paul Goude free rein to rework the iconic crocodile logo that has adorned the brand's polo shirts and ready-to-wear pieces for several decades. The new logo, capturing a kind of crocodile courting dance, will be used on garments in the brand's "Holiday Collector" line, due out from November.
Best remembered for his work in the 1980s and 1990s with Grace Jones, and his adverts for Chanel and French department store Galeries Lafayette, Jean-Paul Goude has brought a personal twist to the iconic Lacoste crocodile. The graphic artist chose the imaginary Africa of his childhood and the world of dance as his main inspirations for this reworked logo.
The result sees the emblematic green crocodile paired with a mate for the holiday season, dressed up in folded origami paper, optical fiber and corrugated cardboard for a reptilian courting dance, topped off with a pointed red hat.
"I wondered what I was going to do. It's funny, a crocodile ... and so what if we dressed up a crocodile? We would make it from paper, in a very simple way, so it looks effortless.... That said, I really didn't realize how much keeping it simple is much more complicated than it looks, and for the occasion to be enjoyable, I decided to introduce personal themes, as I often do in my work," explains Jean-Paul Goude.
The Jean-Paul Goude crocodile logo will be embroidered on pieces in the "Holiday Collector" range, including long- and short-sleeved piqué cotton polo shirts for men, women and kids, a limited-edition bomber jacket, a pouch and a tote bag.
The French illustrator hasn't stopped at reworking the logo, and will also be developing the packaging for the collection and the holiday ad campaign. The capsule goes on sale from November in Lacoste stores worldwide.
