Training Day: Lacoste Takes a Look into its Founder’s Formative Years in Tennis

Creative director Pelagia Kolotouros transfigures the fashion and atmosphere of the stadium locker room with a 56-look ensemble

There was almost a palpable thickness in the air of Hall Eifell at Lycée Carnot, as bath towels and steamed glass walls simulated the atmosphere that tennis players such as René Lacoste took repose in before each game. 

And though there were no matches to be had within the glass and iron event space, it did, however, set the stage for the eponymous label’s Spring-Summer 2025 collection, aptly titled “The Locker Room,” continuing creative director Pelagia Kolotouros’ introspective vision into the tennis star’s athletic heritage.

Pervading the show’s liminal ambiance was a stretch of white floor tiles and translucent shower curtains, with lines of turf flooring sectioning the winding runway, while bearing the shape of a traditional tennis courtyard. Throughout the collection, Kolotouros looked to hone in on the understated appeal of an incomplete state of dress, reflecting the unkept nature that athletes embrace before a tense match.

Models walked in silhouettes and patterns reminiscent of 1950s sportswear, where striped polos, unbuttoned collars, and uncinched tracksuits shared colors of bright oranges and blues, taupes, and olive greens. The collection also extends its claimed elements of voyeurism with its latter looks, putting together a series of coats, tops, and dresses made with dyed transparent nylon and embroideries that place Lacoste’s crocodile motif on the tennis court.

Accessories also focused on the show’s narrative, as bath towels turned into skirts and reflective leather became athletic shorts and trousers. Evolving from the brand’s Fall-Winter 2024 collection, the Langlen handbag now adds tipping details along the hem of its tennis-skirt-inspired design, while the bag’s handles adopt the wrapping style that references tennis racket grips.

For Kolotouros, the Lacoste Spring-Summer 2026 collection introduces a new facet into the heritage of both its founder and the brand’s identity, sharing how the calm yet tensioned spirit of René Lacoste’s formative training years can still find balance in her sensibilities of tailored fashion and real-world dressing.