Not only does the new Vintage Tennis range celebrate the on-court success of René Lacoste in the 1920s and 30s, but the Lacoste designers also drew inspiration from the prominent graphical styles of the era, particularly the Modernist movement.
Modernism is a broad term, encompassing styles of music, art, writing, film-making, design and architecture which began to emerge in the early 20th Century and have gone on to influence the objects, buildings and culture that surrounds us today. The movement was founded in a belief that technology and design could create a better world and future. Modernists tended to reject history and indulgent, ornamental art and therefore created minimal, abstract, futuristic work. There is no single ‘style’ of Modernism, but in graphical terms the most prominent expressions involves bold, simple shapes, often placed in a collage effect, in sharp angles to suggest movement. Embraced by artists and writes such as Picasso, Matisse and Kafka, its influence broke out of the art galleries and intellectual classes and into the mainstream in the 1920s and 30s in cities such as Paris, London and Moscow, influencing the design of products, publicity posters, book jackets and public service broadcasts.
To view the Vintage Tennis range, inspired by the legend of René Lacoste click here
To find out more about the movement and its pioneers, click here