LEMAIRE

Lemaire, founded by Christophe Lemaire in 1990, has undergone several iterations since its original inception almost 30 years ago. The brand received the prestigious ANDAM fellowship twice—an award dedicated to supporting emerging Paris-based designers won by the likes of Margiela, Bernhard Willhelm, and Y/Project. Posts as the creative director at Lacoste and Hermès followed. In 2014 he decided to return his full attention to his own line, this time co-designing with his partner Sarah Linh Tran. Their work together is lauded for its simplicity, elegance, and practicality, but the ingenuity of the brand also lies in its approach. Teamwork and collaboration are held sacred, in stark contrast to the prevailing myth of the auteur designer, a notion that is reminiscent of Martin Margiela's insistence upon recognizing the collaborative nature of fashion production, in the 1980s.