Holidaying in St Tropez is apparently a great way to come up with a new business idea — just ask Karl Lagerfeld. The man behind Chanel (as well as him own eponymous line and Fendi) was recently in the French Riviera when he visited one of Chanel’s stores and discovered that there wasn’t a solid swimwear offering for customers in the area. What to do? Create an entirely new line, of course.
Coco Beach will debut in June in 26 stores around the world, specifically to target stylish vacationers. “We have around 30 stores in seaside locations, and during the months of June and July, when towns such as Cannes, Nice, Capri, Barcelona and [cities in] Florida are incredibly busy, the stores are carrying winter collections. The tactical launches are designed to better satisfy the needs of our customers and to find the best way to communicate to them the fact that these items exist,” explained Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s President of Fashion.
Chanel has designed swimwear in the past, but Coco Beach marks the first time a dedicated collection will drop in store as one cohesive offering. Expect to see swimsuits and chic cover-ups, as well as denim and, of course, espadrilles.
And what happens when the sun disappears and is replaced by snow? The fash pack heads to the mountains, so King Karl has devised a collection to cater to the second half of the holiday season also. Called Coco Neige, the collection will be available in exclusive ski resorts like Courchevel, as well as in stores globally in July and August. According to WWD, it will be made up of tech-focused tweed-trimmed down jackets, ski pants, hoodies and shearling boots.
Bruno said of this offering, “The idea is to skew more toward technical clothes because I think both après-ski and sport are largely covered in our existing collections. So this is a way of taking the time to work on products that are a little bit more technical and that require more time in terms of development.” He added that some of the pieces will feature specific capsule collection logos to “give these products visibility.”
The latter was revealed to buyers during the Pre-Fall 2018 presentations. It is not yet known when we’ll get a sneak peek at the collections, but June is only a few months away so there’s not long to wait for Coco Beach.
In the meantime, discover the new Chanel Coco Crush collection recently unveiled in Mall of the Emirates.
