Cashmere specialist Barrie launches collaboration with Lesage, plans menswear launch

By

Tanissia Issad

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jun 28, 2019

Augustin Dol-Maillot, appointed creative director of Barrie just under a year ago, continues with his rejuvenation of the knitwear brand launched in 2014 by Chanel, after the luxury label bought the Scottish cashmere manufacturer two years earlier.

One of Dol-Maillot’s strategies is to drop capsule collections on a regular basis, to add energy to the label and come up with novelties in-between seasons. The first is a women's knitwear collaboration with French embroidery atelier Lesage, also owned by the Chanel group.

The collaboration is being showcased at the Galeries Lafayette’s Champs-Elysées branch in Paris until July 2, and will then be available at Selfridges in London from July 16, before moving to Biffi in Milan during the Italian city’s Fashion Week in September.
 

With Lesage, which became one of Chanel’s Métiers d’Art ateliers in 2002, Dol-Maillot has designed a series of embroidered cashmere patches, which can be used to personalise Barrie's spring/summer 2019 best-seller, a denim-style jacket in a fitted or oversize cut, available in white, sky blue or indigo with white topstitching.

To enable customers to visualise the personalisation effect, Barrie has introduced an app through which various combinations can be previewed. A version of the jacket with patches already in place is also available. The patches can be bought individually, at prices starting from €160.

“The idea behind these capsule collections is to stay consistent with the main line, introducing an extra element to its key items, to make them outstanding, add extra visual appeal and highlight our expertise. Cashmere is about the richness of the material, comfort and usefulness. I want to take it to places where it didn’t necessarily go before, giving it a new dimension, making it appealing for the style and cuts,” said Dol-Maillot. Barrie's next capsule collection will be revealed in November.
 

Dol-Maillot, who explained he perceives his work for Barrie as inspired by colour -- with the notion of creating powerful, straightforward, immediately appealing items -- decided to launch the label's first menswear products for autumn/winter 2019-20.

The collection features an oversize, denim-style jacket, a hoodie and a crew-necked sweater, both sporting the label's new double B logo, and three basic knitwear items.

The same product line-up as the womenswear line, since, as Dol-Maillot said, “cashmere is intrinsically unisex,” though the cuts will be adapted for the ideal fit on a male body.
 
Barrie is currently available at 115 retailers and operates two monobrand stores, in London and Paris, and is altogether present in 30 countries.

In September, the London store will relocate to a more spacious premises on two floors in the Mayfair district. Last January, Barrie upgraded its website, which until then was merely a shop window.

Now it enables customers from all over the world to buy Barrie products, thanks to a partnership with Farfetch, which sees multibrand e-store customers re-directed to make the purchases.