Sophie Delafontaine lets L'Officiel Philippines in on her vision for the heritage brand's Fall/Winter 2021 collection.

Staged in Paris&rsquo; renowned Battesti riding hall, with its imposing glass and iron roof engineered by Gustave Eiffel, Longchamp&rsquo;s Fall/Winter 2021 collection affirmed the heritage brand&rsquo;s equestrian roots through both its setting and its style. The show was opened by Mica Arganaraz in a black safari jacket belted over a red skinny-rib and the shortest of white shorts, worn with black rain boots and the peeping cuffs of long scarlet socks&mdash;this first silhouette set the stage for the sensual, enveloping mood Creative Director Sophie Delafontaine sought to set.

Photo courtesy of Longchamp

Here, L&rsquo;Officiel Philippines pauses to chat with Delafontaine about Le Pliage, Pokemon, and drawing sensory inspiration from the work of French interior designer Pierre Paulin, whose vision shaped the look and feel of Parisian apartments in the second half of the 20th century.
&nbsp;
On how Le Pliage has transformed for Fall-Winter 2021
&ldquo;With Le Pliage, what&rsquo;s super cool is that we can play a lot, and we can go in every direction&mdash;we can do something very glamorous, very cool, or something very sporty, or very elegant. And this season, as the collection was heavily inspired by the French interior designer Pierre Paulin, I really wanted to imagine how Paulin could have interpreted it. So we have one version, a tiny shape, that is made of quilted, super-soft lambskin leather. It&rsquo;s almost like a pillow! We also have a version in wool, that looks exactly like the fabric Pierre Paulin used on his sofa, emanating a very warm, cocooning effect. I think this season, we really wanted to make Le Pliage your best friend, something you can really hug.&rdquo;

On pursuing the sustainability path started by 2020&rsquo;s Econyl accessories line&nbsp;
&ldquo;Sustainability comes first. It&rsquo;s a major priority, and something we really pay attention to. We&rsquo;re not only paying attention to sustainability through the product, we&rsquo;re integrating it into everything we&rsquo;re doing at Longchamp.
&ldquo;In our French workshops, product-wise, we started in 2020 the Econyl Le Pliage line, and that was the first step. And we are going to launch, in July or August 2021, another version of Le Pliage, also made completely of recycled nylon. The goal is that by 2022, 100% of our production will have switched to recycled nylon. It&rsquo;s a big commitment for Longchamp.&rdquo;

On selecting creatives to collaborate with
&ldquo;It always starts with encounters. I am not looking for someone specific. There is no marketing plan behind it&mdash;these collaborations are very eclectic. The fact is, at a certain point, meeting someone and thinking that maybe we share values&hellip;for me, that&rsquo;s deeply important in a collaboration because it allows us to invite a fresh eye and a free mind, no constraints, to play with Le Pliage, a classic shape we&rsquo;ve known for so many years. But it&rsquo;s always how they match with the brand and what new vision they can bring to the table; that&rsquo;s more how we select [collaborators]. For many years we have worked with artists and designers like Jean-Luc Moerman, Mary Katrantzou, and Jeremy Scott. Working with Pokemon, for example, was very different; it was an opportunity for Longchamp to discover the big, big universe that is behind the art of video gaming. [Collaboration is] always a matter of gut feeling.&rdquo;

Watch the full Longchamp Fall-Winter 2021 show at longchamp.com. Swipe below to see backstage pre-show snaps.

Longchamp’s Creative Director Talks Le Pliage, Pokemon, and The Planet

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