French catalog heats up for spring/summer 2011

The French mail-order catalog La Redoute is hoping to liven up its pages this spring/summer 2011 by recruiting celebrity Lou Doillon as its campaign model, as well as partnering with several high-end fashion designers.

Doillon - the daughter of style icon Jane Birkin and the former face of French luxury house Givenchy - had previously modeled for the catalog with her mother in 2007. Though Doillon posed solo this time around, her half-sister - photographer Kate Barry - was the one who shot her advertising campaign for La Redoute.

Though Doillon will certainly draw publicity to the brand, which fetes its 72nd anniversary this year, she did not actually design any of the pieces for the upcoming collection. Instead, La Redoute commissioned Belgian-born designer Cathy Pill and French footwear designers Robert Clergerie and Tila March.

Pill's womenswear collection ranges from 60-180 euros ($80-240 USD) and includes brightly-colored whimsical dresses, a cobalt blue pantsuit and open-toed sandals with contrasting neon and metallic straps. Robert Clergerie's footwear line ranges from 130-200 euros ($173-266 USD) and features straw-woven wedges, tri-colored derby shoes, and a leather tote. Prices for the Tila March range, which offers elegant leather flat sandals, have not yet been disclosed by La Redoute.

Starting with Emmanuelle Kahn in 1969, La Redoute has regularly teamed up with high-end designers including Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld to offer haute fashion looks at bargain prices. The company's Home Decoration section has previously featured prominent designers such as Sir Terence Conran, Jean Charles de Castelbajac, Philippe Stark and Jean Michel Wilmotte.

La Redoute's direct competitor, 3 Suisses, has also stepped up its collaborations as of late. Most recently, it teamed up with Maria Luisa - the famous Parisian fashion buyer - who lent her stable of promising protégés to the French company, including designers Charles Anastase, Natalia Brilli, Christian Wijnants and Bernard Willhelm for the A/W 2010 season, and Jonathan Saunders, Maxime Simoens, and Richard Nicoll for the S/S 2011 season.

La Redoute, owned by the French conglomerate PPR's Redcats Group, boasts 18 million clients in 22 countries and currently trumps 3 Suisses as the number one mail-order website in France.

http://www.laredoute.com

LL