Lacoste celebrates 90th anniversary in Seoul

French sports fashion brand Lacoste is celebrating 90 years of crocodile-adorned clothes with a tennis-themed showcase at the N Seoul Tower in central Seoul.

The Lacoste 90th anniversary showcase at N Seoul Tower in central Seoul [LACOSTE]

French sports fashion brand Lacoste is celebrating 90 years of crocodile-adorned clothes with a tennis-themed showcase at the N Seoul Tower in central Seoul.

Lacoste opened the event at the top of Mount Namsan on Saturday, following a pre-opening event Friday, choosing Seoul as one of the locations for the global anniversary celebration due to the popularity of tennis — and by extension, tennis fashion — here.

The pop-up showcase includes a Lacoste-branded tennis court set up outside the entrance to the N Seoul Tower, a series of games and activities for visitors to take part in and a tennis-themed multimedia art exhibition in the immersive media space inside the tower queuing area.

The activities on offer range from writing a message on a tennis ball or throwing one at a target to more specialist options for tennis enthusiasts, like a tennis racket custom event.

With the pre-opening event on Friday, the Seoul showcase, which runs through Sunday, was the first of seven Lacoste anniversary events to open its doors around the world.

A Paris event was held on Saturday, with a showcase there opening from May 26-28, during the French Open. An event in Sao Paulo completes the schedule for this month, running from May 18-26.

Three more events will be held in September: In Tokyo from Sept. 8 to 18, in New York on Sept. 9 and back in Paris from Sept. 29 to 30.

Each event is themed with different colors and a different pattern, with red, white and burgundy representing the Seoul event.

As well as the activities and art installations, a number of events will take place on the court outside the tower, including a clinic run by former Korean tennis player Jeon Mi-ra on Monday.

Lacoste was founded by former French tennis player René Lacoste in 1933. The brand gains its iconic crocodile logo from its founder, who was nicknamed both “the Alligator” and “the Crocodile” during his playing career.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]