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The story of French tennis legend and fashion designer Rene Lacoste, published to celebrate his namesake brand´s 85th anniversary

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What do we know about René Lacoste? That he was a French tennis legend, the founder of the Lacoste brand, and a remarkable inventor? Lacoste (1904–1996) was an elegant player with an acute sense of fair play, a demanding designer who revolutionized sports apparel, and a passionate engineer who invented the first tubular steel tennis racket. From the tennis court to the golf course, accompanied by family members or friends made along the way, the man called "the Alligator" was a determined visionary with an eye for authenticity and detail. René Lacoste remains to this day a timeless yet remarkably contemporary fashion icon. Published to celebrate the Lacoste brand´s 85th anniversary, this lavishly illustrated work includes a wealth of photographs and archival documents, some published here for the first time, and original drawings by the renowned French illustrator Floc´h.

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"On the 85th anniversary of the creation of one of the most versatile and timeless fashion staples in modern history, Laurence Bena‹m lifts the veil on the visionary behind the ubiquitous ´croco´. Snap it up now!" France Today

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Laurence Benaïm is a French journalist and fashion writer. She is also the official biographer of Yves Saint Laurent and an Officier des Arts et des Lettres .

Floc´h is a French illustrator and comic artist who has worked in the fields of film, advertising, newspapers and magazines, and publishing. He is known for his use of the style known as ligne claire . His graphic minimalism and the oh-so British refinement of his fictional worlds give his work its distinctive style. He has coauthored a number of comic books with Fran‡ois Rivière and has published children´s books and coffee table books.

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