The Style Examiner recently came across a new menswear label that made us pause and pay some attention to the potential for creative excellence suggested in its alluring promotional images. Maison De LaCour was established by Julius LaCour Jr., a young designer who honed his fashion technical skills at he Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago after years of designing and sowing his own creations in his bedroom from the age of 13. During his time as an undergraduate student, LaCour founded ‘Juju Blasé’, his first fashion label, and in 2007 he joined Vassar Magazine as a designer and later as an intern head of fashion. In 2008, and to deepen his practical knowledge of the fashion industry, he took on a second internship with Chicago designer Agga B. Raya.
In 2009, LaCour changed the name of his label to Maison De LaCour and decided that his designs should focus on expressing quality, individuality and originality. With this spirit of haute couture in mind, LaCour decided to create each piece as a unique hand-crafted item while focussing on attention to detail and on sourcing high-quality materials. In 2010, and in recognition of the potential of his label a year after its inception, LaCour was allowed to show his collection during Chicago’s Latino Fashion Week and, as a result, he won the CS Magazine Italian Expo Competition. A year later, the label showed its Spring/Summer 2012 collection in a solo fashion show at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
The Style Examiner analysed Maison De LaCour’s latest menswear collection and was seduced by the bold details that, while not entirely original, suggest a promising talent in gestation. The look book that we received depicts garments that resort to daring prints and colours, as well as audacious pattern cutting techniques that we are sure will keep Maison De LaCour on people’s radars for a few years to come.