Branding, Art Direction & Campaign Execution

lululemon's first high-fashion collaboration—with renowned womenswear designer Roksanda Ilinčić—was unlike anything the athleisure brand had ever done before.

Scroll ↓

Rooted in the contrast between function and fashion, the collection needed a campaign and treatment that helped showcase the lululemon brand in a whole new light.

Collaborating with Roksanda herself, I led the team at lululemon in creating the collaboration visual identity including branding, the global campaign roll out and was part of the collaboration strategy team, leading creative strategy along with my creative partner Stevie Wilson.

Images Above: The collaboration had 2 capsule collections, drop one for Fall (Oct 2019) and drop two for Winter (January 2020). Product colour palettes were different for each drop, so for the core branded elements such as shopper and hang tag we came up with a core identity marrying complimentary hues of Roksanda’s brand colour with lululemon’s;—honouring each brands logo.

Female Empowerment. Celebrating the multifaceted. Playfulness. Mindfulness.

Key Message: Roksanda x lululemon’s unexpected partnership is anything but ordinary.

Roksanda and lululemon may seem like an unusual pairing, but the two brands share a number of deeply held values. These values unite the two brands and provides the cornerstone for the collaboration.

Sustainability

With sustainability at the forefront, all printed elements of the collaboration were either fully recyclable or could be cherished and re-used.

With a slightly higher price point we wanted to make sure the guests understood why. We updated the tone of voice to be more refined and elevated, and designed playful yet functional illustrations for the hang tag which highlighted features of each product.

Hangtags were designed to be translated into 6+ languages which brought some design challenges, but the finish result remained cost effective and lovely for the customer to use.

All Female Crew

We worked with the wonderful Estelle Hanania to photograph the campaign;—her playful eye and abstract edge were perfect. Tasha Tilberg was the face of the campaign. It was important we chose a woman who encapsulated both brands values and the heart of the collaboration.

Drop One: October 2019

Drop Two: January 2020

Video: A short and punchy video was created for social to build hype at launch.

Gaining Press

We knew PR was going to be a key driver for this collaboration, so we created a set of materials to be sent media pre-launch to build excitement and intrigue. The result was a fully recyclable look book and beautiful re-useable box which held gifted product.

The look book was wrapped in an innovative dust jacket which folded out into two sides, referencing both the collaboration as well as the two drops. Due to the multifaceted nature of the product (it can be worn interchangeably), we showed all the look book images together on the inside of the dust jacket. it was a fun and impactful poster approach to showing all product together.

Creative challenge: Due to production timelines, final samples were not going to be ready in time for the look books print deadline. So against all odds, we created a set of white samples to use in the shoot and partnered with New York based magicians Pistol to colour retouch all the stills.

This was an incredible feat but the pay off was huge. We got coverage in publications who are not usually interested in lululemon, such as Vogue, Dazed and Confused and Elle.

Playful and Functional

Keywords for the collaboration were the cornerstone of all elements of this campaign. Fun giphys were created for social, a playful customer video that highlights the product functionality and in store campaign creative added interest and differentiation to the rest of the store.

Video: This playful yet functional video demonstrates to customers the ways to wear the hero product from the collection - The Infinity Jacket. This was used on the PDP, social and in-store.

Launch Event: My team worked on the design of the PR launch event hosted in New York with Roksanda and lululemon’s SVP Women’s Design, Audrey Reilly. Event partners Rye Workshop.

A Collaboration of Firsts

This collaboration was a true first for lululemon and came with lots of internal and also external successes and learnings. I felt very proud to lead a team who pushed through some creative firsts for the brand. My favourite’s being lululemon’s first fully recyclable shopper, PR look book and the more fashion-forward creative.

Press coverage includes:

Vogue: ‘Function Meets High Fashion in Roksanda Ilincic’s New Collaboration With Lululemon.’ Read Article

Harper’s Bazaar UK: ‘Roksanda brings her signature colour and sculptural shapes to sportswear for the first time.’ Read Article

Fast Company: ‘Lululemon’s shapeshifting puffer transforms into 26 different coats.’ Read Article

Elle UK: ‘Roksanda has designed a 17-piece collection with lululemon and we want it all.’ Read Article

Refinery 29: ‘You’ll want to wear Roksanda x lululemon in & out of the gym’ Read Article

Vogue Australia / ELLE Canada / Fashionista / Haute Living and more

With special thanks -

Design Team: Stevie Wilson / Tora Hylands / Jane Koo / Ryan Spacey / Janine Merkl

Campaign Photographer: Estelle Hanania

Campaign Model: Tasha Tilberg

Look Book Photographer: Thompson Chan

Look Book Model: Nikita M'bouroukounda