When an email dropped into my inbox with the subject line: 'A Trip to Lille with La Redoute,' I couldn't have clicked faster. I'm already a big fan of the French brand, famous for its fashion and design-forward (yet reasonably priced) furniture and homewares. I regularly scroll through the homeware, and feel quite familiar with its offering — but after a day at the brand's HQ and an exclusive preview of its just-opened exhibition at Roubaix's La Piscine museum revealed, there was so much I didn't (and you probably don't) know.
For starters, La Redoute began as a wool mill 180 years ago. Then it started selling leftover wool on the side. Then it made a magazine showing you what to knit using that wool. Then — and wait for it — it started designing its own clothing line, often in collaboration with the likes of ALAÏA (in 1995), Yves Saint Laurent (in 1996), Karl Lagerfeld (in 2001), and Jacquemus (in 2014), to name a few.
