In a move that signals a deliberate evolution for the French minimalist mainstay, A.P.C. has appointed Ludivine Poiblanc as its first artistic director to come from outside the founding family. Poiblanc, a stylist and creative director known for her work with WSJ Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar, will present her debut collection for the label in late spring, first in Milan on May 20 and then in Paris on June 15.
For a brand born in 1987—the same year Jean Touitou began redefining Parisian casual with raw denim that felt as quiet and deliberate as a well-fitted corset—this appointment marks a shift from the insular to the curated. Touitou built A.P.C. on a foundation of “radical simplicity,” a phrase that could just as easily describe the architectural restraint of a 1920s silk chemise. The house has long cultivated a cultural cachet that extends beyond denim, collaborating with Lacoste, Carhartt, and Sacai, much like how lingerie houses of the Belle Époque collaborated with couturiers to elevate undergarments into outerwear statements.
Poiblanc inherits a brand that has been majority-owned by L Catterton since 2023, with revenues hovering around €100 million. The new artistic director told WWD she was drawn to A.P.C.’s “quiet sense of dissidence”—a sentiment that echoes the subtle rebellion of early twentieth-century brassieres, which liberated women from the rigid confines of the corset while maintaining a disciplined silhouette. As Poiblanc prepares to write A.P.C.’s next chapter, one wonders if she will introduce a similar tension between structure and freedom, heritage and reinvention. The lingerie world, after all, has long understood that the most powerful designs are those that whisper rather than shout.
Originally reported by WWD