La Collection | A Minimalist Influencer-Approved Antwerp Unisex Brand, The Row Alternative

La Collection has more original design elements compared to CO that I wrote about previously, with higher-end fabrics. Winter collections primarily feature wool, while summer collections focus on silk, and trench coats are mainly made of cotton and linen materials.

Like Toteme , it's considered a more affordable alternative to The Row. However, La Collection has more distinctive design elements than Toteme, with its own creative vision and a cool artistic quality reminiscent of The Row and Old Celine, while Toteme focuses more on basic, versatile everyday pieces.

La Collection's most popular items are their long-length statement pieces that reach the ankle, which has become a brand signature: long capes, trench coats, overcoats, and Crepe Silk Dresses. These styles are frequently featured by minimalist fashion influencers from various countries on Instagram.

The 100% Virgin Wool Aspen Poncho, which can be worn in two ways, has gone viral on both Xiaohongshu and Instagram.

The official website offers it in black and white, with white being the most popular. Being 100% wool, it's priced at around 6000 RMB.

Here's Neelam Ahooja, known for her The Row-inspired style, wearing a La Collection trench coat:

Japanese black and white minimalist fashion blogger Junko Katoh wearing a La Collection silk dress:

La Collection dresses are often featured on models in major magazines, such as the Minako Black Crepe Silk Jumpsuit appearing in NEOQUE Magazine and NR Magazine:

La Collection's dedication to length extends even to their blazers, with some styles reaching the calf or ankle, officially called blazerdresses on their website:

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Founded in 2017 in Antwerp, Belgium by Florence Cools and her husband Artur Tadevosian, with their flagship store located in Antwerp. The brand is characterized by minimalist black, white, and brown color palettes, drawing inspiration from various beautiful scenes, from Rodin sculptures to Parisian streets, presenting a fusion of flowing lines, structured tailoring, and neutral tones.

Below is La Collection's flagship store in Antwerp, Belgium:

La Collection's Paris store is Florence Cools' personal apartment - oh, Paris apartments, immediately bringing to mind scenes from Éric Rohmer's film series and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers:

The apartment store can be booked through La Collection's official website:

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The official website primarily showcases La Collection's most representative long statement pieces, many of which are unisex, with both male and female models featured on the website. The large pieces like trench coats and overcoats are priced around 15,000 RMB. The prices in the images below are in USD.

Raincoat

Marike Raincoat in 100% organic cotton with waterproof treatment, available in khaki green and military green:

Cotton trench coats typically have this wrinkled texture:

The military green is selling better than khaki, with the three smallest sizes sold out. It's truly beautiful, featuring all classic trench coat elements like storm flaps, double-breasted buttons, and belt, while maintaining simplicity:

The Jocasta coat in 100% linen - it's the first time I've seen a trench coat in this material, with more wrinkles than cotton versions. Although categorized as a coat on the website, it's included here under Raincoat due to its storm flaps and strong trench coat elements:

I've noticed many Japanese styles favor this wrinkled texture. Some of La Collection's cotton dresses also lean towards this relaxed Japanese style, though the brand overall maintains a quiet luxury aesthetic similar to The Row and Lemaire:

Ezra Raincoat in 100% organic cotton with waterproof treatment, featuring a notched lapel unlike the shirt collars above, giving it more of an overcoat style:

Coat

Sandy Coat in 79% cotton, 17% wool, 4% polyester. The double belt styling shown on the model is La Collection's own styling choice. Double belts look great with coats - I wear my blue and black double-faced cashmere coat with double belts. The higher quality the leather and more substantial the buckle hardware, the more refined it looks:

A unique design feature is the intentionally frayed edges with various threads - first time seeing this:

Dana Coat in 100% Virgin Wool with silk lining, featuring a distinctive collar:

This piece is special for its designed draping when belted. The left shows clean lines when unbelted, while the right two images show beautiful draping with the tonal belt, creating tulip-like folds:

Achilles Coat in 92% virgin wool, 5% cashmere, and 3% elastane. Also available in black, but the black version uses viscose instead of wool. To achieve this tailored wool look in lower-priced versions, viscose is typically used. CO mainly uses viscose for their suits and trousers, which is why La Collection's fabrics are considered more premium:

This coat uses suiting wool rather than the winter coat wool of the Dana Coat, giving it excellent drape and a suit-like quality. The left image below shows the natural drape when buttoned:

La Collection's most expensive coat is this 100% cashmere coat (Karin Coat), their only cashmere option and color, priced about $1,000 more than their wool and cotton coats:

This coat uniquely features trench coat storm flaps - the first time I've seen this on a cashmere coat. Increase screen brightness if details are unclear:

BlazerDress

La Collection's distinctive BlazerDress line uses suiting fabrics for long dresses and coats, either in 100% Crepe Silk or 100% Virgin Wool.

Darlena blazerdress in 100% Crepe Silk, available in two colors but primarily promoted in black:

Can be worn with the V-neck in front or back, though the reversed shirt styling in the right image is somewhat odd. The overall silhouette is fluid and simple, enhanced by belt styling:

Virginia Blazerdress in 100% virgin wool. I find this one ordinary - the side pockets and belt seem unnecessary, as blazer style should emphasize simplicity:

The most representative BlazerDress is the Roxanne Blazerdress, essentially a long suit jacket:

Prominent shoulder lines, typical of French women's suiting, similar to Prune Goldschmidt :

Blazer

The Morris Blazer series is definitely La Collection's signature blazer line, available in four colors - comparable to Blaze Milano's blazer range:

Beyond the classic black, it comes in green, grey, and white. The grey version is 100% linen, while the others are 100% virgin wool. While the coats and trench coats could be unisex, blazers are definitely different - proving that tailoring really matters for suits:

Cape

In addition to the classic Aspen wool cape, they've introduced a 100% Crepe Silk cape in black and white. Both colors exude luxury and feature unique styles rarely seen:

It has a queenly cape feel, reminiscent of those worn in Western period dramas:

Silk Dress

Two best-selling basic 100% Silk long dresses:

Abelun dress long silk dress:

The Ursula Cape can be layered over the Abelun dress for added dimension:

Celine Dress short-sleeve long dress:

The red version looks the best:

Epilogue

For smaller pieces like pants and tops, we won't go into detail here. When shopping at La Collection, priority should be given to the Coats, Blazers, and Dresses discussed above, especially those in wool and silk materials. La Collection's website itself emphasizes their focus on wools and silk:

You can see that La Collection maintains high design standards even in their smaller pieces:

As for what to avoid from La Collection: knitwear, basic tank tops, and accessories like earrings and belts. These mid-range quiet luxury brands typically don't excel at knitwear, especially with cashmere materials. As a design-focused brand, there's no need to consider their basic tank tops - it's better to invest in their well-designed statement pieces. Their accessories, shoes, and belts are average. In contrast, Toteme does well with accessories and shoes, but their clothing lacks originality, uses average materials, and carries a high brand premium.

La Collection's short-sleeve shirts are standard, not as outstanding as their statement pieces, but worth considering alongside Prune Goldschmidt.

After completing this review, La Collection clearly outshines CO Collection, with superior materials and more original designs. The more you understand different brands, the better you can distinguish their quality. La Collection and CO were brands I discovered together, initially thinking they were similar, but closer examination reveals significant differences.

CO , along with previously reviewed Joseph , Lorena Antoniazzi, House of Dagmar, and By Malene Birger are brands that initially seemed promising but later proved disappointing, being surpassed by newer brands - either due to subpar materials, imprecise tailoring, or ordinary designs. These serve as learning experiences.

Overall, La Collection is comparable to Prune Goldschmidt and Toteme, belonging to the mid-range quiet luxury category, serving as more affordable alternatives to high-end quiet luxury brands like Akris, The Row, Khaite, and Gabriela Hearst. I've written about all these brands, which you can find on my profile.

That concludes this article. It feels great to discover another treasure of a brand, giving us more choices. Currently, La Collection is available at Lane Crawford, and they officially launched their Xiaohongshu account in December 2024.

pamperherself