Johnson Hartig, founder of the label Libertine, is bringing his playful spirit to the Desigual world.

A new 25-piece capsule draws upon both brands’ colorful and creative designs. The looks mix textures such as lace, patchwork prints, crochet embroidery, rhinestone appliqués and sequins with whimsical graphics.

Styles include zip-up hoodies and shorts covered in sequins and contrasting patches; a bomber jacket with colorful ribbons stitched at the neckline; graphic T-shirts; lace dresses, and denim. The capsule launches March 1 at select Desigual stores and its e-commerce.

The overall concept is “more is más” — more color, more collage, more patchwork and more mixing.

“You called the exact same moment we just received our Desigual samples and the crew is going crazy,” said Hartig, in a telephone interview Tuesday. “No one in the [L.A.] studio has seen anything because I’ve being going to Spain to work on it.”

The designer added, “One of the most exciting aspects is Christian Lacroix has worked with them for 10 years and recommended me. That’s sort of the ultimate because I’ve been Lacroix’s biggest fan since ’81 or something.”

Hartig explained that he got the initial call about a year and a half ago, but because of the pandemic the meeting kept being postponed. “Last March we decided it was safe enough for me to go for the initial trip, and we had our first design meeting and I had lunch with the owner of Desigual [Thomas Meyer] and with Christian Lacroix, and it was all very exciting.” He had never met Lacroix before and said his eyes welled up upon doing so. He’s been over to Barcelona twice since then working with the designers, and they would send samples to L.A. for his approval. They also held a lot of Zoom meetings.

“They gave me complete freedom and wanted me to bring what I’m best known for with Libertine,” he said.

“Desigual is known for vibrant patterns and color, much as my brand is, so it was a joy to know that I could really go as wild as I wanted with print and color. My designs are actually more subdued than many of Desigual’s usually are. You’ll see we did this incredible patchwork print that was bright but not super oversaturated,” he said.

Hartig enjoyed being able to design things he hasn’t been able to do with Libertine.

“With Libertine, we’ve never done denim. Denim is such a big deal that we’ve never felt we could tackle it properly. [For Desigual] I did a denim jacket, pants, denim jeans and a skirt which came out incredibly well,” he said. He found a vintage denim jacket at the Rose Bowl flea market in L.A. one Sunday and FedExed it to them overnight, saying, ‘This is what I want our denim to look like.” It was a jacket from the late ’60s, early ’70s, very worn-in, with a stud-like detail and Kundalini studs on the back.

“I’m excited about every single piece,” said Hartig, when asked to pinpoint his favorites. “While I was there we went through fabric samples and I chose this incredible sequin fabric that was embroidered sequins on tulle. And they kept saying, ‘the powers that be will never go for it. We can submit it, but it’s too too for them.’ We pursued and when we did this little presentation for the owner, he said he hasn’t been this excited about anything in so long and loved it. Everything I wanted to do got through,” said Hartig.

He said he wanted the line to be kind of reflective of Spain. His only experience with Spain before going to Barcelona was a long weekend in Seville. “Of course, the Spanish dancers and flamencos were very inspiring to me. I wanted to incorporate some of that Spanish ruffle emotion. There’s a few ruffle pieces and a pareo that’s all ruffles that can be worn as a shawl and a pareo,” he said.

He was also able to design shoes, which he’s never done in his Libertine collection, as well as a tracksuit with ribbons hanging down from the collar and track basketball shorts with ribbons hanging down from the pockets. The line is mostly geared to women, with some unisex items.

“It’s super colorful and are things one can wear to a party. This divine lace dress looks like something Stevie Nicks could have worn in the ’70s. We did it in both black and white. It’s the perfect summer wedding dress. To me, I can’t imagine a woman who wouldn’t want these dresses,” said Hartig. “I knew that a lot of people will be introduced to Libertine for the first time with these clothes. I wanted to do things that would really appeal to everyone.”

Prices will range from $95.95 to $325.95.

Guillem Gallego, chief marketing officer of Desigual said, “For Desigual, the most important thing is to work with artists and designers who share our values and purpose. We love collaborating with people who, like us, want to convey optimism and positive energy. Since the very beginning, Desigual has been known for its unique and distinctive designs that made the people who wore them stand out. That is what we seek. We love to learn from our collaborators, to step out of our comfort zone and experience new things. This collaborative work teaches us a lot, and we believe it brings innovation and freshness to our main collection.”

He said that Desigual looks for people who speak the aesthetic and philosophic language of the new generations, and can help them reach people who are in their thirties and are contemporary, open-minded and expressive.

“We like to collaborate with unconventional talents, with designers who are not afraid to experiment and who help us take our collections to the next level. That’s exactly what Johnson Hartig brings to the table, what he has taught us over the last 20 years through his brand Libertine, and what we wanted to capture in our collaboration with him. We are extremely proud of the collection we are launching together and hope it will be well received by our customers,” said Gallego.

Asked if the collaboration will be ongoing, he added, “Johnson Hartig is a superb designer, with talent and creativity going from every pore. We have learned a lot from working with him, and we’re not ruling out another collaboration in the future.”

Hartig said he’s been a fan of Desigual for a long time, but had never really shopped in their stores.

“I was certainly aware of them. You see them in airports all over Europe all the time, and in Asia. And I always recognize the backward letter in the logo. I had looked at Christian Lacroix’s clothes for them before. I had never stepped inside a Desigual store. But it turned out the founder and I have so much in common and actually started our companies in similar ways. It was really a delight to get to know them more. They’re very conscientious about doing things as ecologically friendly as possible and we had a very similar ethos and a similar way of looking at the world, so it made the whole process just a delight.”

“I’m so excited and I really do think these are incredibly fantastic clothes at such great prices. I think we’re going to build lots of Desigual and Libertine customers through this process,” he said.

As for his Libertine collection, they’ll be showing at appointments in New York. Hartig has been doing videos rather than fashion shows, which he shoots on his iPhone and edits in-house. “It’s very hands on, and it feels almost like the response is better than we got from fashion shows,” he said. He’ll be showing the video later this month when they launch their new Libertine website.

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