The paper proposes an original use of the Lagrangian particles concept for finite element computation of microstructure evolution in metal forming. The method amounts to distributing incomplete representations of the microstructure among the integration points of the mesh while a complete microstructure is associated with each Lagrangian particle. This decreases the computation time and enables the transport of microstructural variables when remeshing. While the method is presented for any kind of discretized microstructure, it is applied here to the prediction of mechanical anisotropy induced by crystallographic texture. In this specific case, the numerical predictions are validated against experiment by considering compression of a textured aluminium alloy (AA7175). The model accuracy is assessed with respect to both mechanical anisotropy and texture evolution. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.