So here we are discussing the latest offering from Adidas. When I first discovered my passion for fashion, I never imagined that the German multinational corporation that designs and manufactures sports shoes (to quote Wikipedia) would be anywhere near the top of the list of brands to review. And yet, here I am, telling you what I think of the latest bold prints and logo-centric designs to come from Adidas. While many may feel (stubbornly) incredulous that the fashion world should care, it is actually mightily interesting that I should be passing evaluational judgement on such an established sports clothing label, specifically for its fashion design endeavours.
It is beyond anybody’s doubts that sportswear is a part of mainstream living, having expanded its boundaries off the pitch/court/track a long time ago. The likes of Adidas were of course at the forefront of that movement, albeit largely instigated by practicality, comfort and modern living, but what recent seasons have allowed for is a shift of veritable power to those brands, who really deserved the credit all along. Once higher-end designers and labels admitted and began catering for the need for sports clothing, and tastemakers and trend forecasters had manipulated the English language to bring us the horrendously original term ‘sports luxe’, the unofficial ban on sportswear was lifted. And so although sportswear has been at the centre of the majority of the known universe’s wardrobes for decades, it is only recently that we have accepted its fashion status. The same is arguably fair for Adidas.
This season, there is, as we should well come to expect, weighty fashion kudos: bright printed fabrics, be they kaleidoscopic-psychedelic or out-and-out zebra, that will be very popular among the typically young, confident consumer, and logos aplenty, as the current ‘90s reboot trend will have dictated. Those prints, in fact, were designed by Milan-based artists Francesco Rugi and Silvia Quintanilla, better known as duo Carnovsky, which gives further weight to that intelligent design and fashion personality that Adidas garments now inhabit. Of course, the brand’s heads have been collaborating with various top designers – Rick Owens, Stella McCartney and, most recently, Mary Katrantzou – for a while, but the mass excitement was only ever generated on account of the big name attached to the products. Well, fashion’s ever-rotating cycle has come and lent its ear to the brand itself, celebrating Adidas in its own right. In that sense, this collection is tremendously relevant. And to put things into very black-and-white phrasing, relevance = fashion.