Earlier this summer, a rumor broke that Alexander Wang was collaborating with Adidas. Tonight, the brands made it official at Wang’s Spring 2017 runway show. Wang’s designs for the company turn its iconic logo on its head—literally. As showgoers saw at a special finale, Wang has inverted the familiar trefoil, and the “Originals” logo is upside down as well.
“Originals is such an iconic brand, with instantly recognizable symbols and trademarks. It’s both grounded in heritage and also completely modern,” the designer said via email. “With this collection, the idea was to take the codes and iconography of the Adidas Originals brand and look at what their symbols mean and turn them on their head, to invert what’s on the surface and add a layer of subversion; also to toy with the idea of what’s authentic and what’s fake, and how a certain setting can change perception entirely.”
Another thoughtful move: The 84-piece collection of apparel and footwear is unisex. A nine-piece capsule that includes a tee, sweatshirt, hoodie, tricot, and three footwear styles is dropping tomorrow, September 11. But you won’t find the collab at Adidas’ Soho flagship. The only way to buy is to pull up to one of the stops a pop-up truck will be making: noon at Canal and Mercer Streets, in Soho; 3:00 p.m at 5th Avenue and 57th Street, in Midtown; and 6:00 p.m. at McCarren Park at Bedford Avenue and 12th Street, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Come next spring, the complete line will be sold at Adidas Originals and Alexander Wang stores and e-comm sites, and select retailers.
Juergen Teller photographed the capsule collection, images of which you’re seeing exclusively here on Vogue.com. Rocco Ritchie, aka Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s 16-year-old son, along with more familiar Wang faces like Hanne Gaby Odiele, Binx Walton, and Lexi Boling, play starring roles in a shoot that riffs on reseller culture.
“When we worked on the images together, from very early on we picked up on the idea of breaking rules and conventions, and looking at how products are bought and resold today, the reseller market, for instance, and the culture of leaks and fakes,” writes Nic Galway, VP of global design for Adidas Originals. “Those were the key elements that inspired the project.”
I like the clothes too.
