In just three years, AVAVAV and its creative director, Beate Karlsson, have positioned themselves as the provocative force and viral disruptor in luxury fashion, captivating audiences with pieces rooted in humor. Among its surprising partnerships is the new collaboration with adidas Originals.
AVAVAV and Sport: Playing with Contrasts
The stage for the adidas collaboration was set at Milan Fashion Week, showcasing the brand’s unique approach to sport—a realm far from AVAVAV and its designer. For this reason, AVAVAV presented its collection with absurd challenges: knee-high boots, restrictive garments, and adidas Superstars with the brand’s iconic fingered design. The contrast between high athletic performance and fashion, according to Karlsson’s unique vision.
Goth Streetwear
Continuing with the theme of contrasts, Beate Karlsson draws on sports aesthetics and classic designs from adidas’ archives, pushing them into new contexts by combining them with gothic touches—a recurring element in AVAVAV. Anatomical cuts mimic the body’s structure, human bones, and muscles, while shirts feature bandages, painted wounds, and iconic adidas items like the Beckenbauer jacket, painted directly onto the models’ bodies as a nod to the brand’s instantly recognizable imagery.
AVAVAV and adidas Originals
The collection features Avavav pants inspired by adidas classics, with a low-rise and wide-leg design, whose pleats evoke the reliefs of Gothic architecture. The athletic influence is evident in the pieces, with sports graphics and prints, including shirts boldly displaying the “unlucky number 13.” Caps and hats are sculpted with exaggerated shapes inspired by AVAVAV’s iconic fingers, along with reimagined Superstar sneakers thanks to a removable piece. True to Avavav’s style, the adidas Originals by Avavav collection is not a tribute to adidas’ sports legacy but a reinterpretation of it. Classic adidas archive pieces were “Avavavified” into striking, exaggerated forms, reflecting the power of collaboration and the joy of breaking boundaries.
In Beate Karlsson’s words, “It’s been a dream to collaborate with adidas Originals. From the beginning of our partnership, I was encouraged to ‘make fun’ of adidas. There’s so much irony in how seriously we take both sports and fashion, and exploring that while maintaining a serious attitude has been incredibly fun”.
The adidas Originals x AVAVAV collection will be available starting November 21, 2024.
