When Demna Gvasalia released selected items from Balenciaga’s collaboration with Adidas it, unsurprisingly, garnered huge press.
While the initial collection debuted at the New York Stock Exchange, the campaign images feature Bella Hadid, clad in a trefoil-adorned track jacket and Three Striped branded jeans, inside a high-rise Manhattan office space. Talk about a sports couture dream come true! Isabella Huppert, Han So Hee and others also star, acting out typical office behaviours, exemplifying stress, aggression, boredom, and self-satisfaction.
The stars of the campaign are surrounded by specific workday clutter: piles of paper, landline telephones, and desktop computers adding to the campaign’s era-specific campaign. The campaign reimagines the Balenciaga Adidas collection, and tracksuit as workwear, combined with high-heeled Pantashoes, while athletic equipment and iconic sneakers from both brands are reinvented as hybrids. T-Shirts, jeans, the hourglass Bag, and Balenciaga’s signature jewellery styles are all given the Three-Stripe treatment.
Demna also employed a technique he used often in the past. Emily Ratajkowski, Doja Cat and Alton Mason all provided a sneak peek of Balenciaga’s latest offerings when they attended the brand’s SS/23 runway show in Paris last month. Initially, you’d be forgiven for mistaking Ratajkowski’s assemble for a typical sweatsuit. However, the model matched separate pieces that feature details worthy of couture – the fluid silhouette on the pants and the bulbous sleeves on her hoodie.
The collection launches in selected Balenciaga and Adidas stores, as well as on Balenciaga.com and adidas.com/Balenciaga. The launch also includes exclusive pop-ups in Dubai, Bangkok, Los Angeles, Seoul and Tokyo.
