Turning the world upside down

TEASERS and promo campaigns have abounded in recent months but the wait is finally over – the collection designed by Alexander Wang in collaboration with adidas Originals has finally arrived in Bangkok and is now on sale at his flagship store at EmQuartier. 

Renowned for his irreverent approach and for perpetually evolving and re-contextualising the urban uniform, Wang launched the main adidas Originals collection last Saturday. 
Subverting the boundaries between fashion and street-wear, the 84-piece adidas Originals by Alexander Wang is a unisex apparel and footwear collection inspired by the idea of overturning commonly accepted rules. Born and raised in San Francisco, California and later moved to New York, Wang is highly regarded for his reflections on contrasts, blending seamlessly between the refined and the imperfect.
His distinctive design that emphasises flipping branding conventions can be clearly seen in the new collection. adidas Originals’ iconic trefoil and “originals” logos are rotated upside down, becoming newly symbolic. 
The April 1 drop of the collection included the In-Out, All Over Print and Soccer packs. Just as the name implies, all pieces from the In-Out pack are identified by the flipping of the fabric inside out, mixed with alternating panels of fabric. This subversive process is a key design feature of the pack and lends to the distinctive identity of the collection.
Made from dry French terry, the pack is comprised of sweatshirts, shorts and tracksuits, all in a neutral palette of black, white and grey. The sport-inspired Soccer pack plays off the conventions of traditional football apparel but with an unexpected injection of fashion. Signature team jacquard jersey tops, shorts and tracksuits are offered in white, bluebird, maroon orange and dark indigo.. 
Rounding out the apparel collection, the “All Over Print” outerwear pack consists of a windbreaker and reversible bomber jacket incorporating both brands’ logos. 
All apparel styles bear the Originals three stripes pattern in an inside-out treatment, while the iconic trefoil is purposely placed upside down, defying the conventions of branding. The footwear offerings include two basketball styles in black and white. 
Signature Boost tooling is paired with sock-like liners, while the use of luxury materials elevates the traditional footwear from court to everyday style. Additionally, new Skate footwear styles feature a herringbone structured box tape sole with an upside down trefoil needle punched on the vamp, letting the consumer know that these styles are true Originals.
Part of the final drop, the Patch pack stitches together the fabrics of season one, by piecing together all materials and layering upside down trefoils with patch-like, embroidered and printed treatments.
The pack includes two jackets and track pants all reinvented in a fashion forward approach to sportswear. For the Logo pack, iconic Originals styles such as hoodies, sweatshirts, t-shirts and long sleeves are offered in black and white and feature three inside out stripes and a series of three stacked, upside-down trefoils that are patched, embroidered and printed along the front of each piece. 
The Velour pack is a series of short-sleeve and long-sleeve jersey style tops in jewel tones, vintage velour fabric. Signature three stripe patterns along the seams are offset by inside-out stripes along the sleeves.
The addition of two Run footwear styles complement the apparel and feature the three-stripe treatment and upside down trefoil logo. The Run styles are injected with innovative technologies including Boost, stretch mesh and prime-knit, while the performance nature of each style is interlaced with stylised materials and design details creating a new standard in street-wear culture. 
In advance of the product drops, Part III of the adidas Originals by Alexander Wang image series photographed by Juergen Teller and released last month featured Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie in his first-ever campaign, alongside long- time Alexander Wang models Hanne Gaby Odiele, Binx Walton, Lexi Boling, Luke Storey and Chris Fernandez.