After the Samba era, Adidas is clearly preparing the next big comeback. And if this Paris Fashion Week takeover is anything to go by, the Stan Smith is ready.
They took over an entire building, painted it green, and turned it into the ultimate Stan Smith cultural experience during the hottest week of the year.
Set designer Mathilde Vallantin Dulac opened the residency with a selection of functional Stan Smith-green everyday objects lined up in the courtyard, free for anyone to take home. Some people organized transport for furniture. Others left with a single jigsaw piece as a memento.
Inside: Young Lean doing a live painting, turning an all-white room into a spray and oil mural. A full green lounge serving as a backdrop for shoots with guests like Willy Chavarria and Gabriette. An indoor skate park where you could watch Mark Gonzales skate. And a cozy all-textile room with white curtains and carpet, hosting performances by Ibeyi and Debbie.
Skate, graffiti, music, fashion, culture. Every room a different world, all unmistakably Stan Smith. So well thought through it almost hurts me that I didn’t do it. 10/10.
NOTHING has been one of the most regularly mentioned brands in this Substack. And they just keep going. After partnering with new investor Charli XCX and their five-day livestream with Outlander, they launched an Instagram for their community and introduced CLUB NOTHING. A phone and earphone brand taking on nightlife. In the most stunning ways.
Last night they threw a party in a boxing studio (?) in New York City together with Dazed. They created a $40.000 nightlife fund, selecting four initiators of parties and clubs to fund them (applications open until early August). But they also went beyond the party and told a genuinely meaningful story about Kristy, a pole dancer from Atlanta who trains all day to perform the world’s most misunderstood sport during nightlife.
A brand that sells phones just built a cultural platform that most nightlife brands could only dream of. Can’t wait to see where CLUB NOTHING goes. Stay tuned.
McDonald’s Germany has long stayed behind their global culture game, but the smaller partnerships and activations often do it for me. Like when they partnered with Sucuk & Bratwurst for the “Bisschen Scharf” collab a couple of years ago. And now they’re back with one of German rap’s finest, Billa Joe and the Scorpion Gang, promoting the new Sprite Fizzers that can cool you down even during the wildest heatwave. A full purple film directed by Mac Duke, featuring a Billa Joe snippet made for the collab.
Maybe I like it so much because I pitched something very similar two years ago. But seeing that vision come to life in such a fun way proves it always made total sense. :’)
Dell, one of the OG tech brands and not necessarily the coolest of all, launched a new notebook. So far, couldn’t care less. But for the launch, they decided to go to Paris Fashion Week and plant themselves at the intersection of tech, fashion and culture. And this is where it gets interesting.
They created the HAUS together with Parisian spatial designer Tom Ducarouge, who called it an “office-core installation inspired by internet and industrial fabrication.” A blue and silver space brought to life in partnership with London’s Rinse FM, who curated an all-day music programme featuring MIKE, Theo Parrish and Precious Renee Tucker. Crafty, considered artists that served as an amazing contrast to the tech environment.
You don't need to be culturally relevant to become it. Even as a slightly dusted tech brand, you can build a platform for culture and immediately own it. Dell just proved it.
Around ten years ago, Kylie Jenner went from youngest Kardashian sister to King Kylie: colorful hair, overlined lips, Kylie Cosmetics. A full aesthetic era that defined a generation of beauty culture. Earlier this year she brought the original pink hair and lip kits back. And now King Kylie is back for real, with her first brand partnership in the era: Dunkin’. Three very pink drinks, from pink lemonade to a vanilla latte with pink cloud, that feel like the ideal brand iteration of the King Kylie lore.
Heron Preston was one of the first collaborators of Zellerfeld, the German brand that turned 3D-printed shoes into a cultural staple. Now they’re back relaunching the shoe, and they brought it to the streets.
Literally. Heron Preston himself hid three pairs of the HERON01 across NYC and had people search for them. That’s it. And it’s the ultimate proof that if the ingredients are already amazing, the simplest idea will be the coolest one. Love it.
Will Ferrell is doing full Marty Supreme-esque method acting in his new Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins series, a golf legend attempting the comeback of a lifetime in an upcoming Netflix comedy, and instead of a standard promo campaign, SKIMS made him their newest menswear ambassador. Shot by Nadia Lee Cohen, narrated by Kim Kardashian herself: “His body says retired, his SKIMS say one more round.”
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.