Roll tape.
This year some of the brightest stars in the music world and the sporting galaxy (along with two fashion designers who managed to gatecrash) gathered at a secret location, triple striped invites stuck to their palms, sweating in anticipation of a truly awesome house party.
They skated, bounced, they drew on the walls a bit. They played cards, drank responsibly and had a quick fumble in the bathtub. Most importantly, they wore some really bright, white shoes.
Happy Birthday Adidas three stripes, it’s 60 years since you were introduced by company founder Adi Dassler, I got you a bus pass. The advert is about more than just the three stripes though, it’s about pushing the Adidas Originals range, represented here by a sneaker, free from colour or design, sinking to the bottom of a swimming pool.
The tag line: Celebrate Originality.
It’s a bizarre concept, celebrating originality by making everyone wear the same pair of nondescript white trainers while dancing along to a remixed song. It’s even more bizarre to try and convince viewers that they can be unique too if they buy into a mass-produced global brand.
It’s hard to imagine that the celebrities featured in the campaign got to where they are today by conforming and it’s even harder to link them to the product. Daryl McDaniels rapped about Adidas (but where’s the Reverend?), Missy has an extensive collection and David Beckham always seems to be wearing it (and as I remember he once made them an ugly basketball shoe that has thankfully been lost to the ages) but I don’t know why everyone else is there.
Katy Perry’s presence confuses me the most. I’d describe Katy’s style as a caricature of a 1940s pin-up. I can see her knocking back the drinks with Eddie Valiant in the Ink & Paint Club, somewhere between Betty Boop and Jessica Rabbit (if that last sentence passed you by invest in this film).
The only time I’ve ever seen Katy wearing Adidas is for approximately 20 seconds in the video for Hot N Cold and the closest she came to urban was posing with a flick knife four years ago (following the backlash, she posed with a spoon. No, I didn’t make that up).
Surely originality in fashion is about wearing the unknown or taking what is popular and wearing it in a different way. The most unoriginal thing you can do is wear a logo like a billboard across your chest.
While this advert ultimately confuses me, if Adidas wants to invite me to party with the pretty people I’d be more than willing to go, it’s just that I might wear Nike to celebrate my originality.
[On Monday I posted a number of my thoughts and promised to blog the rest on Tuesday. Then I spent all day Tuesday bashing my head against a Ubuntu shaped wall, while I was doing that my thoughts on Adidas grew so big that they deserved a post of their own.
Make sure you take a look at Baines' post Running after Gingell -Whose your personal trainer? and Gingell's short but sweet Getting somewhere. This is the closest our house is going to get to blogging on the same topic (I'm broadly classifying this post as sports related). Also, in case you haven't already, sponsor Gingell to run 10k for Lupus UK, I haven't sworn all week so she's going to need your money.]
Scribble, I hope you are well?
I dont usually comment on such things, but for this piece I could not resist….
I love the adidas originals advert, and I love adidas aswell, and I do hope my bias does not affect my view on your blog.
Basically, you’ve taken the word “original” and only assigned one meaning to it, like “unique” or “different”. The problem with your piece, in my opinion (which lets face it, doesn’t mean anything), is that the word “original” has another meaning to it….”first” or “old”. With out consulting a thesaurus, I could not give you any more words to explain what I mean, for which I hope you forgive me……I don’t have a great grasp of the English language.
The white trainer dropping to the floor of the swimming pool, as you say in your blog, represents adidas in a way that only the famous 3 stripes can beat. It is not about buying in to a global brand and being unique while everybody wears the same…..its about being retro, and buying the “original” trainer that first launched adidas to its global success…..its about celebrating a brand of footwear that has captured the imagination of probably more people than any other shoe/trainer company in the world to date….an achievement I dont think we’ll see again.
I cannot wait until they re release the adidas campus with blue stripes….they are my all time favourite “pump” and will probably buy a number of pairs if they do release them again.
Fashion is always going to be taken to a different level by pioneers who love it and love looking good, but I ask you….what is wrong with a return to previous years??? especially if the fashion at that time is a fashion, or a look, that you enjoyed and enjoy wearing?
Hmmm I get the feeling you could be right (probably best if we don’t tell anyone). I’m doing fine, though since I cashed in some of my savings I’ve been even less motivated than before to do stuff (suprisingly this is actually possible).
Anyway, it’s coming up to 3 o’clock, should probably get showered and dressed. Someone keeps sending Gingell flowers, you should sort him out.
=O al commented on ur blog! that’s sooooo favouritism! :P
Hi Everyone,
If you like the song for the Adidas Originals House Party, it was made originaly by Frankie Valli and it’s called Beggin. The song was remix by Pelooski. Other remix versions where also created by Boogie Studio for the web videos.
If anyone wants to hear the proposed remix created for web videos, feel free to check them out at:
http://boogiestudio.com/blog/2009/03/26/adidasoriginals/
Benoit Martel
Boogie Studio