This season in New York, Jeremy Scott went west, smothering his models in cactuses, cowboy hotpants and a desert-disco rainbow that will no doubt bring tears to the eyes of Katy Perry, Rihanna and the rest of his fans. Then, in Paris, he showed us through his latest work for adidas Originals, which this season includes pieces inspired by traditional Japanese loungewear, the adidas stripes subverted into musical notation and a gorilla, on a shoe, in a teeshirt.
We caught up with Scott at his launch event to find out a little bit more.
If your latest range for adidas was a sport, what would the rules be and how would you win?
There would be no rules, and the best dressed wins!
How did you expand on the themes of last collection in this one?
I always start thinking about the things I want to wear, and the things my friends want to wear, so there's always that thread through each collection. I always think animal prints are valid and a classic so you'll always find an animal print each season. I also had a bit of a fringe coming through last season, and so I took that and pushed it much harder this time. There's always little bits, some things I let lie for a season or two and pick back up, but there are always common threads.
What sort of things were you absorbing while you designed this range?
Goodness! I kind of just absorb so much and process it that I don't really think about it. Inspiration is such a natural thirst for me that it's something I don't even really notice I'm picking up, I can't define it or pinpoint it because it's always going on.
Do you have ideal scenarios in which you see your clothes being worn?
Well I love obviously Rihanna wearing my pieces on the covers of all the dailies, I mean, she was wearing this piece (Scott gestures to a spectacularly star spangled frocklet on the rack) in her latest video shoot , but then I love cute street boys wearing my stuff because they bought it. I mean, my favourite thing as a designer is that people adapt the clothes and make them their own, they reinterpret them and that's so inspiring.
Can we talk about the oriental theme you've incorporated this time? I love the Kimono type top that you're wearing.
Thank you, this is actually a traditional Japanese summer outfit called a Jinbei, I loved this when I was in Japan for the first time, nearly a decade ago, and I just thought 'oh I have to do something around this' so I wanted to take the traditional shape and do something very surfer inspired around it.
How mindful do you have to be of sticking to sport when you're doing adidas ranges?
Not at all! It's very natural to me because I love this mix of sportswear and high fashion, I mean, sportswear is what has moved fashion forward since the days of Coco Chanel, taking the jodhpurs off the boys, it's had this symbiotic relationship for so long, and I feel really privileged that I can work with these things like the iconic three stripes, and the classic silouhettes of adidas, and the iconic footwear. Because that's what they are, they're such amazing icons that the brand has tried and truly tested, and that we can put wings on the back, or slit them or do things that bring a new approach to them is so much fun.
What other key takeaways do we need to know?
Well this season the gorilla is the breakout star of the range, and I like making accessories for my accessories so he got a teeshirt. Accessories with accessories is my new thing. The panda with the hat was the first, and now the gorilla wanted in on the action.
Top image: Rihanna on tour in the UK in Jeremy Scott designed costumes.
Backstage images via Imaxtree