26 May NikeLab Enters High-fashion Collaboration With Balmain Designer
NikeLab enlisted French designer French Olivier Rousteing in the company’s second collaboration for NikeLab Summer of Sport series, which blends athletic and high-fashion design concepts. The collection, comprised of a jacket, top and various footwear is being named the Football Nouveau collection.
Rousteing is currently the creative director of Balmain.
Inspiration behind the collaboration was to take the lifestyles of professional football players competing in Europe’s biggest championship this summer as inspiration, the men’s and women’s offerings are designed to meet off-pitch performance needs while pushing the sport’s aesthetic forward. Iconic football designs are reimagined through modern silhouettes and paired with luxury finishes, including touches of gold, the color of champions.
“Fashion is usually about the catwalk and the glamour, but with Nike it was about performance and the athletes,” said Rousteing. “What I love about this collection is that we are integrating the iconic style of football into sport style.”
“Olivier was obsessed with the complete look, making sure each piece worked together — not just within the men’s and women’s collections, but also between the two,” confirms Jarrett Reynolds, NikeLab Senior Apparel Design Director. “At every design review, he’d ask, ‘Would a football player really wear that?’ That question helped keep the collection rooted in sport.”