Y-3 in Paris: Motion in Technicolor

It always feels like a fast forward to the future when I see, feel and wear Y-3. The SS16 men’s collection presented at Paris fashion week on Sunday last week was no different – effortlessly elegant, expressively agile and most of all – contemporary. Thirteen years in 2016, Y-3 is still a strong partnership between Japanese design icon Yohji Yamamoto and adidas. For SS16, agility and speed was as important as the focused colour palette and characteristic graphics.In sweltering heat the collection was shown alongside an avant-garde performance by the TAO Dance Theatre, choreographed by Tao Ye.

This season adidas continued many of its long-standing collaborations, such as the Y-3 brand in partnership with Yohji Yamamoto and the exclusive footwear styles for Rick Owens, Kolor and Raf Simons, while also launching a new extended apparel collaboration with White Mountaineering, an Ultra Boost Collective trainer designed by Kris Van Assche, and four new styles from adidas Originals’ progressive Tubular footwear series.

In line with the sportswear and fashion brand’s long-standing dedication to merging innovative technology with cutting edge design, Paris’ biannual fashion week proved as the perfect opportunity for adidas to present new collections as well as exciting upcoming collaborations. As the only German brand with a current catwalk presence in France, adidas both pays its respect to its sportswear heritage while also honouring founder Adi Dassler’s refined and premium design nucleus.