adidas Originals X Youth Of Paris “Belong to Paris…”
On the occasion of the second collaboration between Adidas and Youth Of Paris, we wanted to highlight a handful of Parisian creatives to challenge them with the idea of customising a pair of this latest collaborative effort. With the footwear acting as their latest canvas, we sit down with Gabin, Pierre, Raphaël, Solomon and Yanis to learn a little bit more about them and their visions of the Adidas X Youth Of Paris Campus 80.
Hi, I’m Pierre, better known as ”GBCPIERRE“. I am 21 years old and I come from Mulhouse in Alsace. I lived for 12 years in the Paris suburbs. I’m a graphic designer, I started doing this small. Around the age of 12, for youtube channels and logos for Trickshot team on Call Of Duty. I stopped studying 2 years ago now to get into graphic design. Since then, I have evolved a lot in my graphic style and managed to create a real community on Instagram. I work mainly in the field of music for everything that is cover, poster, merch etc. I also work in the fashion field with various clothing brands. I am planned to release a collection of personal clothes by the end of summer. As an example, I worked with ASAP ROCKY, LIL UZI VERT, SUICIDEBOYS, LANCEY FOUX and many others of all levels and nationalities.
I have a fairly strong connection with the city of Paris, I lived there until I was 12 years old. I don’t live in the capital but I’m there most of the time, for work, friends and my girlfriend. I love this city for its architecture and all its cultural possibilities. What inspires me the most in Paris is surely its walls: its graffiti and the old posters that people have never taken off. I really like its various vinyl shops. There is nothing better for me than looking in bins filled with old vinyls.
My personalisation of the pair represents me because in my art, the most important thing is the texture. I am very meticulous about the texture rendering of my creations and I wanted to make this visible on the shoes. I used various metal objects such as chains or staples because I wanted to add a contrast and a trash, punk side. I’m very inspired by punk culture, that’s why I had fun scribbling and crushing a cigarette on it. It was important for me to leave a “Youth OF Paris” imprint on it by signing with the name.
Hi! I’m Raphael. I’ve always loved the ride: hanging out at the skatepark since I was little, it has never let me go. Sneakers and skateboarding in Paris have always been linked and that’s how I was introduced to basketball culture. The trace I left on the Youth Of Paris Campus is that of the grip of my board, which rubs the pair when I do tricks.
My name is Solomon and I am a university student. At the same time, I am a designer for my eponymous brand: Solomon Zahui. I was born and grew up here. Until now, I have never lived anywhere other than in Paris. As a designer, Paris inspires me with its multicultural aspect. I think I evolve as a person and in my art by rubbing shoulders with people from different cultures. Paris allows me to open up to the world and be inspired by it for my creations.
For my customisation of the pair, I started to create an over shoe to add my personal touch to the shoe
without distorting the model, it was my challenge! I applied to the shoe my “feuillage” pattern revisited in a color other than black. I chose to make my blue-grey sheets because I didn’t want a color opposite to that of the shoe, but I also didn’t want to make a tone-on-tone completely. I wanted to continue my winks to the colors of the shoe by choosing a “lila” colour to sew the leaves on the upper, in order to recall the colour of the sole. Finally, I chose to pass the laces over and between the sheets to add more volume to the shoe.
My name is Yanis, I am 21 years old. I am an enthusiast and a “chineur” of mainly vintage clothes. I use my Instagram account Local Case to talk about it and sell the parts I find. My project is based on many styles and cultural elements that have marked the fashion we all know today.
I was born in Paris and grew up in eastern Paris. Since my adolescence, I have been moving everywhere in the capital. It allowed me to meet beautiful people and create influences for myself. From Répu when I was a teenager to go skate and be with my friends in the Marais now for work. The culture of Paris is in the amount of styles that you can see just when you leave home. In the discussions we can have with elders who talk about an era and a way of life that we have not known to younger people who are the age of my little brother and who dress like these elders. This culture we are talking about is on the street.
There is not really any customization on my pair, I just wore it like each of my pairs: without paying attention to anything. We pay too much attention to the condition of our pairs. We forget that it’s made to be worn, that’s what gives a product its charm. With my taffe I know that new jeans have no charm: it is with time that they adapt to you and become unique. For me it’s exactly the same with this pair, the materials that Youth used on it are made for that.
My name is Gabin, I am 18 years old and I am in management studies at the IFM. Besides that, I am especially passionate about vintage clothes from contemporary designers, mainly from the 1990s/2000s. I transcribe this passion for fashion through a project that I have been leading for 2/3 years called “Mysterium Museum“. I talk about this enthusiasm I have for fashion culture based on long writings made by me. I exhibit on the latter my designer archive pieces with written posts on which I explain the story of the designer who imagined them, as well as the inspirations behind these clothes, their characteristics that distinguish them from others… It is a kind of digital museum. Put together, each of the pieces on display tells at the end an important story that has contributed to the fashion we know today. Essentially passionate about designers like Helmut Lang and Raf Simons, most of the clothes I offer are imagined by European designers. I sometimes sell the pieces I find on this project, but my goal here is really to develop this cultural aspect of the archive that is little highlighted in France. I want to highlight this niche culture for vintage designer clothing, because it is partly thanks to the latter that we understand why some things are done today in the fashion industry.
I come from the 18th arrondissement. I was born and grew up here. I think it is the most favorable place in the capital to develop an artistic culture as well as a taste for fashion. Paris is a fabulous place in terms of inspiration and culture, but it also has its flaws. We quickly feel suffocated in this city because in reality Paris is much smaller than we think. Compared to other cities such as Tokyo or New York, I find that Paris has lost its fashion essence. Today, I don’t really have the impression that we can talk about a particular style in our city, or even “fashion”. Moreover, I don’t think I have such an important link with my city, in the sense that I have always been out of step with what was considered “trendy” here. When you are interested in a niche environment, you quickly find yourself feeling out of step with what surrounds you, and this has been my case for several years. Here, there is no community for the clothing archive. This is a very recent phenomenon that comes from elsewhere. So I don’t really feel inspired by Paris when it comes to the world of fashion. I am necessarily inspired by my family and friends with whom I hang out every day, but I think that Paris influences me more on other levels such as architecture, art or design rather than fashion itself.
I opted for a fairly raw custom based on the idea of painting the pair of shoes in black. Something that aligns perfectly with my energy and style based on full black outfits. The goal here was to cover it with an entire layer of black paint to have this first uniform object rendering without details, then, to intentionally damage the pair by hand to have this aged and unique appearance to bring out the specific characteristics of the collaboration. It gives this unique contrast highlighting the shoe with the Adidas plastic heel that stands out, the denim material turned grey once deteriorated… Some might see it as a simple inspiration from the designer Martin Margiela with his handmade clothes painted white, a designer whom I admire by the way, but I think that this custom was first born from the desire to have an object imitating the traces of the past. Many people are concerned about the condition of their clothes and do not want to damage them, I find that this is what makes them better and even more beautiful.
This is what I wanted to transcribe on this custom: a pair of shoes with an artisanal process and then voluntarily deteriorated to have a unique object that resembles me and joins my style, which represents my vision of what fashion is for me.
The Adidas X Youth Of Paris Campus 80’s “Crystal White”, as well as the “Core Black” colour are always available in store and online at Footpatrol here.
