French fashion’s sweetheart Simon Porte Jacquemus and his namesake maison, Jacquemus have teamed up with Nike to bring sport style into everyday life.
Feeding into the dual trends of nostalgia for 1990’s fashion and luxury designers releasing sportswear-adjacent collections, this collab will showcase the power of the designers’ storytelling en masse.
The designer who first started gaining buzz with his Summer 2020 show, Le Soleil that took place among French lavender fields, or his [in]famous tiny Le Chiquito bags — that one cannot even fit a credit card into — is dropping this collection online the day after he shows his Spring Summer show titled Le Papier.
The Nike x Jacquemus collection follows a belief that sport isn’t simply about performance, it is also an expansion of style and self.
Nike’s 50 for her
Nike announced the collaboration in May as a collection of “Runway to Sport”. The sportswear giant adds that this collaboration is in part their vision of the company’s future, tagged as “50 for her” in honour of Nike’s 50th anniversary — it was founded in 1972.
Celebrating women in sport has long been an important pillar for Nike who sponsor vocal athlete-activists like Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Megan Rapinoe, just to name a few. However, this collaboration comes after Nike’s projects with Dior, Off-White and Undercover, all of which leaned more towards masculine streetwear style than sensuous, feminine athletic wear.
“We’ve designed women’s athletic wear with sensuous details and neutral colours, along with my own interpretation of the Humara, my favourite Nike shoe,” says Simone Porte Jacquemus in Nike’s official press release.
Despite promoting women in sport via those who are at the top of their game, Nike’s collaboration with Jacquemus shows their pursuit to meet and celebrate women wherever they are in their journey, whether a novice athlete or simply a fan of Jacquemus’s approach to designing garments for the modern, fashion-forward woman.
Creative Kicks
Jacquemus teased on his Instagram, mood boards that draw inspiration from tennis skirts, rocky deserts, neutral tones and Nike’s Hurama sneaker for this collection, giving fans a taste of what is to come. The campaign’s first promo content shows a soft grey tennis court painted with both collaborators’ logos, once again pointing to tennis style for the collection.
Another beautifully feminine piece teased by the French designer is a white dress, that looks to be made from Nike’s signature Dri-Fit fabric while subtly boasting a gold Nike swoosh adorning brown leather straps that are weaved in and out the dress’s cutouts.
Jacquemus injects elements of lingerie into the collection — an element of women’s wear not typically seen in sportswear — with Nike’s swoosh incorporated into garter-like thigh-high socks.
The collection does not stop at the tennis court. The sneaker in the collection is a reimagination of Nike’s Humara sneaker, typically worn for trail running. Born out of Nike’s “All Conditions Gear” (ACG) sub-label, this is perhaps where the 1990’s style inspiration from rocky terrains and desert tones falls into place. Coming in two different colourways (that we know of), Nike x Jacquemus’s retelling of the Humara comes in a deep brown as well as a soft, sandy tone.
The two colourways show the collaboration’s vision for the “multidimensionality” of contemporary athletes: the brown shade perfect for rockier domains and the soft sandy colours shouts, “all white and ready for the tennis court”.
Sports through the Jacquemus lens would be effortlessly chic and cool for the summer as it “redefines summer “ready-to-wear” — comfortable, anywhere, anytime”, says Nike News. “For Simon Porte Jacquemus, sport enjoys a fluid relationship with style […] their aim is to invigorate celebration of the multidimensionality of contemporary athletes.”
The collection is available exclusively online at Jacquemus.com and Nike’s retail stores worldwide on Tuesday 28 June.