Adidas Joins Forces With Four Regional Creatives On A New Store Makeover
The German brand is calling on all streetwear aficionados and creative geniuses as it reimagines what it means to do retail right…
Dubai’s flagship Adidas Originals store, nestled in The Dubai Mall, is getting a makeover. Home to a 16,000sqft space – the largest in the region – it’s personified by futuristic athleisure and tamed to the senses of the digitally inclined. By changing up their store, the brand wants to thread local creatives into its wider tapestry.
Introducing “Curated By”: an initiative pushing to embolden, empower and diversify the brand’s in-store mannequins by celebrating difference. Taking to Instagram to announce the scheme, the popular brand invited women both “bold and daring,” including the likes of Mojgan Endjavi Barbe and Tamila Kochkarova, to disrupt the autonomy and embrace expressionism.
Adidas credited Iraqi stylist, Zainab Hasoon, and Lebanese photographer, Sophia Khalifeh, for being visionaries of the movement, catalysing and providing it with creative direction.
Meanwhile, the brand also stated that it would function as a testing ground to breed individualism, innovation and stylistic flare by inviting local artists to showcase their works at the store.
In collaboration with four “city creators,” Adidas welcomed the artistic workings of sculptor Latifa Saeed, henna artist Dr. Azra Khamissa, artist Christopher Joshua Benton and graphic designer, ‘Hessa Archives,’ each offering a token of their trade.
Here’s what you can expect to see or buy in-store from the artists…..
Latifa Saeed
Emirati visual artist Latifa Saeed may have just produced the sofa of our dreams, housing it in the Adidas store. Intriguingly textured and wrapped in a Violet Beauregarde blue, this couch will make you want to shop till you drop. Reminiscent of a big, velvet braid, you’ll want to go just for the picture.
Dr. Azra Khamissa
For all those of the opinion that there’s no new sneaker ideas left, Dr. Azra’s work will leave you stunned. Chiropractor trained, artistically gifted Azra Khamissa is redefining what it means to Henna, though not on skin, rather, on leather. From a pair of Stan Smiths to Superstars, you can find the intricacies of her art form exhibited at the Flagship.
Christopher Joshua Benton
Christopher Joshua Benton is in charge of the lights – literally. The Dubai-based artist is responsible for a sensational lightbox series hung above Adidas’ infamous sneaker wall. In the happiest, somewhat nostalgic, of blues, pinks and yellows, the screens write phrases like “I want to touch the sky, that blueness so light” and “great opportunity” in Arabic, serving as tidbits of delightful escapism mid shop.
Hessa Archives
There’s only one bag we’ll be carrying this summer, and it’s Hessa’s. The graphic-turned-goods designer is proudly sporting a piece of arm candy detailing the word “Marhaba,” to welcome what she deems “individuality, personality, and locality.” It’s an encapsulation of what she does best: beauty, interconnectedness and a celebration of all that Dubai has to offer. From today, it’s available with every purchase made in the Flagship store.
Lead Image Courtesy Instagram/ @adidasdxb