A TRIP TO THE COAST BLURS THE LINES BETWEEN REALITY AND FANTASY
HOW DO YOU RECREATE A REVOLUTION? YOU DON’T. HONOURING Y-3'S STEADFAST COMMITMENT TO A SELF-DEFINED SINGULAR VISION, LN-CC CONTINUES TO EXPLORE THE BRAND AS A PROJECTION OF THE FUTURE, PLACING THE SPRING/SUMMER 23 COLLECTION IN AN OTHERWORLDLY PLANE THAT IS BOTH FAMILIAR AND FOREIGN IN ITS BEAUTY.
Two figures break the metallic landscape, one appears taller than the other, from a distance it’s unclear if the pair are adult and child, or even human at all. The entire scene is surreal; giant opalescent vertebrae arch out of the pitch-black lake and a matching ribcage pierces the skyline, it’s an impossibility.
In October 2002, when adidas and Yohji Yamamoto launched their collaborative label Y-3, ‘athleisure’ was yet to enter the world’s vocabulary; Manhattan’s businessmen had just begun to walk to work in sneakers and suits, and the idea of fashion sportswear was inconceivable. To the right innovators, impossible is a call to action.
Y-3 endlessly embraces the tension between the two brands and spring/summer 23’s second chapter marries engineered garments and intensive performance with singular elegance and strong tailoring, transporting to a serene and meditative plane.
Chapter 2 – By The Coast continues to reimagine Y-3 for the future with seamless sports knits, artfully cut cargo pants and the 4D Halo runner. Engineered for stability, the experimental sneaker features strategically located performance zones and a laser-printed lattice rubber sole, while the threads loosely woven through the mesh upper are an avant-garde ode to the iconic adidas 3-stripes. Dynamically revisiting its past to boldly confront the future, fashion’s most enduring partnership is both the originator and the agitator of the luxury of sport; blending Japanese craft with German innovation to create a vision of style that is sporting but elegant, tailored yet relaxed and contemporary while timeless.
3D artist Harriet Davey knows that the best fantasies mix that which you know, with that which you can only imagine, their glistening humanoid avatars occupy a world that blends recognisable realities with alien imaginings. The dainty daisy-like blooms that pepper the terrain contrast with the luminescent ivory graveyard, creating an imagined world of stark beauty that is eerie but not desolate, and balancing expiration with new life.
Without black, no colour has depth. But if you mix black with everything, suddenly there’s shadow – not just shadow, but fullness. You’ve got to be willing to mix black into your pallet if you want to create something that’s real. – Yohji Yamamoto
Black is central to the video’s abstract and ethereal narrative. Inspired by Y-3’s seasonal colour pallet of Black, Bone, Ash and Midnight, the digital animation supposes how far we can stretch the notion of reality, pairing the otherworldly with the familiar and the shade which is the very sum of all-natural colour.