Jordan Brand, Highsnobiety and Zalando Drop Awaken Greatness Concept Collection

Every artist has a different standard for greatness. In the world of sports, you have statistics, records, rules—the metrics for evaluating excellence are set, they’re standardized. When it comes to art though… things are a little bit different. One person’s measure of success can look completely different than someone else’s, and the shape of the road to get there varies vastly.

So what happens when you ask four completely different artists to design a concept collection based on the theme of “AWAKEN GREATNESS”? What will they come up with? Will it be a coherent whole, or will their opinions and desires clash when their personal definitions of greatness come together?

When we came up with the AWAKEN GREATNESS campaign with Jordan Brand and Zalando, those were some of the questions that were running through our minds. The idea was to take four visionary, young, up-and-coming designers from across Europe and have them present a concept collection at our event, both as a showcase of their avant-garde talent and as an infusion of Jordan Brand’s ethos into a new generation of creatives.

Without a doubt, the quartet was up to the challenge. None of them were coming from the same place, neither geographically nor visually, but their commitment to the project bound them together to form a creative whole (now that we think about it, kind of like a basketball team). London-based fashion designer James Harjette has worked with some of the most renowned brands in the world—his brand Untitled Projects has become known for high-end menswear that blends streetstyle with runway aesthetics. For AWAKEN GREATNESS, he designed a bomber and skirt combo for our talent Mariah the Scientist, which looked like the midpoint between his sleek, futuristic-minimal look and Jordan Brand’s legacy of streetwear.

Berlin-based artist Kasia Kucharska is known for her signature woven latex and lace designs, which look both organic and machine-made at the same time. The texture of her garments are part of the allure, with layers upon layers of latex interweaving like overgrown vines. As well as a phone case for Mariah, she created two garter belts adorned with the Jordan logo, pieces that are staunchly feminine yet a bit rough, sensual yet utilitarian.

French designer Lou de Bartòly also made a piece for Mariah, a gathered and ruched dress created entirely from upcycled Jordan Brand jerseys. Lou’s vibes mix chaos with elegance, stark masculinity with strong femininity. The dress is sexy, chic, yet carries the DNA of Jordan Brand’s streetwear, and it shows. Richard Ntege and his brand SIADDS Atelier created bespoke jewelry for the collection, and the attention to detail of his pieces is mindblowing. Every single article is a nod to the greatness of the Jordan Brand—basketball hoops become necklaces, earrings resemble the letter “J”, and the dynamic presence of the iconic Jumpman is imbued into the energy of each piece.

Each of these creators went above and beyond to bring their own flair and passion to the collection, and it comes through in each and every piece.

Each of these creators went above and beyond to bring their own flair and passion to the collection, and it comes through in each and every piece. To give you a look into their world, we sat down with each of them and asked them about their process, and how they went from a tiny germ of an idea, to full-blown execution. Each answer reveals a bit more about their own artistry, how they approach their creative process, and ultimately, the steps they took on their own path to greatness.

MEET THE JORDAN BRAND DESIGNERS PUSHING FASHION FORWARD

Kasia

What inspires you on the day to day when it comes to creating your art?

I am inspired by all the women around me, by my friends, my family. All the women pushing for what they believe in.

How did you get into using latex? What makes it your preferred medium?

I wanted to create something no one has ever seen before, so I started to experiment with different materials, and discovered latex by chance. I really like what it represents. The references people have for latex usually come from the fetish world, and I think it’s really exciting to play with people’s expectations. I always like to combine latex garments with sporty references and garments to kind of bring it into the here and now.

What story do you want to tell through your concept collection pieces?

It’s always about being playful and sexy. I want women to feel hot and confident in the pieces, but I also want them to have fun with it.

Lou

Your technique is so beautiful and intricate. How did you develop it, and where does your inspiration come from? Are there any specific techniques you use to achieve your signature look?

My work is about intricate details and mixing a lot of different kinds of techniques. So, I would say that often my process starts with creating the textile by really trying out techniques like knitting, crocheting, embroidery, weaving, and draping. In the end, everything gets blended together, so you can’t directly recognize what’s been done.

What story do you want to tell through your concept collection pieces?

With this collection, what I found interesting was to work with an iconic piece like a Jordan Brand jersey. Something that, in my opinion, is really embedded in sportswear culture. I loved the opportunity to have the freedom to reimagine it and work it into my garment. The idea was to play around with it and take it a little bit out of its original context. In the end, you have this menswear, sportswear garment that becomes a very intricate womenswear, eveningwear piece It could even be bridal—you don't really know what it stands for.

What were your thoughts on creating a hyper-femme look that still aligns with a more masc-leaning Jordan vibe?

To create the piece, I worked with vintage menswear pieces that I hand-pleated and draped to create a very intricate, feminine garment. I think it’s interesting and fun to have this masculine and feminine aesthetic existing at the same time in one piece. I really like when things get blurry—you can’t tell at first what the garment is made of, but when you look closer, you see that it's menswear that has become womenswear.

James

What’s the first thing you think about when tackling your range of projects?

I kind of have this library of ideas in my head that I'm always sort of adding to. Even when I don't have a project on, my first thing is I kind of look back in my own mind full of ideas to think, ‘OK, what inspiration is this sparking? What thought did I have a week ago, a year ago, whatever, of a project I'd like to do or an idea I'd like to explore?’ I make a correlation between a brief or a project and something that has excited me, and that's normally the starting point.

What story do you want to tell through your concept collection pieces?

The story I was trying to tell through my collection of pieces for this concept was this idea of commitment to craft and excellence being both this strong kind of protective thing, but also this very active and energetic thing. I think commitment is both of those things. So I was looking at movement within texture for material. And I was looking through the lens of embroidery to create this undulating feeling at the base of the garments with a second layer that feels a bit tougher and protective over the top.I think that melding of texture and material tells the story quite well.

Materials-wise, why is leather something you gravitated towards for this project?

I just think it's such a dynamic material and you can tell a lot of textural stories through it. It takes color really beautifully. You know, for the majority of the work I've used two different types of lamb skin, but they have such different feelings. They're both white, but the way they take color is very different. And the way they take texture is so different that you can really build this depth in the garments.

And then, when you touch them and you put them on and you feel them, there's a weight and a movement to them that is kind of incomparable. It's not right for everything, but for this project, I think the softness with the strength and the texture with the natural element, it just worked nicely.

What were the unique challenges of creating the concept collection? Were there moments that felt exciting or unexpected?

I think most of the challenges stemmed from the building up of layers, really—the different techniques that have to go into making one piece, and there's always variability, especially when working with a natural material like leather. We did a lot of embroidery onto it, and that was something I hadn't experienced or explored in such a deep way in a project thus far. So I think there was fear around throwing these beautiful pieces of leather under an embroidery machine and just letting them get chewed up, but thankfully I worked with some great embroidery guys and they helped me a lot. But that was definitely scary. Thankfully, it was all very smooth and a pretty satisfying process altogether.

Richard

Your pieces often follow organic forms that lead to beautifully abstract results. Walk us through your design approach for this project.

My design approach for this project was basically trying to blend Jordan Brand with a design aesthetic—trying to find a middle ground. I always like to challenge myself. It is very much like two worlds colliding, and then trying to translate that into something new, which is the whole concept with SIADDS Atelier. My heritage is East African but I was brought up in Stockholm, Sweden. I always try to translate that into my designs—Swedish minimalism meets East African expressiveness.

What story do you want to tell through your concept collection pieces?

The story that I would like to tell is one of expressiveness. You can express yourself in different ways, through fashion, through clothes, also through jewelry. Telling a story adds personality.With this Jordan project, the story was about greatness—because all of us are trying to be great in some kind of way.

You don’t often see jewelry being showcased in an athletic milieu. How did you bring these two worlds and aesthetics together?

When it comes to the environment of Jordan Brand, but also SIADDS, I was trying to find, as I said before, a middle ground that works for both brands. I found that using rubies and diamonds, I was really able to implement this. I wanted to make it look like Jordan Brand, but at the same time, in a very subtle way. Like the earrings, for example, are actually designed after the “J” in Jordan. If you look closely, there are Easter eggs throughout the whole collection.