Avavav’s SS25 Runway Show: Where High Fashion Meets Low Performance in the Most Unimpressive Race Ever
Inspired by the rich sporting heritage of adidas – one of the world’s leading sports brands
and a global designer and developer of athletic footwear and apparel – adidas Originals is Avavav is a female owned independent fashion house striving for creative freedom, driven
by humor, entertainment and design evolution.
Founded in 2021 by Creative Director Beate Karlsson, and fostered by the internet age, Avavav is focused on building a fashion house for the future, one that connects directly with the end customer. The collections exist of apparel, accessories and footwear, with an attitude and concentration on femme luxury streetwear.
Most of the garments are crafted in Europe, with many unique pieces utilizing Italy’s luxury deadstock fabrics, contributing to a sustainable value chain. Avavav has gained worldwide recognition for its conceptual and humorous ideas, abilities to stir strong emotions and its pioneering silhouettes. Avavav was founded in Florence, and is based in Stockholm.
MILAN, September 2024 – Avavav took center stage at Milan Fashion Week in an ironic
collision of fashion and sport for Spring/Summer 2025. Set in Milan’s historic Forza e
Coraggio sports arena, the event presented a blend of runway presentation and sports
competition – cheekily billed as an attempt to break the world record in short distance running.
By finding humor in the two traditionally serious spaces, and poking fun at the world’s
recent obsession with a summer centered in sport, the show delivered a hilarious
performance full of Avavav’s rebellious attitude. As models took to the runway, exhaustion
set in almost immediately. Some gave up after just a few meters, while others opted to
power-walk, chat on their phones, or even curse the event organizers in dramatic fashion.
One model, after a particularly determined sprint, was seen vomiting, adding to the chaos
of the event. While far from the polished elegance typical of fashion week, the scene was a
fitting representation of Avavav’s ethos—subverting expectations with humor and
irreverence. Avavav has built its reputation by turning convention on its head, and this show was no exception.
The “sporting event” served as the perfect platform to unveil Avavav’s highly anticipated
collaboration with adidas Originals – a project Creative Director Beate Karlsson had long dreamed of.
Karlsson, who has a knack for blending goth streetwear with cutting-edge design, unveiled
a collection with a focus on strong silhouettes and unconventional pieces. Designs for
SS25 radiate an unapologetic toughness that has become synonymous with Avavav.
Standout looks included a ghost-like “shoulder less” hoodie, next to models draped with black veils, giving the models an ethereal yet edgy presence.
Avavav’s signature low-crotch, wide-leg pants made an appearance, their pleated details evoking gothic architectural reliefs. Sports influences were also evident in the garments, featuring athletic
artworks and prints including shirts shamelessly flexing “the unlucky shirt-number 13”.
The headwear, sculpted with exaggerated shapes, drew inspiration from classic 90s berets but
infused with a sporty, modern twist. Avavav’s iconic four-finger footwear dominated the
runway, including special editions of the Leather Finger Boots featuring the iconic adidas Three Stripes along the sides.
In true Avavav fashion, the adidas Originals by Avavav collection is not a tribute to adidas’
sports legacy but rather a bold reinterpretation of it. Classic adidas archive pieces were
“Avavavified” into striking, exaggerated forms – a testament to the power of collaboration
and the joy of breaking boundaries.
For footwear this meant a playful take on the Superstar sneaker, complete with a shell toe attachment featuring Avavav’s iconic four fingers —a perfect fusion of Avavav’s experimental spirit and adidas’ timeless streetwear heritage. Accessories took on an almost surreal quality, featuring caps and hats with
finger-shaped cutouts, along with three-fingered football gloves that added a touch of whimsy.
Classic leather adidas airliner bags are rendered in Karlsson’s vision for organic
sculptural shapes. The apparel included an extended track robe with fluid panels, classic
trench jacket at a cropped length, exaggerated puffer jacket, and a second skin layering
top with boldly centered stripes along the hood blending both partners’ identities of
streetwear and avant-garde. Models also sported optical illusion adidas track jackets that
were painted directly onto their bodies—an artful nod to the power of visual trickery.
As Karlsson explains; “It has been a long-time dream of mine to partner with adidas
Originals. I’m honored and beyond happy to have the opportunity to play around with their
incredibly strong DNA—it’s so much fun!
Especially since Avavav is still such a baby compared to adidas, which comes with so much legacy and history. It’s pretty wild that we can paint on a garment, and everyone immediately recognizes it as adidas. That’s something you can only achieve as a global player like them. From the beginning of our
partnership, I was encouraged to ‘make fun’ of adidas. There’s so much irony in how
seriously we take both sports and fashion, and exploring that while maintaining a seriousattitude has been incredibly fun.”
