review: vice/adicolour party

In Stockholm, fashion.psfk enters the usually sordid world of Vice Magazine, only to find guys and gals happily painting away. But the only canvas here is adjacent to the rubber soles of Adicolour. Amélie Marciasini investigates…

Adidas continiously strive to connect their brand with art and street culture. Recently they took the highest credit points by re-launching the 80’s Adicolour. This sports brand entices nostalgic people – from the 80’s, to the 90′ s boom of DIY, and then, computerized graphic designers and street artists of the 00’s. All these eras have got their ultimate Adidas shoe. As if that wasn’t enough? I dare say the limited artists series of Adicolour dresses stylish art lovers globally. But recently Adidas made an impact in Stockholm, along with one of the most controversial mags our age knows…

The magazine in question – Vice  – got a whole selection of ultimate Adidas shoes to goggle at  – to celebrate the Adicolour launch, the magazine organised a contest in Nordic countries. Everyone had the opportunity to colour-in a specially designed Adicolour colouring book – entrants then had to create their designs for Vice/ Adicolour competition. The winner was – obviously – the most creative shoe. The overall amount was 250 contestants these numbers were dwindled down to 10 and a few weeks back all successful entrants met at Bruno Götgats Gallery in Stockholm. Amongst the finalist were eight from Sweden, one from Denmark and one from Norway.

In the gallery, everyone seemed very focused and the air was full of creativity – the contenders painted their designs right there and then, on the Adidas shoes. Later on in the evening the finished trainers were displayed at the big party in Berns – beautiful premises in central Stockholm. Encouraged with a free beer, the rest of the crowds were encouraged to vote for their favourite shoe. My favourite was painted with green flowers – it looked so odd when the girl creating them sat with a small brush and meticulously painted, almost like the trainer was a sheet of watercolour paper. Sadly she didn’t win and there was no luck for the country of residence either – the winner was the Norwegian guy, namely Christian Bielke – his version of Adicolour, a hum-ding of black and white spaghetti illustrated artwork.

Vice got it right and so did Adicolour – the competition was a success.  And all the right people ran around this party. But the dancing didn’t explode until DJ Godfather came up as the last act that night, and then everyone was warmed up.  I was almost afraid of going into the room because the crowd got so intense. Alas the music took its time to warm up. First was a DJ set with Bruce Leenus, a Stockholm DJ with a cute beard, then followed by a grime guy called Sway from the UK who did his best to connect with the stiff Stockholm audience. Who cares about the shaky start?  It was a great party and both Adidas and Vice proved their worth, even if some of my friends went home to play Trivial Pursuit after a couple of hours. I guess they were trying to be blasé.

Words: Amélie Marciasini