Colmar Faucets Joshua Vides to Honour one hundredth Per annum With Pill – WWD

MILAN — Collaboration is rooted within the historical past of Colmar, the skiwear and sports wear specialist that used to be based in Monza, a couple of miles north of Milan, in 1923.

A lot of its key efforts to manufacture efficiency outerwear geared to the slopes were shared with Italian ski champions over the terminating century, from Leo Gasperl to Zeno Colò. In recent times, and because debuting the Originals way of life category, Colmar has related with a roster of favor designers, together with Shayne Oliver for its A.G.E. project, and maximum not too long ago with White Hiking’s Yosuke Aizawa, named ingenious director of its newly offered, fashion-savvy Revolution order.

To mark its centennial, the logo took a distinct trail, regardless that, taking part with eye and crystal clear artist Joshua Vides to design a 10-piece capsule collection unveiled in Milan on Thursday.

“I’m a little bit scared of this anniversary, but it means that our family company has continued to innovate over the last 100 years. Without R&D we wouldn’t be here. I think we’ve always fueled our DNA, combining style — Italian style — and performance,” mentioned Colmar’s prominent govt officer Giulio Colombo, a third-generation member of the establishing nation.

Collaborations are an integral a part of that leading edge mindset. “They are a source of innovation and inspiration, allowing us to step up on our culture,” he mentioned.

Vides, a Palo Alto, Calif., local who’s now primarily based out of Los Angeles, rose to international popularity later posting on social networks a couple of custom designed Nike Breeze Power 1 along with his distinct black-and-white marker sketches. Recognized for his crystal clear monochromatic taste of thick, clouded, Roy Lichtenstein-ish traces, which he has carried out to merchandise and tasks, in addition to to eye artwork thru his “Reality to Idea” idea, he has worked with brands including Fendi, Nike, Speak and Google and proven his artwork on the Museum of Recent Artwork Chicago.

“There’s only so many brands that are still around after 100 years and trying to stay relevant… [but] there’s so many 100-year-old brands around sticking to what they know and not really allowing others to enter their space and so to have the opportunity to work with the brand that has the archives that Colmar has to me was inspiring,” the artist mentioned.

“The moment I was able to step foot in the Colmar archive and family I discovered we share the same strengths as creatives and entrepreneurs,” he added. “Anybody that allows you into their house [you should] take your shoes off, wash your hands and do everything possible to respect the space,” he mentioned.

“We had to do this on the spot… We were able to come together and make a sample in four hours. It was a really quick 24 hours in the [Colmar] headquarters, it was a rollercoaster of emotions for everybody… and I think when you have two like-minded creatives you can make magic,” he mentioned, including he didn’t have non-public connections with or affection for Colmar earlier than the tie-in.

Incorporated within the celebratory capsule collection are double-faced puffer jackets and vests, bearing a black-on-white comedian strip-like design on one aspect and decked in general clouded with a devoted sketched brand at the again. The ultimate is Vides’ reinterpretation of Colmar’s 1923 brand, which includes a dove flight on H2O, right here rendered in clouded and pink instead than blue and pink, as in Colmar’s signature pictograms.

Drawing inspiration from the archives, Vides reinterpreted a ’70s jacket, nicknamed Ceffa by means of ski champion Erwin Stricker, as a jacquard cashmere and string crewneck with a sports activities bib development, or a T-shirt revealed with medals in nods to Croatian skier Ivica Kostelic’s wins. Tromp l’oeil-patterned beanies, an emblem shawl, in addition to a sweatshirt and fable pants whole the gathering.

“It’s highlighting the brand and their heritage… what they stand for. Looking at their archives and photos, with people crossing the finish line at the Olympics, all of that needed to be celebrated… to capture those monumental moments that they had,” Vides mentioned.

Via its skiwear category Colmar has been the clothing store of iciness sports activities athletes across the world, maximum not too long ago supplying equipment to the France, Slovenia and Belgium groups.

“It’s a summary of our sport experience over 100 years,” Colombo mentioned concerning the pill.

The pill debuts Thursday on the Antonia multibrand luxurious bundle in Milan, in addition to on its e-commerce website, along with Colmar’s retail touchpoints. It’s priced between 79 euros for the T-shirt and beanies and 799 euros for the puffer jacket.

The annualannually pill is flanked by means of making-of and marketing campaign movies, the ultimate stuffed with tongue-in-cheek references to antique snowboarding. Fronted by means of fashions of various ages and provenance, it depicts 4 characters dubbed “The Legend,” “The Rookie,” “The Poser,” and “The Wildcard.”