Has Adidas Eaten Itself?

 Ever felt like going on safari? (Sartorially, that is). Well Adidas are here to help. They've branched out. Into animal-print. I refer of course, (the clue's in the picture) to the zebra print Stan Smith. (There's also leopard for the fleet of foot). So, I love them, right? Actually, not so much. In fact, not at all. Am I having some sort of mental breakdown? Quite possibly. Not to get all sneaker purist about this shit, but some things shouldn't be messed with. I believe these kicks to be one of those things. There's no doubt Stan Smiths have reached critical mass. Are they over? Possibly. Maybe. Who knows? I think I even saw Robin Van Persie in a pair the other day, which disturbed me greatly, and may indeed signal the death knell. Meanwhile, over at Man Repeller (yes, her again, I'm not obsessed...much) an interesting post appeared recently about the Adidasification of Isabel Marant. Now, there's no chicken-and-egg discussion required here. Adidas were first. Very much so. But actually, does that even matter in this case? As Leandra pointed out Isabel has a tremendous knack of making everything cool and desirable. In fact, it's a pretty remarkable achievement to take a trainer that costs £65, copy it slavishly and then charge £260 for the reworking- AKA The Bart. So do I hate Barts too? No man, I do not. I'm a complete Marantphile, as it goes. She can do no wrong. For me the issue is- should Adidas be responding to all this? Annnnd....that's a no from me. They shouldn't mess with perfection. It feels wrong. Kinda watered down and uncool and uniconic. Am I a contradictory bastard? Absolutely, given that I realllly like Pharrell's Stans. At which point it might be salient to say that sometimes a kick feels right, and sometimes a kick feels wrong. And I'm absolutely sure Adidas want advice from me on this issue :) You feeling the animal-vibe? Or do you wanna join me in Purist's Corner? Lemmie know x

Leopard Print Stans Photo via KixandtheCity

Isabel Bart Photo via KajaMarie