Built around the theme of collaboration, the exhibition also focuses on historical aspects, looking back at the most memorable projects that have made this branch of popular culture so symptomatic of our times. Alongside original pairs, objects of various kinds will be presented, including works of art, photographs, filmed documents and other testimonies.
As part of the 'Lausanne en Jeux!' program for the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games, mudac and the Swisssneaks association have joined forces to celebrate the cultural and sociological history of sport, by focusing on an iconic object that has gone far beyond the world for which it was originally created, to reach the world of our daily lives and urbanity.
The sneaker is undoubtedly the most representative object today of the hybridization between luxury and streetwear. Alongside the current models readily available on the market, a landscape made up of model reissues from archives, collaborations between brands, and the recruitment of artists or personalities to sign exclusive models (such as Rihanna for Puma, Anna Wintour for Nike, Kanye West for Adidas, or Damien Hirst for Converse), bears witness to an ever more precise, even aggressive, mastery of the dissemination and development of a rich and creative culture, generous in dialogue and sharing.
This phenomenon of merging and decompartmentalizing social classes parallels today's way of life. This concept of interconnection is part of the DNA of several generations of our globalized society. The creative potential of this culture has only recently been tapped by the luxury world. Indeed, as has been customary in recent years, the fashion world experienced its mercato at the start of 2018, letting a shiver of excitement run through every fashion week.
Several prestigious houses announced the arrival of new artistic directors at the head of their creative studios: Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton, Kim Jones at Dior Homme, Riccardo Tisci at Burberry. What these three designers have in common is that they embody a growing phenomenon in fashion house choices: the fusion of high fashion and streetwear. There are countless collaborations between prestigious fashion houses and sportswear brands. In a similar exercise in 2017, French luxury monument Louis Vuitton teamed up with American brand Supreme, a global icon of skate culture.
The tendency of art directors to move from house to house is now taking on a whole new dimension, and is part of a more global societal perspective, as fashion has always played a central role in cultural relations. The explosion of rap and the emergence of skateboard culture are now spreading their references and aesthetics to the world of luxury and fashion in general. Whereas for decades this subculture freely hijacked the wardrobe of the wealthy classes, much to the chagrin of luxury brands, today the latter are constantly provoking encounters - with varying degrees of success - between their world, that of urban culture and sport.
The Sneaker Collab exhibition aims to bear witness to this positive power in a comprehensive and immersive way, evoking both the emergence of the phenomenon in the 1980s with the arrival of Jordan Brand, and more recent collaborations and projects. Sneaker Collab aims to demonstrate how basketball, a veritable culture and art of living, has set off a shockwave that has affected fashion, music, image and, ultimately, all strata of contemporary creation and urban culture.
Built around the theme of collaboration, the exhibition also focuses on historical aspects, looking back at the most memorable projects that have made this branch of popular culture so symptomatic of our times. Alongside original pairs, objects of various kinds will be presented, including works of art, photographs, filmed documents and other testimonies.
The phenomenon of collaboration, a veritable instrument of commercial strategy, has contributed to transforming what was originally just a sports shoe into a cult object that has gone beyond its initial function to become a fashion accessory.
Exhibition co-curator :Marco Costantini
Swissneaks Association: David Berguglia, Julian Bessant-Lamour, Philippe Cuendet