Last week, London played host to designer Olivia Oblanc for the launch of the adidas Originals by Olivia Oblanc collection, the latest collaboration from the German sportswear giant. Oblanc and adidas Originals ambassador Kendall Jenner have been working closely on the collection for a while, and Jenner in particular was excited for the IRL event. “I’ve been talking with Olivia about it for a little while, and I’m just excited to see it all put together, her ideas all come together, and to see it in person,” she shared before guests arrived.
The location for the evening was Welbeck Street car park, tucked away just behind Oxford Street, behind a wire gate. All concrete, heavy metal doors, and huge open spaces, the venue felt like a warehouse club you’d find in New York’s Meatpacking district, before Samantha from Sex and The City moved in and started yelling at the local drag queens.
The space was dressed by set designer Thomas Petherick, who created custom soft foam podiums, perspex frames for flat laid looks from the collection, and perspex plinths to house the sneakers. The collaboration firmly has Jenner’s seal of approval, too: “There’s a lot that I like. I really like this big puffa, I cannot wait to go snowboarding and wear it!”
The collection of genderfluid reinterpretations of workwear staples was also brought to life by three short films – Leonn Ward, Ronan Mckenzie, and Stephen Isaac-Wilson each directed one – all of which were proudly on display on supersize screens throughout the evening. Two of the cast featured in Ward’s ‘Freedom’ were in attendance and treated the partygoers to a re-enactment of their dance from the film in front of the screen playing the film (it was quite meta, and quite lit).
While partygoers like Munroe Bergdorf, Maya Jama, Novelist, Wilson Oryema, Bee Beardsworth, Louis Simonon, and Snoochie Shy sipped on Cîroc cocktails, bottles of Budweiser, and cans of CanO Water, the vibes were handled by a selection of London’s coolest DJs; Lexi Andrews, Pxssy Palace, Illustrious One, and Ciesay (one half of Places+Faces), and a special live performance was served up by west London native Lava La Rue.
Take a look at the gallery above to see all the photos from the party.
