Freestyler: The Art Part 2
Reebok teamed up with a cutting-edge stylist and up-and-coming photographer in the trendsetting cities of New York, London, Munich, Hong Kong and Paris. JUICE takes a walk through Reebok’s Global Freestyle Series Gallery to admire the artwork.
City: Munich
Stylist: Maral Salmassi
Teheran-born Maral Salmassi escaped Islamic regime Persia and fled to Germany in 1986. Founder of notable techno label Konsequent Records and new media label Art of Perception, her explorations in music and fashion have paved the way for Television Rocks. The fashion collection to launch this AW09 includes t-shirts, leggings and bags with prints of Maral’s selected graphic artworks.
Photographer: Gunnar Hämmerle It was during a stint at film school in Munich that Gunnar Hämmerle discovered his love for photography. He runs internet street fashion blog www.styleclicker.net and his work which has been spotted from exhibitions to print and digital magazines the world over.
Story: Maral turns to the wild and glamorous 80s for inspiration translating multicultural symbols into an iconic fashion style.
City: Paris
Stylist: Nadège Winter
Head of NWA (Nadège Winter Agency), blame Nadège Winter for helping to shape some of the coolest trends and identities for brands and venues like Colette and the art center Palais de Tokyo in Paris. A stylist (Wool and the Gang), web TV producer (konbini.fr), fashion magazine journalist (Jalouse, Grazia), and the creator of eco-aware website Greenkiss.fr, this multitasker also goes from day to night; she’s a DJ and singer (www.myspace.com/headbangirl) and recently collaborated with indie pop singer Séverin on album Cheesecake.
Photographer: Nathalie Canguilhem
A stylist and journalists for French Vogue and Glamour, and Creative Director for music labels EMI and Delabel has put Nathalie Canguilhem in good stead to be creative director of the label Because Music (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Amadou Et Mariam, Justice, Uffie, Soko, Metronomy). She also regularly photographs for brands like Kitsune and Diesel and magazines like Wad, Dazed & Confused and Jalouse).
Story: The Jealous Freekerz is the mise-en-style of the Reebok Freestyle Fall/Winter 2009 collection. Their music, myth and band charisma act as means to express energy, mobility, intensity, life and creativity. But is this record jacket fact or fiction? Spoof or buzz?
City: New York
Stylist: Annette Lamothe-Ramos
Native New Yorker Annette Lamothe-Ramos cut her teeth at Vice Magazine, she is currently Fashion & Market Editor for the Brooklyn-based publication, and keeps it coming as freelance style consultant and casting director for photography, film and music videos. She’s also a DJ at Lit Lounge in the East Village nightspot.
Photographer: Matthew Frost
New York based jet set photography and filmmaker Matthew Frost was born in London and grew up in the south of France before relocating to the United States to study film at Berkeley. Among his notable music video work is the intertwining narrative trilogy for French rock band M83. He’s also co-write the Larry Clark feature Wassup Rockers about Hispanic skate-rockers in South Central LA and has been published in Rebel, Nylon and Vice among others, recently completing a short for the 10 year anniversary of Jalouse.
Story: Annette chose as the inspiration for her celebration of the Reebok Freestyle shoe. Annette spent much of her youth hanging out in the streets, stoops, parks and rooftops of Manhattan’s East Village. Associating Freestyle with being young, free-spirited and living without boundaries, she brought the shoe and her friends to her favorite places in the Village – her rooftop, her corner deli, her park (shown here), her local dive.
City: London
Stylist: Namalee Bolle
Give her a box and she breaks out of it, give her a line and she’ll cross it. stylist, Editor, singer, muse and creative force, Namallee Bolle went from fashion editor at Sleazenation to creating Super Super magazine. Thanks to her flamboyant ‘maxi-maximalism’ approach to styling the trendsetting youth bible has been credited for kickstarting the cultural music/art/fashion rainbow revolution and demolishing boundaries of acceptable taste. Namalee has also styled for Basso and Brooke and Jean Charles de Castelbajac among others and fronting band Namazonia, who are currently working on an album with Rat Scabies, formerly of legendary punk band The Damned.
Photographer: Billa
Billa is the most talented club photographer working in the UK, fact. Documenting the club scene since 2001, first mainly electro and then as it emerged the Nu Rave scene, his main stomping ground is Shoreditch. As well as taking photos, he DJs and was co- promoter of Damage 2006-2007. He has had his photos published in Disorder, i-D, Clash, XLR8R, Vogue and of course, Super Super.
Story: Namalee’s interpretation of freestyle celebrates all that is feminine and fun. Chosing the Super Chic it represents female empowerment and what strong women are – Super Chicks in their own right. Taking the idea that anything is possible from bright colours, to fantastical surroundings, Namalee features in some of the artworks.
City: Hong Kong
Stylist: Davena Mok
Director of A-Vibe (Asian Vibe), a youth marketing-pr-events consultancy and trend-focused agency with an extensive client list of hip, aspirational brands like Diesel, Evisu and Absolut among others, the go-getting Australian-born Davena was previously a journalist, and has had stints in film, television, styling and production.
Photographer: Douglas Young
Douglas Young, a trained architect, is the creator of Goods Of Desire (GOD). The furniture/lifestyle brand answer to Shanghai Tang its inventory includes contemporary furniture, homeware and lifestyle accessories with a contemporary Chinese twist.
Story: Inspired by a mutual love of their home city, where modern, hi-tech, urban landscapes are juxtaposed against local, traditional, social settings, Douglas and Davena pay tribute to the burgeoning issue of cultural conservancy in a city of constant change with the “Hail Heritage” exhibition. Combining stylish vision with retro sentiment and a cinematic aesthetic, their four-part work parallels the pioneering legacy of Reebok’s legendary Freestyle shoe and represents a celebration of an unforgettable chapter in cultural history.
Images Reebok
