Adidas introduces Daniëlle Cathari

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 9, 2018

Active sportswear labels are always on the look out for talented designers to inject the right fashion quotient into their brands. Which is why this week’s launch of Adidas Originals by Daniëlle Cathari is such good news for the German sportswear giant.

 
Because Cathari has created a capsule of collection of wit, wonder and energy, which the models in the presentation in Soho on a chilly Thursday very clearly enjoyed wearing. Terry cloth running shorts and tanks; super track suits cut with flared pants; sheer dresses reading The Brand with the Three Stripes; denim mini skirts and cool windbreakers. Think the best Athleisure of Yohji Yamamoto’s Y-3, with a big dollop of gymnastic Body Con – fashion for the body conscious – and you get the idea. All finished with lots of diagonal cutting and multiple triple stripes.
 
“It’s 50% of the Adidas DNA and 50% of my DNA. All very classic 90s and with plenty stripes – since that’s at the heart of Adidas. I wanted an unexpected contrast between fabric, color and details,” said Cathari, whose real name “to be honest, is Van der Voort.” With her ready smile and ever-present dimple, Cathari should know about sport – seeing as she did gymnastics for 12 years in her youth.

Dutch-born Cathari first garnered attention as a student at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute when her contribution to a joint college show was eight re-constructed Adidas tracksuits. So impressed was the German powerhouse that they invited the husky-voiced talent to their headquarters in Herzogenaurach to create a collection.
 
“I’ve been there six times now. I love Adidas. I love the aesthetic of Adidas. For me it is very simple and yet so strong,” said Cathari, slipping into corporate speak, arguably the Achilles heel of the whole Millennial generation.
 
Nine months after her first trip to Adidas, she is presenting her first 22 looks in a Soho showroom, kitted out with tubular bars and a even a couple of large white neon signs reading Adidas Originals Daniëlle Cathari with the brand’s signature Tretorn emblem.
 
So convinced is Adidas, they even hired Kendall Jenner for the capsule’s ad campaign. This weekend, the clothes start retailing in the house’s flagship Soho store, and in the USA online. The plan is to roll out the capsule with events in fashion weeks of London, Milan and Paris, with corresponding flagship launches in each city. A further 11 looks will be unveiled in March; the same month Adidas takes the collection to Shanghai fashion week.
 
A busy gal is Daniëlle Cathari and, on the evidence of this collection, deservedly so.