The adidas Forum Newsroom Creators Reimagine a Basketball Classic for a New Generation
Keep your eyes on our running coverage from the adidas Forum Newsroom, live at True East in Collingwood – the heart of Melbourne.
August 26, 2021
The adidas Forum Newsroom Creators are adding the finishing touches to their projects after a few inspiring weeks working among each other. We caught up with the Creators – Beza, Jasmine and Jewel – to check out their final submissions.
Beza – The Long-Standing Forum Love Affair
Beza Mickan-White realised her original concept of incorporating the love for basketball and the unifying nature of the adidas Forum. Expressed through a short film, the clip begins in black and white, signifying the Forum’s basketball heritage. Vision then changes to colour, transporting viewers to the modern day, where the classic sneaker has transformed into a street staple for people from all walks of life, while staying true to its courtside roots.
Jasmine – Put A(US) On
Tapping into her strong sense of social purpose in building platforms for Australia’s diverse creatives and talents to rise up, Jasmine Ambarwati used the physical adidas Forum Newsroom as the launchpad of her newest program: Put A(US) On. The first episode of this interview series invites local artist Pania to share what it’s like being a creative in the current landscape, and how to support fellow artists. You can check out the full interview above.
Jewel – Stepping Into A New Narrative
Jewel Langlois produced a short video titled Stepping Into A New Narrative which, as the title suggests, explores the shifting story of the adidas Forum and what it means to a new generation. Highlighted in this video are select members of Melbourne’s creative underground, and fellow Creators who all come from diverse backgrounds. As such, the adidas Forum is presented as a versatile sneaker for multiple uses beyond its original basketball purpose.
Celebrate the reimagined adidas Forum at Foot Locker, who are stocking an exclusive white and black colourway in Mid and Low cuts. Shop it here.
August 17, 2021
The adidas Forum Newsroom Creators are not only linked by their creative talents – there is meaning and purpose behind their practices. In this update, we chat to Jasmine Ambarwati and Iluka Sax-Williams, two Creators who have strong social motivations fuelling their projects.
Jasmine Ambarwati
Freelance model, content creator, and fashion stylist are just three of the hats Jasmine wears. The fashion and music of the 1990s are her inspiration sources, and her goals include opening doors for other creators to contribute to a diverse fashion landscape.
Where do you find inspiration from in dynamic circumstances?
Everything and everyone around me! I strongly believe that you can learn something from everyone. It’s all about taking on criticism or new ideas with an open mind. This is why I find team environments so crucial as a creative. It’s important to say our ideas out loud – not only to make sense of them, but for other creatives to build on your ideas or help you incorporate things you didn’t even think of.
How do different creative spaces influence your process?
Working in spaces that allow full creative freedom is first and foremost important to me. I also find it important to work with a diverse team, as this allows for different types of critical thinking to take place. It’s important to be mindful, and working in a diverse space will contribute to your knowledge. Lastly, I think it’s important to be sharing a creative space with individuals that have different professions or skill sets to you. This allows you to help one another to achieve a greater goal compared to one you can achieve alone.
What is the best way to promote self-expression?
Do what you love. There’s no faking self-expression when you are doing what you love. For me, that’s being creative in many different ways. When I’m creating, that’s when I am my most authentic self. My mindset is always to create freely without any limitations – by limitations I’m referring to any negative thoughts. Try to see the good in any situation, if you have a positive mindset it puts no limitations on your creativity.
Iluka Sax-Williams
Iluka Sax-Williams is a multidisciplinary artist of Tibrean (Torres Strait) and Taungurung origin. His creative output looks to enhance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation through practices including cultural reclamation, pyrography, traditional dance, fashion, and modelling.
Explain the connection between the adidas Forum and your project?
The adidas Forum in my eyes is retro-styled, which needed a retro style fit to complement it. Tracksuits have been a strong outfit source and have had a major streetwear presence for decades, so I’m aspiring to incorporate my own designs into a tracksuit garment to complement the shoes.
How do you keep inspired? Do different creative spaces influence your process?
Being unable to visit the country has affected my energy and creative flow. Thankfully, I have been able to shift my creative space, which has given me more time to think internally. I like to kick the smaller goals in my day before tackling bigger challenges, so I try to organise each of my tasks to their own grind. I use my creations to display my stories and perspectives, so different spaces impact and influence that process. Currently, I’m trying to just keep strong and connected with my friends and mob.
What do you want people to take away from your project?
To inspire imagination and conversations around the involvement of Indigenous art and designs within these spaces.
Foot Locker have dropped an exclusive white and black edition of the reimagined adidas Forum in Mid and Low cut, which can be shopped here.
August 16, 2021
The adidas Forum Newsroom has been brimming with creativity and inspiration for the Creators, who are hard at work on their individual projects. In this segment we caught up with Jewel and Beza to learn how they’ve found the process so far, and what it means to be a Creator.
Juliette ‘Jewel’ Langlois,
Jewel is a fashion stylist, photographer and creative director whose work has taken her to the glitzy heights of New York and Paris Fashion Weeks. Her latest photography project looks locally, featuring fellow Melbourne creatives.
Where do you find inspiration?
Exploring how others have created within the realms of their own homes or communities last year really inspired me to look at my own playground at my very fingertips.
The key that really helped me was looking within, which strengthened my skills and opened my mind all over again. Stepping outside of the box and drawing my own version to my own measurements honestly spawned a whole new outlook on the world around me.
Throughout this project you’ve been creative not only in your work, but also how you’re approaching it. How has your project and process changed?
I’ve allowed space for creative growth. I’ve been able to really form stronger relationships and communication with my co-Creators. Whether it’s going back and forth with my graphic design team or strengthening concepts with other photographers/artists, forming collaborative moodboards on Pinterest has greatly spiked our interest and excitement to birth new ideas, as well as refine them.
How do you channel creativity differently as an individual as opposed to working in a collective?
Curating my ideas solo involves a lot of personal exploration and taste making. I ask myself questions such as, ‘What type of contribution can I make to others’ lives?’ My inspiration can even be filtered from other designers or pioneers who are trying to leave an impact on the world, while – more notably – decreasing our human footprint.
When it comes to collaborative work, whether it be an idea we want to explore or a new way of thinking, I love representing others’ ideas of themselves and creating a limitless world surrounding that. We are all the main characters in our lives after all…
Beza Mickan-White
Beza Mickan-White is an accomplished model, with a top-10 finish at the 2016 Miss World contest. With basketball running deep in her family, she has long been a fanatic of the sport and its shoes, which she is honouring in her video project.
What draws you to the adidas Forum?
My love affair with basketball and the adidas Forum started around age 10 to 12. I idolised my mum’s first cousins who played for their national women’s Olympic basketball team. I also remember my first pair of Forums were black, red and white – such a classic!
The Forum silhouette is a seamless transition from a playing shoe to an everyday classic that I can wear with literally EVERYTHING! I love the low profile style, the traction on the outer sole, and I’m a big fan of the strap. A boss-ass power suit and sneakers is one of my favourite looks: it’s bold, edgy and oozes confidence.
How are you presenting the Forum in the context of the wider adidas basketball history?
I am producing a video that speaks on the evolution of the Forum from its birth in 1983 to the modern era, and how fashion has changed with the Forum’s evolution and adaptation from basketball to a casual shoe adored by artists, athletes, and everyone in between. I can’t say too much more as it will ruin the surprise, but I have an amazing team helping me with the creative direction and production of the video!
What are some other archival adidas models you will be referencing in your video?
Rather than referencing specific adidas models, I’ll be paying homage to the brand’s archival commercials through the storytelling and cinematic elements of my video. Style was simple back then, and adidas captured the power of vintage simplicity before it became a thing. Footwear became the finishing touch to an outfit that you could wear a hundred different ways with a thousand different people.
Foot Locker have also released an exclusive white and black edition of the reimagined adidas Forum Mid and Low, which can be shopped here.
August 6, 2021
The cultural capital of Australia, aka Melbourne, is hosting the adidas Forum Newsroom for some of the country's most talented Creators to celebrate the Three Stripes' relaunched icon: the Forum. This collaborative space will allow the Creators – photographers, designers, artists, and creatives – to interpret the Forum through themes of Identity and Community, Sustainability, Culture, Creativity, and Empathy and Equality.
The Creators – Beza Mickan-White, Jaida’s Wrld, Iluka Sax-Williams, Jasmine Ambarwati, Joey Gleeson-Djurica, Juliette ‘Jewel’ Langlois, and Josh Chagar – have each been hand-picked for their exemplary creative skills across various mediums.
Located at True East in Collingwood, the adidas Forum Newsroom is supplying the Creators with all the tools they need to express their individual and collaborative ideas through their preferred mediums, which includes artworks, photographic essays, and video presentations.
Furthermore, adidas have teamed up with Foot Locker Australia to launch a local edition of Forum Fridays. This three-part content series invites special guests to kick it with Gen Z representatives, together exploring the Forum through the aforementioned themes of Identity and Community, Sustainability, Culture, Creativity, and Empathy and Equality. Forum Fridays kicks off today, August 6.
To mark the occasion, Foot Locker have also released an exclusive colourway of the reimagined adidas Forum – in High and Mid forms – which can be shopped here.
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