Curated Films

Fashion & Fantasy | Part 8

The next edition of NJAL's Fashion & Fantasy series explores athletics, sports and movement. Established sportswear brands have so far adopted a conservative and straight-forward direction for their campaigns. With the following selection the aim is to offer a broader perspective, focusing on content that digs deeper into each discipline highlighting also its creative element.

What we have particularly enjoyed is how the directors have taken into account the cultural elements associated with each sport, for example playing up to the elegance associated with tennis in Lacoste's L’échange by Rafael Levy, or acknowledging and celebrating a connection between skating and its environment in Nike SB X BCN by Sergi Castellà. Though this isn’t by any means meant to be a conclusive selection of outstanding video content on this topic, it serves as an exploration of a mainstream subject with a fresh and creative outlook.

Pehlivan / Wrestler by Harun Güler

Berlin-based director Harun Güler challenges tradition, culture and gender by revisiting oil wrestling, Turkey’s national sport, with Germany’s Snapchat icon and fashion blogger Riccardo Simonetti and designer & performer Leni Bolt.

Nike SB X BCN by Sergi Castellà

Celebrating Barcelona’s history as one of Europe’s top skate spots, director Sergi Castellà interviews locals and non-locals to find out what it is that they love about skating in this city.

OIJ - Believe by Ine & Sanne

Dutch directing duo Ine & Sanne presented a highly stylised battle of archers as the video to accompany OIJ’s official track for the 2016 European Athletics Championships.

Stella McCartney - StellaSport by Chris Read

StellaSport stands as a futuristic lookbook for Stella McCartney’s athleisure apparel and accessories launched to celebrate her longstanding collaboration with Adidas.

Lacoste L’échange by Rafael Levy

In less than 60 seconds, French director Rafael Levy celebrates tennis, its movements and elegance in his latest campaign for Lacoste.

Kung Fu Motion Visualization by Tobias Gremmler

German digital artist Tobias Gremmler explores Kung Fu’s dynamics of motion and philosophy in his project for the Kung Fu exhibition in Hong Kong.

Spurgeons Ballet Programme in Kenya by Maceo Frost

Commissioned by Nokia, director Maceo Frost tells the inspiring story of a group of children in the Kibera Slum in Kenya able to find new hope over their love of ballet.

Adidas Originals: Original Is Never Finished by Terence Neale

Original is Never Finished brings together visionaries from the sports and creative worlds to make a statement on how “recreating in your own way will always be entirely original”.