ONITSUKA TIGER NOUVELLE URBAN SHOW

Combining fashion, sports and heritage, Andrea Pompilio appeals to the world with Onitsuka Tiger’s spring/summer 2020 collection. Anindya Devy reports from Tokyo

ANDREA POMPILIO ALWAYS wanted to be a fashion designer. Having an architect father and a painter mother surely helped him develop his artistic talents. That, and the fact that his grandmother owns and runs a fashion boutique, where he spent much of his time as a kid. Unsurprisingly, the whole family supported Pompilio when he declared that he wanted to become a fashion designer. He studied fashion design at Pesaro Art Institute, then at Istituto Marangoni in Milan where he obtained his master’s degree in design.

During his time in Milan, Pompilio filled up his résumé with stints at Prada, Calvin Klein and Saint Laurent before launching his own signature brand in 2011. In 2013, the Italy-born designer unveiled a partnership with Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger. Following a string of successful collaborations, in 2018 Pompilio was officially named the Creative Designer of Onitsuka Tiger.

Last October, the iconic Japanese brand held a runway show to introduce its spring/summer 2020 offerings in Tokyo. Held at the Shin-toyosu Brilia Running Stadium, the event saw around 450 guests eager to witness Pompilio’s latest collection. As they entered the venue, they were greeted by a blue light illuminating the entire stadium. White lines marked the lanes for the runway show. It wasn’t long before the lights were slowly dimmed and the show started, preceded by an urban sport performance, including tricking and wheel gymnastics, which was followed by a marching band.

Onitsuka Tiger’s spring/summer 2020 collection pays homage to Kihachiro Onitsuka, the founder of brand, and coincides with company’s 70th anniversary. Inspired by the uniforms of various sports, the collection revolves around five themes—the New Youth, the Modern Uniform, the New Casual, the Sports Obsession and the Free Spirit—and champions three attitudes: the Masculine Feminine, the Genderless and the Global Diversity.

One by one models walked down the runway, wearing tank tops and casual sportswear pieces crafted using mesh materials taken from basketball uniforms, denim cargo pants that were inspired by climbing gear and fitted multicoloured T-shirts influenced by racing. The colour palette was fresh and sporty with hints of neon yellow, orange, pink and indigo. There were padded jackets inspired by horse riding, coats made from transparent materials inspired by sailing and a fitted bicolour knit pullover weaved in polyester thread inspired by diving. Not every single piece looked sporty, however, as out of nowhere a feminine satin evening dress appeared. Still, it turned out that the dress followed the design of boxing robes.

For the finale, the exclusive “TOKYO ONITSUKA” line appeared on stage. The capsule collection revived graphics from the brand’s archives and was brought up to date while still

sharing the history of Onitsuka Tiger.

Following the runway show, Prestige had the opportunity to sit down with the man of the hour to talk about his collection as well as his mission to bring Onitsuka Tiger away from streetwear and into the realm of prêt-à-porter. Excerpts:

Can you tell us about how you approached designing this spring/summer 2020 collection? This collection for me is a big homage to Tokyo in general. The reason why it’s a big moment for Tokyo is because there will be the big [Winter] Olympic games in a few months. That’s why you see a lot of luggage pieces in the collection, a lot of bags. There will be a lot of people coming to Tokyo from all over the world and over the past few years, Tokyo has become one of the biggest capitals of the fashion industry.

Onitsuka Tiger is a very historical company and a lot of logos you see on the bags, the socks and the ready-to-wear pieces come from the archives, from past Olympic games. The collection is inspired by sports in general and is put together in a very luxurious and sophisticated way—not as sportswear, even though we are a sports company.

With the sportswear trend on the rise, how do you differentiate Onitsuka Tiger with other brands?

The difference between Onitsuka Tiger and other brands is that we are, little by little, moving into

prêt-à-porter with less emphasis on streetwear. In terms of finishing and styling, we’re going for a more prêt-à-porter kind of feeling: higher level and more luxurious.

All in all, what do you consider the highlights of this collection?

There’s a lot of stuff, honestly. I think it’s more about the attitude. To see the models happy while backstage is already a big goal. Because it’s work for them—they have to do this for the money. I work with a lot of models and sometimes they’re not happy. Last night, before they left they told me that they want this shoe and that shoe, and for me, that’s already important feedback. Personally, I love everything in this collection.