The new campaign for Kiko Kostadinov x ASICS GEL-KORIKA

Fresh from his double nomination at the British Fashion Awards for Best Emerging Designer, Kiko Kostadinov has created a new sneaker in collaboration with the Japanese brand ASICS, the GEL-KORIKA, on sale starting next November 16th. For the official images of the campaign, the legendary photographer Juergen Teller posed in a series of eccentric shots that blend the style of Teller himself (who usually fuses the boundary between a professional photo and personal photo) with an aesthetic half between dadcore and family vacation photos.

Teller and the GEL-KORIKA become co-protagonists of various shots that see the photographer emerge from tall grass, stand on the edge of a fountain in Italy, play with geese and, in what is perhaps the best picture of the whole shooting, weighing himself half-naked in the bathroom of a hotel room wearing only a pair of pink shorts and the sneakers, as well as a yellow hat that reads "No Photos". 

Teller's work are often overexposed photos, vaguely surreal, with a "raw" and alienating aesthetic, and ironic implications. The image that started his fame dates back to 1996 and portrays the completely naked model Kristen McMenamy with the name Versace written on her chest in a heart drawn with lipstick. Over the years the photographer has worked with all the biggest names in fashion and publishing. Other famous shootings are those that portray Nirvana in 1991, the one made in 1998 for Marc Jabobs, of whom Teller has been a close collaborator for over a decade, or that of 2015 that portrays Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and the same Teller in déshabillé walking in the French countryside. More recently, the photographer has shot various campaigns for brands such as Celine, Acne Studios and Vivienne Westwood, the Palace lookbooks starting from SS18 and the campaign for the capsule collection Acne Studios x Russell Westbrook. 

The aesthetics of the collection is divided between women's and men's footwear. The men's sneakers feature two very sober colorways, black and silver, with a patina with a metallic appearance that enhances the usual mesh of the upper. The women's sneakers instead has two much more vivid colorways: one in blue/red/beige and another in shades of coral red/pink/salmon pink with light blue touches. All of the GEL-KORIKA pairs are also equipped with FlyteFoam technology in the midsole, a series of very light fibers, durable and capable of absorbing any impact immediately resuming their original shape. 

The Kiko Kostadinov x ASICS GEL-KORIKA drop will take place on a global scale on November 16th, while November 8th there will be an exclusive early release for The Store in Berlin.