Bode x Nike explores the myth of American sportswear

In Europe, fashion was born first in the noble courts and then in the cities of the bourgeoisie, from haute couture to ready-to-wear. It is not so unlikely, then, that American fashion was born on a playing field. Sport has always played a fundamental role in the epic story of the stars and stripes, with certain disciplines directly symbolizing iconic moments in the nation's narrative. For example, American Football, with its forward march, closely resembles the colonists' journey towards the Pacific Ocean, or baseball, America's pastime and representation of the American Way of Life, with one attacker against an entire defense. Such a close relationship between sports and the fabric of American society could not help but also influence the way people dressed. After all, if life is a sport, then fashion is a locker room. At least, that's how Emily Adams Bode Aujla, founder and creative director of the eponymous brand, sees it. In recent years, she has been able to revitalize the idea of Americana by digging into the roots of Made in USA clothing.

In her collection created together with the brand that, more than any other, has represented not only American sports, but also the lifestyle, maximalism, and epicness of an entire continent, Emily Adams Bode Aujla has perhaps executed her most radical and unconventional operation. If Nike still represents a reference point for generations today, and if a Greek word is pronounced with a West Coast accent, it is thanks to the creation of a perfect foundational myth, untouchable in its coherence. And it was precisely in those years, when the Swoosh had not yet perfected its strategy and aesthetic, that Bode wanted to immerse herself with her usual archival approach. Inspired by her father's college career as captain of the football team in Massachusetts, the collection references various eras of sportswear, starting in the late 18th century and going up to the 1970s.

Track jackets, t-shirts, penny and dickies, jerseys, fabric shorts, and game pants: each piece in the collection explores a specific aspect of Nike's tradition, which originated in track and field when Bill Bowerman coached at the University of Oregon. That's where the elements that truly characterize Bode's work can be found, from the pins used to adjust the sizes of the kits or attach race numbers, to the drawstrings that initially defined the parts of the tracksuits that would later become elasticized. Inverting the usual work done by Nike in its collaborations, driven primarily by imagining what the future of sportswear will look like, here the focus is fully on the teachings of the past. Not just in terms of design or details, but especially in the philosophy that permeated Nike's early creations and the creative work of the few employees of the company. Emily Adams Bode Aujla has in fact met with Jeff Johnson, the famous "Employer No. 1," to understand how Nike imagined, even before creating, its shoes at the time.

Together, they recovered a model that had been forgotten in the long genealogy of shoes with the Swoosh, but that was able to create the kind of historical and sentimental bridge that the designer wanted to trace with this collaboration. The choice to create a new version of the Astrograbber, shoes initially used on synthetic fields in College Football thanks to the iconic waffle sole created through a homemade invention, represents both a reference to Nike's tradition and to the suggestions of her family album, with black and white photos of her father on the sidelines in a full game uniform. The shoes thus become a memorabilia, a container of memories and feelings for those who seek a story rather than an aesthetic in a piece of clothing. And in the tapestry woven by Bode, Nike perhaps becomes, for the first time, a suggestion, a window from which to observe the passing of time.

Thus emphasizing an unprecedented but equally vital role in the creation of what we commonly call sportswear today, Bode has Nike embody the spirit of thrifting when it comes to retracing its own archive all the way to the last drawers. And in this process, she analyzes the fundamental values of both American fashion and the way of life of the stars and stripes, which, precisely because of its frenetic pace, has often led Nike to never look back and to run headlong towards a future that is still being shaped. For a brand that has founded its entire philosophy on realizing its dreams at all costs, the past has never been an option. Sometimes, however, in sports as in life, you have to stop and flip through the family album.